One of the biggest pleasure I have as a food blogger in Bali, is when I can present you dear readers, something new and uniquely Bali, and last week we found something perfectly fit that description named Warung Basang.

Located near the Krishna gift shop in Tuban, Kuta, Warung Basang serves quality Balinese food with affordable prices, and authentic home cooking Balinese dishes.

Warung Basang itself was born out of passion to preserve Balinese cuisine tradition, which contains many wonderful delicious dishes, including those less known to people outside Bali. That's why on the menu you'd find lots of interesting selections like Lawar Klungah which uses very young coconut shells (yes its shells!), with a crunchy rubbery texture. Or Tum Ares which uses young banana stalks, beside of the well known Bebek Betutu, or Sate Lilit Ikan Laut. 

For a modern and easy to like alternative, Warung Basang also serves creations like Nasi Goreng Bongkot which uses fragrant torch ginger root and white fish meat.

Aiming for authenticity, Warung Basang ensure they only minimally adjust the flavors to match domestic tourists' palate, including toning down the spiciness standard to better fit non-Balinese heat tolerance level. And we have testimonies from our fellow Balinese foodies in #Mekulicious to certify its authenticity.

That being said, I personally find the heat level of food in Warung Basang still sits on the top end of my heat tolerance range, however my lovely spouse think the spiciness level was just standard and fits her appetite really well.

For you spicy food lovers though, Warung Basang serves six different kind of Balinese sambal to please your appetite.

Outside of the heat factor, I found Warung Basang cooking is flavorful, rich, and memorable. Something I'd happily recommend even to my most reserved, judgmental, annoyingly truthful friends.

Halal Balinese 

What's even more interesting from Warung Basang though, it's something that's very rare in Balinese eateries: a halal standard.

Therefore if you've been wondering how Lawar taste, but was hesitant as you're following a no-pork dietary like majority of muslim are, here's your chance.

Upon asked why choosing halal Balinese concept, Warung Basang's owner Anindya Mantik (Indy) revealed that the decision was come after a thorough research, and her wish to preserve a family's culinary tradition:

The Tuban area was chosen since its close to the Ngurah Rai Airport, and quickly becoming a prominent destination for domestic tourists, especially with the development of new budget hotels in this stretch of street, not to mention the famous shops already residing in this street: Krishna souvenir shop, Joger Bali, and Nasi Ayam Ibu Andika.

While there's already some Balinese eateries in the area, Indy figured none caters a fully fledged Balinese menu yet. On the other hand, one of her fondest memory of childhood was the cooking of her grandmother from Tabanan, which despite her experience living abroad, kept lingering in her mind. 

Her decision to go Halal was further fueled by the fact that most domestic travelers are muslim, and they rarely touch Balinese dishes for fear that it contains pork, while in truth Balinese cuisine is not always about pork. That's why it's becoming her passion also to introduce the halal side of Balinese cookings.  

To ensure the Halal standard, Warung Basang employs a muslim female chef, and source their ingredients from muslim sellers in the nearby traditional market.

Lending her passion in fashion design, Indy ensures that your visit in Warung Basang creates a lasting impression with its comfy atmosphere, that's ornamented with snapshots from the past.

Warung Basang (@warungbasang) 

Jalan Raya Tuban 58A (next to Rahayu), 

Tuban, Kuta, Bali, 

Indonesia. 

Phone: +62 812 3632 0603

Ayam Taliwang RM As Sidiq, Bedugul, Bali, Indonesia

As we are hungry and it's already 2 p.m., we have no other choice but to visit this restaurant RM Ayam Taliwang As-Sidiq specializing in Ayam Taliwang dish from the Lombok island. At the time of our research, it was the most mentioned eating place on the blogs about traveling to Bedugul. The other popular choice was Strawberry House, but it was located quite far from the travel destination, and it focuses on strawberry dishes while our hungry Indonesian stomach long for something more familiar and heavier, hence we picked the Ayam Taliwang instead.

Located right across the parking space for Pura Ulun Danu at Danau Beratan, RM Ayam Taliwang As-Sidiq is housed in a decent old building with various choices of all-Indonesian dishes. Prices are affordable, those who are under tight budget can still get a decent meal for about 20K IDR (around $2). If you are aiming for their specialty however, both Ayam Bakar Taliwang and Ayam Bumbu Taliwang costs almost 30K IDR alone. It's a whole chicken dish but please hold yourself from drooling as chicken used are young ones which is quite petite. It's closer to quail instead of a respectable sized chicken.

Lucky I ordered the Nasi Campur which consisted of rice, a piece of grilled chicken, tahu, mixed vegetable, and sambal. The portion is hearty while the taste was all right; a good hit for a 19K dish.

Scoville's Gado-Gado

My mother in law, who is the reason we're in Bedugul in the first place, is a decent lady in her late 60s. Her upbringing and cultural background dictates, that she should be humble at all times, and she doesn't eat anything unfamiliar, especially when not cooked in Minang custom; which poses a problem since the dishes served at RM Ayam Taliwang As Sidiq was mostly unfamiliar to her. Except for the Gado-Gado which is a Betawi dish, and so she ordered one.

Coming from a Minang background, she's also accustomed to the high level of chillies and oil for all that she can remember, hence instructed the waiter to have her Gado-Gado "pedas".

However, this is Bali, the land where its dishes uses Lombok type of chilli, which far more superior than regular red chillies she's accustomed with. It's more like the fondness of Jawa Barat people in using Cabai Rawit (bird-eye chilli) in their dishes instead of Cabai Merah like Minang culture does, tripled.

As comparison, when the hottest food with Cabai Merah burns your lips and tongue, the hotness of Cabai Lombok is similar with having firecrackers lit inside your mouth. And as the waiter walked away I was just realized those facts, but was too hungry to think straight hence just hoping that "pedas" here doesn't really pedas as I thought it will be.

...

We ended up ordering another plate of Gado-Gado for her, and this time not pedas at all. Anyway she's still suffers from stomach ache for two following days afterward, due to the novel attempt to finish half of the dish before giving up.

A Tame Taliwang

Surprisingly enough, the Ayam Taliwang that the waiter said is the pedas choice, and we anticipated with high curiosity, turned out to be not pedas at all. Yes it's spicy and tasty, but nowhere near pedas. Not in Balinese standard especially. My Nasi Ayam trained taste buds cried their disappointment, but I told them I have no choice.

Another concern is that while the seasoning is good and flavourful, the cooking is not. Both my one-piece grilled chicken, and the whole mini Ayam Taliwang chicken, were dried and lost most of its moisture. The Picky Eater however, think this is perfect and eat almost the whole chicken beside the charity parts she left me with.

As a wrap-up, on overall we found the food quality is still above average, prices are reasonable, service is fast, the parking space is wide, while the dining area itself is clean but a bit disorganized. Wouldn't protest if I should visit them again, however I'm wide open for other options. (byms)

This is a road side stall we discovered earlier this month. We've passed it so many times before and got curious as why this place always attracts so many customers, but was hesitant due to the absence of any sign whatsoever that could signals what sort of food they are selling.

Well it turned out that out sells Nasi Kuning, in the fashion of mixed rice/rice combo that is a common in Denpasar, Bali.

While the taste is not the best we ever had, it is enough to satisfy our crave of Nasi Kuning, not to mention it is dead cheap as well; a dinner for two including ice teas costs only 15K IDR ($1.5). (byms)

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