Among the rare chance happened during the Ubud Food Festival was the prospect of meeting famous chefs from Bali, and from abroad as well. Take for example Chef Wan from Malaysia. Hosting several cooking shows on TV, Chef Wan's funny and talkative personality is always entertaining to watch, either when he's in the kitchen, outside on the street teaching random westerners to cook healthy Asian dishes, or staging a popularity contest between his Malaysian cooking vs UK cities' local favorite.

While I was aiming to meet him during his appearance in Ubud Food Festival, an opportunity came up earlier when Will Meyrick invited Epicurina - Bali Food Blog, to join him in welcoming Chef Wan to Mama San! It turned out that the two knows and grows close to each other during Chef Will's opening of his new restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Surely this is an opportunity that I can't pass.

The event itself was a cooking collaboration between Chef Wan and Chef Will, where Chef Wan was cooking Malaysian dishes, and Chef Will cooking Peranakan cuisine.

The Dinner Time

I managed to grab Chef Wan aside for this photo shot, during the meet and greet session before the dinner. It turned out that what we seen on TV is not much different with the reality: Chef Wan has this vibrant personality, quick wit, and very very talkative. He quickly getting acquainted with the guests, telling jokes and laughing along with the guests as if they've been buddies for years.

Chef Wan has this amazing skill of starting up a conversation, and making people felt welcomed, all in an effortless manner. It's no wonder that the Malaysian Government appointed him as Food Ambassador to Tourism Malaysia.

Our journey into the Malaysian and Peranakan Cuisine was started with Soft shell crab with torch ginger flower, char kue peanuts, sesame seed and rujak salad. While the batter fried soft shell crab gives out a mellow sea flavor, combined with the spicy rujak salad they compliment each other, and it was a quite eye opening starter.

The soft shell crab was then followed up with this woody tangy creamy fragrant dish of Sambal jantung pisang (banana flower), with fresh prawn, torch ginger flower and kalamansi. Coming from a family that familiar with both jantung pisang and torch ginger, I was quite amused why we've never thought the two works well together.

Our next dish emanates this rustic Asian flavor, especially with the addition of tauco (fermented bean curd). The Nyonya style stir fried clams with chili padi, Thai basil, green shallots and Tauco was quickly becoming the guests' favorite.

Next came Nasi Ulam with kencur (lesser galangal), ginger flower, shredded betel leaf, Vietnamese mint, lime leaf and ikan asin (salted dried fish). While Indonesia has their own version of Nasi Ulam from Betawi ethnic, the one presented was resembling Malaysian style and it contains a lot of fragrant ingredients put into it, which in turn create an aromatic dish. The addition of Ikan Asin enhanced both the texture and the taste of the dish.

Peranakan crispy barramundi, with torch ginger flower, chili, shallots and lime leaf represents the Sweet and Sour fish, one of Chef Meyric's creation in Hujan Locale Ubud which we adored. Still using the same barramundi (kakap putih in Indonesian), the difference is that this one was more aromatic and spicier.

Baba's Nyonya fish head curry with okra, tomato, tamarind and fish curry powder was among the creamiest dish of the night, even though it was well balanced with the inclusion of tamarind (asam jawa in Indonesian), and tomato.

Next came Gulai Udang Nenas, fresh prawn cooked in turmeric, lemon grass, fresh pineapple with coconut milk. While the coconut milk adds creaminess to the dish, the sweet and sour pineapple (Nenas) help lighten and balanced the mouth-feel. It goes really well with the prawns.

Came as the last main was Fried Fragrant Cumi-Cumi, squids or calamari fried with Tom Yam paste, ginger torch, lemon grass and honey. It was nicely chewy, flavorful, and the addition of honey was just enough to add sweetness into the dish.

As the closure to our dining experience was Chef Wan's Jackfruit Custard, which resembles srikaya with extra punch of the jackfruit, and Chef Will's Coconut ice cream which nicely reinforced with peanuts and roasted coconut, made perfect with the addition of young coconut flesh you can scoop right off the bowl's wall, as it was presented in halved coconut. Balance was a bit of an issue as the halved coconut has curvy base, but taste wise it was the best coconut ice cream version we ever had.

While Chef Will stayed more in the kitchen, focusing on delivering the dinner, Chef Wan would occasionally showed up and entertain the guests with small chats, funny talks, maintaining the cheerful vibe all the way until the dinner was over. Such a tremendous energy.

As with other Chef Will's invitations during our 5+ years of food blogging in Bali, the dining experience of this "Chef Wan and Chef Will Collaboration" stays on the high note throughout the dinner. The flavors were robust, colorful, comforting, and Chef Wan's humorous personality vibrates well with Chef Will's cheerful personality himself. It's been one really enjoyable dining experience. Thank you Will Meyrick for having us! (byms)

It's no secret that getting halal food in Ubud can be tricky. While Denpasar offers a bigger chance to spot one, as 20% of its city dwellers are Muslim, however Ubud represents the more common situation in Bali where less than 4% of its population are Muslim. A stark contrast to the 85% majority nation wide, which make Indonesia a country with the largest Muslim population in the world.

(Yes, Bali is not a stand alone nation but a part of a bigger nation called Indonesia, in case you haven't noticed.)

Well known as the Yoga Capital of Indonesia, and made more famous in recent years thanks to Julia Robert's movie "Eat, Pray, Love," most foodies sought for Babi Guling Ibu Oka when visiting Ubud. Acknowledged as one of the most delicious pork dishes in the world by international TV Chefs, many tried to keep up with Ibu Oka's achievement hence roasted whole pig, or its modernized siblings pork ribs, are two of the most common dish to find in Ubud's restaurants.

Throughout years of Epicurina's food blogging adventure in Bali however, we're able to recommend some Halal food selections worth to try in Ubud. Here they are in absolutely unordered list:

1. Puteri Minang 

Perhaps the most obvious selections is nothing else than the food from a region long associated with Islam and halal food: Nasi Padang, that's what Puteri Minang sells.

With dishes ranging from the well known Rendang Padang, into the more traditional options like Tunjang, Kikil, Otak, and Paru, Puteri Minang offers a wide selection fits the most selective eaters. Just a bit of warning though that car parking space is very limited, and the food here is quite spicy hot.

Alternatively there are also some other Padang Restaurants further down the road, but Puteri Minang is the most famous.

Puteri Minang
Address:
Jalan Raya Ubud 77,
Ubud,
Bali,
Indonesia
Phone: (+62) 361 975577

Halal status: HL2 - Halal by seller's claim

2. Nasi Ayam Kedewatan Ibu Mangku

Perhaps the closest contender to Babi Guling Ibu Oka in term of fame, Nasi Ayam Kedewatan Ibu Mangku is also a long standing brand in Ubud. Serving Kedewatan style Nasi Ayam Bali, where instead of Ayam Betutu, they're using Ayam Gerang Asam.

The other component of the dish are quite typical of Balinese Chicken Rice found throughout the island, like Ayam Sisit, Sate Lilit Ayam, Urab Sayur, Telur Rebus, Kacang Goreng, and Sambal.

Nasi Ayam Kedewatan Ibu Mangku
Address:
Jalan Raya Kedewatan No.18,
Ubud,
Bali 80571
Indonesia
Phone: (+62) 361 974795
⌚ Opens: 7:30 am – 6:00 pm

Halal status: HL1 - Halal by own observation

3. Warung Pulau Kelapa

Located really close to another one of Ubud's most famous eateries, Naughty Nuri's, Warung Pulau Kelapa serves Indonesian and some International food selections.

Led by Chef Lambon, Warung Pulau Kelapa occupies a joglo styled building, with both indoor and outdoor seating, including one set in a cow's cage setting. Another interesting feature of Warung Pulau Kelapa is the garden where guests can pick their own vegetables to be cooked by the kitchen staff, including the less common ones like Bunga Turi, or the edible flower of Sebasnia grandiflora.

To better fit the international audience, Warung Pulau Kelapa also applies #NoMSG policy.

It is not a coincidence then, that Warung Pulau Kelapa sits on the recommendation list of Indonesia's prominent food experts like William Wongso and Bondan Winarno.

Warung Pulau Kelapa
Address:
Jl. Raya Sanggingan,
Lungsiakan,
Ubud,
Bali,
Indonesia

Halal status: HL1 - Halal by own observation

4. Bale Udang Ubud 

Formerly known as Bale Udang Mang Engking, their Ubud branch is quite a new venue, Bale Udang Ubud is perhaps the only large sized restaurant in Ubud that serves Halal food. With parking space fits tourist busses and plenty cars all at once, the venue doesn't sacrifice quality for quantity, as the spaces are beautifully designed around the artificial pond, complete with individual bamboo huts erected over the water.

The restaurant is also well managed, and the foods are actually delicious, with affordable prices. It even has musholla (praying space) with decent facility.

As the name implies, Bale Udang Ubud serves prawn based dishes (Udang = prawn or shrimp) in several varieties like fried, grilled, honey marinated, boiled, or made into soup. They also serves other seafood like squid and crab, fresh water fishes like Carp and Gourami. And for the seafood challenged guests, there are also selections of beef, chicken and duck based dishes. There's quite something for everyone.

Bale Udang Ubud
Address:
Jl. Raya Goa Gajah,
Banjar Teges Kanginan,
Desa Peliatan,
Ubud,
Bali,
Indonesia
Website: http://www.baleudang.com/

Halal status: HL2 - Halal by seller's claim

5. Sitara Indian Restaurant

A decent Indian restaurant offering classic Indian food, which means normally there would be no pork, or beef, just mutton, chicken, prawn, fish, cheese, and lots lots lots of curry. 

Sitara Indian Restaurant

Address: 

Jalan Hanoman 99 X, 

Tegal, 

Ubud, 

Bali

Indonesia

☎ (+62) 361 977195

⌚ Opens: 11:00 am – 10:00 pm
🚗 90 minutes from Airport

Halal status: HL1 - Halal by own observation

6. Taco Casa

Serving Mexican favourite like Tacos, Enchiladas, Burritos, Quesadillas, and Fajitas, it's quite a rarity that they uses only beef and chicken for the meat selection. But we're grateful for that.

Taco Casa

Address: 

Jl. Pengosekan, 

Ubud, 

Gianyar, 

Bali 80571

Indonesia

☎ (+62) 812 2422 2357

✉ social@bali-bohemia.com 
💻 http://tacocasabali.com
⌚ Opens: 11:00 am – 10:00 pm
🚗 90 minutes from Airport

Halal status: HL1 - Halal by own observation

7. Sari Organik

Serving mostly organic and locally grown vegetable dishes, Sari Organik offers selection of local and international vegetarian dishes on their menu. When the menu is not vegetarian, they uses either chicken, or fish.

The catch -- or the beauty, depends on how you see it -- is that you have to walk through the rice fields for about 15 minutes as Sari Organik is located deep in the countryside, where only human and motorcycles (and water buffalos of course) can fit to the narrow path in between the rice fields. Some are so narrow that you have to step aside to give way to motorcycle passing by.

Impressive? Absolutely, if you've never seen rice fields up close before, or having your meal in the beautiful bamboo hut surrounded by lush green rice fields. But if rice fields is already abundant in your regular daily sights, Sari Organik still worth a visit, at least once.

Just don't forget to bring extra clothes and plan your trip outside of Bali's most hot hours. The setting sun do look beautiful to watch from here.

Warung Bodag Maliah Sari Organik

Address: 

In the middle of Tjampuhan countryside
Jl. Raya Tjampuhan, 

Ubud, 

Gianyar, 

Bali

⌚ Opens: 8:00 am – 8:00 pm
☎ (+62) 361 972087
🚗 120 minutes from Airport

Park your vehicle on the roadside, then continue by walking.

Halal status: HL1 - Halal by own observation

8. Bali Bohemia

It's a funky new hangout opened in early 2015, located just outside the Monkey Forest Ubud's rear entrance gate. Bali Bohemia offer various meze (appetizers) from Levantine cuisine, like hummus, tabouleh, and baba ghanoush.

Best reached through Nyuh Kuning, branched off the main Pengosekan street, Bali Bohemia offers a laid back atmosphere with lovely mural paintings, and lots of beautiful beads and trinkets.

Bali Bohemia 
Address:
Banjar Nyuh Kuning,
Jl Nyuh Bojog,
Monkey Forest Gate D
Ubud
Bali
Indonesia
☎ (+62) 361 978361
✉ social@bali-bohemia.com 
💻 bali-bohemia.com
🚗 90 minutes from Airport

Halal status: HL1 - Halal by own observation, HL2 - Halal by seller's claim

Last, some general notes:

1. Should you're nowhere near these recommendations, as a general rule you can expect all Padang Restaurants are 100% Halal, Vegetarian Restaurants are your next best chance to have Halal food, and Indian Restaurants are also worth options to inspect.
2. Most of the restaurants recommended above serves alcohol, which is among the reason why many don't bother to try getting certified by halal certification body (Majelis Ulama Indonesia - MUI) in Indonesia.
3. Observation and personal judgement should always be practiced, as these recommendations are made through a limited mean of personal observation which includes visual and listed ingredients inspection, interview with the restaurant staff, backed up with online research and peer opinions. 

There you are folks, your list of halal food recommendation in Ubud for your holiday. Which one is your favorite? Do let us know should you have other halal food recommendations in Ubud to include in the list. (byms)

Serving as the base camp for our Ubud Food Festival activities is the charming hotel Alaya Ubud. Looks narrow and unassuming from the front, the hotel is actually big, just that it's stretched a couple of hundred meters deep.

Located next to the Yoga Barn, Alaya is easy to spot, and ample of parking spaces are available. There are three main attraction at this beautiful resort hotel: The room (definitely), Dala Spa, and Petani Restaurant with live music performance featuring Bali's best talents. During the day, Petani also serves as a good meeting ground with its elegant chic interior.

Around Alaya Ubud, there's a lot of attraction you can visit by walking, eliminating the need of a cab. A major supermarket sits almost right next to the hotel, 15 minutes walk to the Monkey Forest, and a lot of interesting restaurants and shops only a walking distance away.

The Stay

First, service is awesome, loosely structured and feels genuine, no cliche. With only 60 rooms capacity, this is among the luxury you can experience from the staff in Alaya Ubud. For example, when I got back from my talk in Ubud Food Festival, the guest relation staff recognized me almost immediately, even though I'm sure that was the first time we met. Wanting to quickly get out of my sweat ridden t-shirt from the earlier activity, I was then accompanied by a younger male staff, who's also already know me by name, all the way to my room where my wife and kids are waiting.

On the down side the walk to our room on the third floor was unexpectedly long, given the narrow-deep hotel layout and our room was located quite to the rear end of the resort. There's also no elevator or ramps available meaning we can't carry the baby stroller either.

The view was amazing though. While I'm no stranger to rice fields, since I grew up with rice fields surrounding my house and treat them as my playground, the view is soothing nonetheless. I heard that the hotel bought those rice fields around the hotel, just so it can be preserved as is.

The room itself was simply beautiful. I love how the design makes the room felt cultured, with the texture, colors, and artworks, but not bare traditional, as the in-room facilities and the honeycomb patterned door nicely adds the contemporary feels.

The bowl shaped bathtub with natural lighting was surely gained my 6 years old kid attention, who's favourite hotel activity includes either swimming, or bubble bath, or both. Both the shower and the bathtub occupied an open space though, divided only by curtain with the rest of the room. Suitable for couples and families with little kids, it might feels a bit awkward for those not used to open space bathrooms.

The room was spacious, and its bed was enough to fit the whole crew of 2 3/4 people (2 adults, 1 kid, 1 baby). And what begun as a joke to address the daybed as "kid's bed" ends up with our kid actually slept on it, believing that joke to be true.

Outside of the room (literally), the other wonderful feature of Alaya Ubud's rooms are the balconies. Facing the lush green rice fields, it's equipped with comfy couch perfect to snuggle with your loved one(s), while enjoying the fresh air of Ubud.

While Alaya also have afternoon tea down at Petani as complimentary of our stay, we skipped it as our agenda for the rest of the afternoon was to enjoy the luxury treatment of Dala Spa.

Mesmerizing Dala Spa

Located at the at the hotel's farthest end, Dala Spa's lobby is at the second floor and the treatment room downstairs at the ground floor. What's special with Dala Spa is that each room have different themes, all were elegant and mesmerizing in their own ways.

Surprisingly, Dala Spa also has their own Spa menu which includes a nice set of high tea, with array of unique tea blends.

As we took quite a lot of beautiful shots here, it's only proper to put the Dala Spa experience in its own article. Stay tuned.

Dinner time at Petani Restaurant

For the evening, I heads down to Petani Restaurant. The view turned into dramatic with the lights turned on.

As Mrs. Epicurina suddenly experiencing a terrible headache, I have to enjoy the dinner alone. A pity, but still enjoyable nonetheless, especially with the live entertainment by Bali's own prodigy music artist Balawan.

Known for his double necked guitar and his unique tapping method, Balawan performance that night was both joyful and stunning. Combining intricate tunes with Balinese elements, Balawan combine technical prowess with ethnicity nuance beautifully blend it. This is for sure not your usual dinner band.

Later during the end of his performance, Balawan was also joined by one of his audience in a three way "battle" of scatting, Djembe drum playing, and Balawan mimicking gamelan on his guitar!

To accompany the evening, I ordered Grilled Jimbaran Bay Tuna. Two slabs of thick and juicy tuna, stacked on top of purple potato puree and edamame beans. The tuna was marinated with Kintamani lime and soy sauce, lightly grilled to create the firm surface, while at the same time maintaining the pinky juicy tuna meat inside. Well done!

I did find the dressing of spiced orange reduction a bit challenging though, since the purple potato is already sweet, and the dressing was even sweeter.

Breakfast in Alaya Ubud

Several options are available for breakfast in Alaya Ubud, you can pick from the Indonesian Nasi Kuning Komplit, Eggs, or Pancake. I certainly went for the poached eggs, on top of toasted baguette, perfected by a layer of smoked salmon. Delish! I always love the moment I sliced the poached eggs open and let the runny egg yolks melted out.

We find the Nasi Kuning a bit too mellow for our local tastebuds though, while our kid certainly enjoyed his freshly made choco chips pancake.

All of the breakfast choices includes a set of sliced fresh fruits, juices, homemade yogurt, bread basket with homemade jams, and a choice of coffee or tea. While it's not a buffet breakfast, it's surely fulfilling.

Conclusion and feedbacks

On overall our stay was awesome, the staffs were attentive, their Dala Spa's High Tea has definitely one of the best savory snacks among all the high teas in Bali. We love the bedroom and the bowl shaped bathtub, and the balcony was relaxing.

I would love to see flavor enhancement on some of their food, and there should be a better way to address family traveling with babies, or with elders, as for both cases the long walk might be an issue.

Where's your favorite place to stay in Ubud? Share with us!

Thank you Alaya Ubud for introducing your lovely resort to our Epicurina readers. As usual, all opinions are of my own. (byms)

It's been raining hard for some while that afternoon in Ubud, and the streets color in Waze has turned red signalling heavy traffic everywhere. As we passed through some shortcuts to evade those traffic jams, it begun to look like our car are driving on a river stream instead of on a road. Thankfully Ubud sits on a hill instead of on a flat lands like Jakarta so the waters quickly ran away instead of forming impassable pools.

Nonetheless we still need to wait for some while in our car, looking for a good timing to step out as weren't sure our tiny umbrellas will be able to save us from getting drenched on our way to Hujan Locale.

We weren't deterred with all the situation though, as we're quite thrilled to try out Will Meyrick's newest restaurant "Hujan Locale" and what sort of uniqueness he puts on the table this time. I always find Will Meyrick's Kitchen Sessions fascinating so I'm kind of setting a high expectation for the dinner. And after all, a visit to Hujan Locale wouldn't be complete without some actual rain wouldn't it?

Hujan Locale

Occupying the building where Jendela Frech Bistro was, next to the buzzing Seniman Coffee, parking space is always an issue, especially for cars. However as Hujan Locale located quite close to the street's southern entrance, guests can park their cars at the public parking space near Anomali Coffee and walk a short distance to the venue.

Hujan Locale is Will Meyrick's fifth restaurant after Sarong and Mama San, both in Bali, E&O in Jakarta, and Mama San Hong Kong. Later this year according to Hujan Locale's PR Lia, there will be another restaurant opening in Malaysia, and two more in Bali: one is Maluku and the other is Mama San Thai.

Hujan Locale itself takes shape as an extension to the localization effort Will Meyrick has already done in Sarong, and focusing more on the slow food kinds, with "found and foraged" and "farm to table" style cooking. That means, expect to see some creative recreation of both local and international dishes on the menu.

Greeted by the staff, we were quickly ushered into our table where Lia has already waiting there for some time.

While there's not much of a view outside, the rustic comfortable French Vietnam atmosphere do help sets the guests mood in a comfortable laid back mode. To adds some accent to the relaxing atmosphere, you can find simplistic illustration prints on parts of the restaurant, including on its plates.

The Eating Experience

After consulting with our host Lia, we begun our dining experience with some entrees that together will provide a good insight into what Hujan Locale is all about. So let's jump in!

First came the wood-roasted bone marrow with parsley lemon garlic capers andaliman bread crumbs with gentlemen’s relish and brioche (IDR 70K). The home made brioche was soft, and it was seared with a bit of butter to achieve its crusty surface. The bone marrow itself has a mild and creamy flavour, it has a melt in your mouth consistency, while the roasting adds in a smoky aroma to the bone marrow.

Next came the Portuguese squid ink rice with crispy calamari and gremolata aioli (80K). Blackened using the squid ink, the dish looks striking in its white plate. It has a slightly umami taste and what best described as a gentle sea flavor, which provides a nice tease to my taste buds. The chunks of squid meat in between the dish also provides a good contrast between the softness of the black rice, and the rubbery character of the squid. It's easy to say that this squid ink rice was one of the high notes of our dinner in Hujan Locale Ubud.

The Home salted Balinese grouper with sambal matah torch ginger flower was the most surprising dish as we weren't expecting ikan asin, even though the menu clearly written so. Drawing inspiration from the Portuguese Bacalhau, it's a mix of softened salted fish and assorted Balinese spices, which was quite an unfamiliar territory to me. Not that I disliked salted fish, it was just that I never had it with toasted bread, or cooked in such way. I'm curious how it would taste with some lime juice added in though, and pairs it with some crackers or Indian bread.

Next came the Head to tail goat sausage paired with "rujak", it contains all of the goat parts in coarse chunks, which creates the nice crumbly meat texture in the midst of the chewy casing. Surprisingly it has a proper goat character that stopped before going overboard, hence my very picky eating partner when it comes to meat can enjoy it as well.

The accompanying rujak while provided a balancing zest and spiciness, sits quite in a far end of the spectrum thus creating a high contrast to the sausage. It's among the spiciest zestiest very Indonesian taste I have ever encountered, and it comes from a bule chef, in a such fine restaurant. Amazing.

The Smoked “mac and cheese” with sour cream fenugreek cumin and chat masala (50K) serves as a safe getaway for our 6 years old, whose taste bud hasn't really welcomes the more mature flavor palette. By the way it was all good for adults as well, should you crave for one.

And that's all of the entrees we crazily ordered, forgotten that Will Meyrick's dishes seldom comes in single portion. So there we were, already gasping for breath when we finally arrived to the main section of the dinner.

Crispy fish served with a sweet chili sauce coriander lime leaf and deep fried basil (150K) was a nice surprise, the sauce brings sweetness and just mild spiciness that enhance the goodness of a crispy fried fish. Added as the accent was the fried basil and curry leaves (temurui) that usually found in Acehnese Ayam Tangkap dish. Nicely done!

Hujan’s spice rubbed seared rib eye steak served with wood roasted garlic confit tomato and a mint gribiche (160K) was definitely a dark horse of the dinner, as it possessed the tenderness and flavorsome quality rarely found in local beef. Paired it with the creamy sauce, the roasted tomato, and the succulent roasted garlic, it created a merry composition that compliment each other really well. Top notch.

The Farm raised organic spring chicken with madras butter roasted pumpkin carrots cassava apple black radish and mustard leaf kachoori salad (100K) is another dish well done. I love how the chicken attains the good balance of moistness and the firmness. The flavor has a noticeable zesty character that goes well with the chicken's natural savoury flavour. The crusted rubs you see flocked on the chicken skin provides a flavorsome addition to the chicken. Kudos for serving cassava instead of the usual potatoes, and generally I just love baked veggies and this one was done well. The provided salad, again, put a nice contrast into the savory zesty dish.

Thank you Will Meyrick and the wonderful Hujan Locale people for the invitation. (byms)

Hujan Locale
A hedonistic harvest enriching the cuisine of Asia with the heritage of ‘home’

Open 12noon - 3pm
And 6pm - 11pm

Jalan Sri Wedari 5,
Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
+62 361 849 3092
www.HujanLocale.com

What's Next?

Find more Hujan Locale pictures on Instagram using hashtag #hujanlocale, or see more of the pictures here:

It took me by a complete surprise when Ibu Janet De Neefe offered the chance to participate in Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2014. I read her invitation email several times to make sure I wasn't misinterpreting her message, and I was so excited I don't think I've sent her a proper thank you yet!

To better explain the magnitude of Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF), it brings together no less than 150 writers from around Indonesia and 25 other countries, sharing their view on global issues, big ideas and extraordinary stories. With this magnitude, UWRF might be the most important annual International event in Ubud, hence feeling thrilled and dwarfed at the same time is a bit normal reaction I guess.

As a foodie, I find UWRF becomes even more interesting when it begun to incorporate culinary topics and workshops performing national renowned hosts like William Wongso, Bondan Winarno, and Chef Wan from our neighboring country Malaysia.

The Event

Representing Bali food bloggers, I will be doing a blogger sharing session on the first day of Kitchen Sessions, side by side with Ibu Amanda Katili Niode from Omar Niode Foundation.

Ibu Amanda herself is Chair of Omar Niode Foundation, a nonprofit organization in Indonesia working to raise awareness on the quality of education and human resources in the field of agriculture, food, and culinary arts. She's also Indonesia’s First Certified Culinary Travel Professional of The World Food Travel Association, as well as member of National Council on Climate Change, and Manager of The Climate Reality Project Indonesia. We've met before on one of the event she sponsored in Bali about creative cuisine and sustainable tourism.

As the topic, we settled on sharing our stories about Street Foods. Yes, those good ol' culinary treats you enjoy side by side with the bustling traffic!

Why does it matters? Because beside of its yummy and cheap price, they often act as the front runners in promoting the local cuisine culture, as well as becoming inseparable part of a traveling experience.

This feat will be in line with my contributions into the writing of Makansutra Indonesia 2013 Guide book last year, and series of article writings I've done for in-flight and food magazines outlining the beauty of Bali's street foods.

To accompany the street food experience, I will also bring variety of street food satays for the audience to sample.

Should you're in Ubud for the festival, don't forget to stop by. It's free and there's 20 seats only! (byms)

More information about The Kitchen Program.
More information about UWRF
More information about Omar Niode Foundation.

Location map:

If you've been fascinated with Bale Udang Mang Engking Kuta, they now have a new branch opening in Ubud, at Jalan Goa Gajah, just next to the famous Bebek Tepi Sawah.

Read our coverage of the event here: http://www.epicurina.com/articles/13-published/63270-bale-udang-mang-engking-ubud-grand-opening (byms)