Bali

A thick, moist, well-seasoned and perfectly medium Aussie Wagyu patty topped with a slice of melted cheddar; crunchy bacon strips; lashings of smokey housemade bbq sauce; and, as they literally call it, crispy AF onion rings. Penny Lane calls this their Lord of The Rings burger which, though it made me think onion rings would’ve been the star in the stack, was undeniably tasty, well executed, and easily puts some of the burgers back home to shame. I didn’t like their sesame seed buns, which were the stale kind you get right outta the supermarkets, but at the price of SGD10.50/IDR105k I have nothing to complain about.

A stack of moist potato cake, smothered under a heap of garlicky shrooms, tender local spinach, smoked ham, crispy bacon, perfectly poached egg, and a fountain of buttery hollandaise 🤤 I’d not believe you aren’t drooling at this rn. Of the 10 plates (yep that’s how much we ate) we tried at Crate Cafe, this was by far the best imho. It’s all my favourite things on a plate for just SGD5.50/IDR55k, and I’m facing some serious brunch withdrawals just writing this now.

Funny we never thought of having gelato the whole time in 🌞 Bali! So we tried quite a few flavours (Lemon sorbet, Crema, Salted Caramel, Almond, and a hazelnut chocolate one), and I have to say every one of them were fantastic. The sorbet was refreshingly zingy without causing us to flinch continuously, hazelnut choc was akin to a refined nutella, and the crema tasted like the most comforting bowl of custard. What most impressed me though was the almond. Very similar to the local kinda almond dessert boasting the pungency I generally dislike, but a lot milder and exceedingly creamy.

It’s basically fried chicken served with a kickass spicy sambal, along side rice or noodles. Sounds simple, but the star of the show here’s really their sambal, which runs from a spicy level of 1-10. I mean I pride myself on my spice tolerance alright it’s better than average; but man level 2 of this had me sweating buckets. It’s so good though so you really can’t help being a little masochistic, whacking the sambal while know yo ass gonna burn the next day 🤷🏻‍♀️ If you want something a little kinder, the sambal matah’s got tons of shallots which lends slightly sweeter flavour — it’s really good.

We had such a great meal there yesterday, we decided that brunch HAD to be there again. It’s not that the food’s mind blowing/evolutionary/particular inventive, but what you get’s an extremely hearty, wholesome, generous meal at just SGD5.50. Every dish on the menu’s priced at IDR55k flat, and the portion’s enough to feed two I swear!! Take this Frenchie: my plate had a croissant bigger than my face, stuffed with mozzarella, scrambled eggs and smoked ham, with tons of crumbled feta cheese and sweet cherry tomatoes on the side. It’s soooo satisfying.

I’m a huge fan of nice creams really so this Chia Boi with frozen banana and cacao powder was a no brainer from the start. Thick, cold, and super refreshing, I can promise you it tasted 100% like a chocolate smoothie with a tinge of banana. And then you’ve got bits of sweet fresh strawberries, a drizzle of creamy coconut milk, and very lightly sweetened chia seed pudding — so healthy and yummy! Even our friends who aren’t fans of “healthy food fads” loved it!

My greedy tummy got the best of me when I saw “Doughnuts with Kaya Jam” cause who doesn’t like kaya?! (Rhetoric btw.) The kaya dip was fine, I could taste the coconut in it though I’d prefer it to be bolder and richer. The doughnuts though were super bready, heavy, and completely tasteless aside from the sprinkling of icing sugar on top. Oh wells 🤷🏻‍♀️

I was recommended this café by both friends and Balinese locals for their stellar grub at really reasonable prices, and though it’s not among the popular touristy must-visit spots, it was really near our villa and I was hungry so we ended up there. First thing I noticed was their massive (I mean MASSIVE) menu. You can find everything from sandwiches, typical brunchy fare, to pastas, stews, and the local favourite babi guling. That scared me a little cause we all know how places like these end up a middling jack of all trades and master of none.

Well I was wrong. The food there was indeed 👌🏻👍🏻💕 Babi guling was very well executed by a hippie café’s standards, and the pastrami sandwich I had hit all the right notes — it’s possibly even better than the average ones you’d find in Singapore. I won’t say any of them were game changing in the least, but they were definitely extremely tasty and worth every buck. Pastrami sandwich had truckloads of pastrami (more ham than pastrami though tbh) in it, all held together between slices of fantastic rye bread. Babi guling: can’t say much cause unfortunately this was the only one I had during our trip, but it was definitely tasty and, according to friends who’ve tried the local dish elsewhere, authentic.