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Gourmet Garage has long been the major produce supplier to the best restaurants and hotels in Bali. The Jimbaran premises have been continually updated by the Lotus Group over recent years and are now an amazing place to visit. The small café at the front has always been popular for a coffee during shopping trips but now takes on a new honour, of being maybe Bali’s best steak house. The meat section at Gourmet Garage has a complete range of product that includes an amazing selection of portion-sized steaks, local, Australian, New Zealand or from the U.S.A, grain or grass fed and wet or dry aged. You can purchase a steak [the butchers will cut whatever you want] at commercial prices [what the restaurants pay], and the café will cook it for you for an extra Rp.55,000. You can even have a sauce added if you wish [black pepper or mushroom]. So if you are a steak lover, then take yourself to Jimbaran for a feast you will not forget.
Westin Nusa Dua is very progressive in its approach too the current pandemic problems, and the subsequent lack of tourists They have combined with leading Bali chefs to operate at the Westin restaurants. Velada x Sacred Rice sees famous Singaporean chef James Tan present his popular dishes from Sacred Rice in Ubud for 3 months, from March 11 till June 11. Tan serves local Indonesian produce with South East Asian flavors in a simple tapas style. Tan describes his Asian cuisine as a blend of fresh local ingredients. Combined with Asian spices and cooked with a light touch. Presentation is simple and elegant. Tan has been a multiple winner in the Amex Best Asia Restaurant Awards and is a long-time recipient of The Australian Age Good Food Guide Awards when operating The Duck at Melbourne’s Crown Casino complex and Magic City. Also at The Westin, Kerobokan restaurant Merah Pituh is currently operating the Velada outlet.
Golden Lotus is the Cantonese restaurant at The Bali Dynasty, Tuban. They are offering a Sunday Dim Sum Buffet. The ‘All you can eat’ buffet is normally priced at Rp. 185,000 Nett but for the month of March it is on offer at 15% off, only Rp.158,000 Nett, [Rp. 88,000 for kids 12 and under]. Due to the limited numbers of tables available in order to follow the social distancing policy of the new normal, prior reservation is advised ahead of time to avoid disappointment. At other times Golden Lotus offers an extensive a la carte menu that features their special Peking Duck in three preparations. First the traditional duck skin in pancakes with black bean sauce, then shredded duck meat with either dried chilli sauce or black bean sauce, then duck bones in a vegetable soup [Rp. 565,000] or alternately there is also Shanghai Chicken and Sesame in two preparations [Rp. 280,000] Chicken skin in pancakes with black bean sauce, then shredded chicken meat in black bean sauce.
L’Osteria, on the corner of Jln. Hanoman and Monkey Forest Road, has stayed open, with well spaced tables, also offering takeaway and home delivery. Their Pappardelle Bolognese that I often enjoy here is perhaps the best pasta dish I have ever enjoyed in Bali. Homemade pasta, soft anddelicate, a perfect size portion for a pasta dish and well balanced with the beef ragu. Their Pizzas have a large crusty rim and are laden with toppings. There is a full range of the usual Italian mains but a little different is their Zuppa del Capitano, a fisherman’s stew served with roasted garlic crostini bread and their Burrata Italiana, a whole Burrata mozzarella with confitcherry tomatoes and rocket salad.
JK [Just Kitchen] is a Georgian restaurant on Umalas II. Traditional Georgian food includes these wonderful dumplings which can be filled with Beef, lamb or be totally vegetarian. The accompanying sauce is with either yoghurt or Georgian Adjika. Adjika is a hot, spicy but subtly flavoured paste used to flavour food mainly in the Caucasian regions of Abkhazia and Samegrelo. Adjika is usually red, though green ajika can be made with unripe peppers. The name itself comes from the Abkhaz word аџьыка “salt” – the more descriptive аџьыкаҟaҧшь (literally, “red salt”) and аџьыкаҵәаҵәа are also used to refer specifically to ajika. The Abkhazian variant of adjika is based on a boiled preparation of hot red peppers, garlic, herbs and spices such as coriander, dill, blue fenugreek (only found in mountain regions such as the Alps or the Caucasus), salt and walnut. A dry form of adjika exists that is sometimes called svanuri marili in Georgian (“Svanetian salt”); this looks like small red clumps mixed with a looser version of the spice mixture.
Usha Cafe & Bakery, Jln. Bumbak Dauh, Kerobokan is under the same management as the popular Usha in Ubud. They are from The Ukraine, Ukraine including that famous soup Borsch [beetroot] and Chebureks and Varaneki [dumplings]. They also offer a range of Russian dishes. There are a range of set menus for breakfast, and lunch as well as any-time snacks. However it is their exotic cakes that many come for. These can be pre-ordered for special occasions [pictured]\.
By Gerry Williams
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