The best way to eat in Bali is to use all of its tiers: family warungs for everyday meals, a few specialist restaurants for signature dishes such as roast suckling pig, and the southern beach towns when you want a modern Indonesian or international dinner with a view. If you are searching for a restaurant in Bali, decide first which of those you want, because they differ enormously in price, booking and atmosphere.
Bali feeds visitors at extremes. At one end is a family warung with four tables and a counter of dishes where a full meal costs almost nothing and is better than most of what you will pay ten times more for. At the other is a beach town with an international restaurant scene, imported chefs, sunset terraces and prices that would not embarrass a European capital. Both are worth your time, and the mistake is spending a whole trip at one end without realising the other exists.
The tiers of eating out in Bali
The five kinds of place
Warungs. Family-run, tiny, cheap, and the real food of the island. A mixed rice plate from a counter is the everyday meal.
Specialist places. Restaurants that make one thing, most famously the slow-roasted suckling pig, and are known across Bali for it.
Seafood on the coast, grilled over coconut husks, chosen from ice and served on the sand at the fish markets on the southern bays.
Modern Indonesian kitchens, mostly in the south and Ubud, taking local ingredients seriously at a higher price.
International restaurants in the southern beach towns, which are genuinely good and are not why you came.
Which tier suits you?
| Tier | Best for | Booking | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warung | Everyday lunches and dinners, trying local dishes | Never | Very low |
| Specialist | One signature dish done properly | Not usually, but go early | Low to moderate |
| Coastal seafood | A memorable dinner on the sand | Rarely, but sunset is busy | Moderate, priced by weight |
| Modern Indonesian | A special evening, local ingredients treated seriously | Yes, ahead | Higher |
| International | Variety, a change from rice, long dinners | Yes in the south | Higher |
The prices are relative rather than quoted, because menus change often. Check the current menu or ask before you order anything priced by weight.
What to eat
The dishes worth seeking out
The suckling pig (babi guling), roasted whole over wood for hours, which is the island’s signature and a specialist dish rather than a menu item.
A mixed rice plate (nasi campur), where you point at what you want from a counter and it arrives around a mound of rice.
Satay, in several regional forms, including a minced version on lemongrass sticks (sate lilit).
Grilled fish on the coast, priced by weight and chosen before it is cooked.
The ceremonial duck (bebek betutu), wrapped and cooked slowly for hours, which many places only prepare if you order it a day ahead.
Sambals, which are where the heat lives, served alongside rather than in the dish.
Handling the heat
Places used to foreign customers often reduce the chilli by default, so the real thing can be considerably hotter. Ask for sambal on the side, taste a small amount first, and add more only once you know which one you have. Saying tidak pedas (not spicy) is understood almost everywhere.
Where to eat it
By area
In Ubud, a dense mix of warungs, healthy cafes and serious kitchens within a walk.
In the southern beach towns, the widest range and the international end. Our guide to Seminyak covers the restaurant strip that anchors it.
On the southern bays, the fish markets and grill stalls, at sunset, on plastic chairs on the sand.
In the villages, wherever you happen to be, which is where warung food is at its best and cheapest.
One street back from any main tourist road, which is the reliable rule here as everywhere.
Matching the place to the traveller
Budget travellers and anyone curious about the food should lean on warungs and markets. Couples marking an occasion will want a modern Indonesian kitchen or a sunset table in the south, booked ahead. Families usually do best with casual seafood on the sand or a warung with a long counter, where children can see and point at what they are getting. Vegetarians are well served almost everywhere, as noted below.
How to pick a good warung
There is no menu to research, so you read the room. A simple routine works well:
- Look for a busy counter or a steady stream of locals, especially at lunch. High turnover means fresh food.
- Choose dishes that are hot or freshly cooked rather than anything that looks like it has sat lukewarm for hours.
- Point at what you want, and ask for sambal on the side.
- Ask the price if nothing is displayed, since a counter meal is usually charged by what is on the plate.
- Pay in cash at the end, ideally with smaller notes.
Stomach upsets happen, and they are more often about ice, water and unwashed salad than about cooked food. Drink bottled or properly filtered water.
Practical notes
Cash for warungs and markets, cards at established restaurants.
Service charge and tax are added at restaurants and are normal rather than a surprise; the total on the menu may not be the total on the bill.
Ice and water at established places are treated; tap water is not for drinking anywhere.
Vegetarians do well here, since a great deal of Indonesian food is vegetable and tempeh based, and dedicated places abound.
Ceremony days close restaurants, sometimes at short notice, which is part of being here.
Book the sunset tables well ahead in the south.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Eating only on the main tourist strip, then concluding that Bali food is expensive and ordinary.
- Turning up for the roast pig mid-afternoon, or expecting the slow-cooked duck without asking ahead.
- Assuming the menu price is the final price, then being surprised by service charge and tax.
- Skipping warungs because they look basic. The simplicity is the point.
- Adding sambal by the spoonful before tasting it.
- Taking ice or salad from an unknown roadside source without thinking.
- Not booking a sunset table in the south and ending up with a late table or none.
Where this fits
For what the dishes actually are, region by region and ingredient by ingredient, our Bali food guide is the place to start.
And for the daytime half of eating here, the coffee, the bowls and the long breakfasts that the island is now famous for, our guide to the best cafes in Bali covers where to sit.
The short version
Eat at warungs far more than you expect to, because that is where the food is and it costs almost nothing. Try the roast suckling pig at a specialist rather than on a hotel menu, and order the slow-cooked duck a day in advance. Have one seafood dinner on the sand at a southern fish market. Use the international restaurants in the south deliberately rather than by default, and book the sunset ones ahead. Take a cooking class early in the trip so the menus make sense for the rest of it, and be careful with sambal until you know which one you have.
After dark the cheapest and often the best food is at a pasar malam. Our guide to Bali’s night markets covers where they are and what to eat.
