Bites: Another Meal of Babi Guling @ Warung Babi Guling Ibu Oka

Done with the breakfast, our driver paced through the small roads leading to the sleepy town of Ubud.  After over an hour of driving, the only thing that have seemed to pass really quickly was time.  The road leading to Ubud is a cross between a rally trail thanks to its windy road and a bumper car with all the holes in the road.  We soon reached Ubud and decided to get something to drink as the windy road took a toll on our stomachs.  After coffee at Seniman Coffee Studio, I recovered my appetite and was ready to go.  If there was ever one thing that I wanted to try so badly, it was the famed Babi Guling by Ibu Oka.  This Ubud staple is a household name that is popular amongst tourist and locals alike.  While its fame saw it grow to three shops around the town of Ubud, was it really worth the hype?

The all season Indonesian drink and a Babi Guling essential, Teh Botol.  I have probably had 15 bottles while I was there haha.

There is only one thing people order when they dine at Warung Ibu Oka.  It is the Babi Guling.

On first glance, it looks like every other Babi Guling out there.  You get the bits and pieces of pork stir fry, a little element of crisp from the deep fried pork, a chopped up spit roast pig and to top it off, a glossy shard of pork crackle.   While all Babi Guling look about the same, it was in the finer details where the difference was.  Here, the pork crackling failed to deliver the crunch that other places did.  Instead, it came with the need of a dental floss.  The sticky shards of crackle between my gums was the worst feeling ever.  Then comes the overly oily combinations that coated my rice with a yellow stained grease. But what was Warung Ibu Oka’s no.1 failure?  There was no standout flavour among the many elements on the plate.  Its as though everything on the plate summed up to nothingness and not the porky goodness one would normally expect.

Babi Goreng Tepung was an extra that we ordered.

This is essentially deep fried battered pork, except that it did not come out piping hot and crunchy!  :(  I really wondered whether it was just a bad day at Warung Ibu Oka or its just the way it is.

In my last trip to Ubud, my friend previously advised against going to Warung Ibu Oka.  But hearing how this institution built a reputation for the sleepy town of Ubud, I just had to try it.  Alas, trust the local and move on.  Warung Ibu Oka might previously be the king of the Babi Guling's porky goodness, but it was now clear to me that whatever mention Ibu Oka get is just a momentum of the past.

WenY

Bali 2016: Breakfast by the Paddy Fields @ Nook, Kerobokan.

Today was road trip day to Ubud.  But before we hit the famous rice fields of Ubud, we stopped for a little morning feed.  Today’s breakfast venue is Nook, a brunch spot located by a vast paddy field.  This little cafe or rather this restaurant if you like, is no more than a little shack right off your suburb road.  It could be anywhere but it had to be right by the paddy fields haha. Gimmicky I would say but never doubt the advantages of what the green pastures have to offer.

But nothing is more important than the food when I am hunting down for a good morning chow.  The table pretty much ordered the staples that we have been having over the last few days.  As you’d expect it Nasi Goreng and Mee Goreng.

Nook’s cooking style of both the Nasi Goreng and Mee Goreng were pretty similar to the one in the hotel I stayed in as well as the one I had in Biku.  Both were fried decently but this one came with all the little bits and pieces that makes it a tad more presentable. Grilled chicken skewer and roast chicken pieces were pretty decent.  But of them all, the most important accompaniment of them all is a perfectly cooked sunny side up.  That yolk was drool!

The Mee Goreng was of a similar calibre to the Nasi Goreng.  But, one thing different was the use to Kecap Manis or sweet soy.  I acknowledge the flavour that sugar adds to dishes but I am definitely not the biggest sweet tooth out there. If I could, I would definitely cut that recap manis back a bit as the dish would have been sickening if the serve was any larger. I would not mind having a sunny side up on my noodles too :P!

Food wise,  what Nook served was pretty decent but I was not too sure whether its been any different from the other breakfast spots I have been to.  But what made a difference though was the fresh morning breeze blowing ever so lightly.  Add that to the green pastures of the paddy field and perhaps after ridiculing how gimmicky Nook was, I started appreciating its location a lot more.

Bali 2016: Modern Asian @ Mama San, Seminyak

For Sunday night’s dinner in Bali we set foot into modern Thai restaurant Mama San.  This cool joint is the brain child of Chef Will Meyrick who has already made his mark in the Asia Best 50 list with his other high profile diner Sarong.  But instead of donning his waitstaff with the formality of Sarong, Mama San is his popular venture which sports a more casual appeal serving the masses with its modern Asian food.  While I have not tried Sarong, I was definitely super keen to see what was in store for us at Mama San in Seminyak.  (Just so you know, Chef Will Meyrick has opened two other Mama Sans in Hong Kong and Malaysia too!

Roasted Peking duck with steamed choy sum & red bean sauce.

Most of the time when you get Peking Duck its only the skin that is served because the rest of the duck is rarely marinated hence the other courses like the Sang Choy Bow comes to play.  At Mama San, it was served like a Roasted Duck along side the Chinese staple of steamed choy sum and some “tim cheong”.  The crisp duck skin really made an impression along with its juicy flesh.  However, what I questioned was whether Mama San has overdone the sauce because it was hard to appreciate the duck when it was drowned in all that sauce.  After all if one was eating Peking Duck, you would only have a small dash of sauce although some might say its a matter of personal preference.

Vietnamese Grilled Prawn on Sugar Cane with rice paper roll and nuoc cham.

Next we had these amazing grilled prawns.  It has been a long time since I last had these and I really loved it.  These garlicky prawn skewers are slightly sweet and almost like fish cakes but made out of prawns.  This was a DIY session as we used these skewers to make Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls! Summers!

Chatuchak crispy pork ribs with green mango peanuts & Nam Yam dressing.

Named after the largest market in Thailand, these finger licking good dish reminds me of the food I have had in Thailand.  Crispy pork ribs were seasoned so well it reminded me of Som Tam Nua’s Fried Chicken.  This dish was extremely palatable.  The pork ribs for were fried well and flesh was tender!  Then you have the sweet/sour Mango Salad which helped de-grease all that porky action that just happened.  Its that sort of balance that makes Thai cuisine so popular all over the world.  Two extremes on a plate that balances out one another to create a whole lot of roller coaster in your mouth.

Roasted Duck Red Curry.

Red curry and rice is one of the best Thai dishes to go with rice.  This was no exception with its deep red curry sauce ever creamy and rich in spices.  Unlike the overly sweet Peking Duck, the level of sweetness in the curry was spot on.  I also felt like the sweetness had sense of fruitiness and acidity which really complements the creamy sauce. But be careful of the baby eggplants!  They are like little land minuses they are really bitter when you bite into them.

Crispy whole fish with three-flavor sauce wild ginger turmeric pineapple chilli & tamarind.

Last but not least was the three flavoured fish. Thai cuisine’s habit of putting the three flavours of sweet, sour and salty consistently across its dishes makes Thai cuisine some of the most appealing cuisines in the world.  This was no different.  The fish was perfect with its mild chilli jam sauce having a nice bite of acidity from the tamarind and also the sweetness of the pineapples.  What makes fish like this enjoyable is when you get a small part of the fish that is really fried and crispy despite getting soaked with all the sauce!

My highlight of Mama San would definitely be the Prawn Skewers and Chatuchak Pork Ribs!  Interesting and interactive dishes thats jam packed with flavour! Not to forget it is amazing textures too. There has never been a shortage of love affair between Asian Cuisine and the rest of the world. Mama San Bali’s take on the Asian cuisine (predominantly Thai) is a decent attempt.  While trying to stay as authentic as possible, I could not help but feel that the dishes served at Mama San had a notch of sugar more than I am used too.  Even then, the meal was really enjoyable.   Add its amazing interior with a matching cocktail list and Mama San easily makes for a great night out.

WenY