4D3N Bali Trip: Warung D'Sawah, Kuta

"All I know I love you so, so much that it hurts."

 It was kinda sucks when you have a crush on someone but the feeling is only one-sided. You can't help but feeling like you want to give up eventually. In times like this, Noona thinks it's best to just think of what you like doing the most other than crushing your crush (oops, let's not resort into violence here despite the frustration. Hahaha).

*looking for zen mode"

Noona just realised she has not finished putting up her Bali's travelogue. Right, where were we? Oh right Noona and her famz are about to have a late breakfast/ early lunch at Warung D'Sawah Bali.

Was there any particular reason of why we chose to dine at Warung D'Sawah?

In fact, yes, there is. Omma wanted to eat the local cuisine, Nasi Campur Bali (directly translated into Balinese Mixed Rice). In Warung D'Sawah's menu, this was reflected as "Nasi Campur Special". Other than the mixed rice, Warung D'Sawah also has a lot of other food to offer like fish and seafood. 

After we have made our orders, we were checking our surroundings and realised that we were the first customers for that day. Hahaha. 

The restaurant is pretty huge and we saw that there's a traditional house there. We wondered if that house can be used as a dining venue also but probably not, huh. Hahaha.

After a random chat about so many people, our order of Balinese mixed rice has finally come and oh my gawd, it looks oh-so-good. The mixed rice consists of fried chicken, chicken satay, corn fritters, crackers, vegetables and egg. It tastes even better when eaten together with the Balinese sambal. Yummy to the max. 

Warung D'Sawah is located at: 

Jl Raya Kerobokan, Kerobokan Kelod

Kuta Utara, Bali

Opening hours:

Daily 11AM - 11PM

4D3N Bali Trip: Dining by the sea at New Moon Cafe, Jimbaran

Anyeong! It is soon gonna be the day where the attached is busy spending money for the loved one while the single is reminded of their singlehood status, yep, the V-day. If you are not interested in the day itself, how about planning for a trip instead? Noona herself has been wondering if she should go for another short trip (like a week-kind of a trip) but for now, let's just reminisce the good ol' time in Bali while saving up money for the next trip.

If you have the chance to go to Bali, you should never miss out the chance to dine on the beach. Jimbaran beach is famous for this dining experience and once should not go to Bali without experiencing this activity at least once in their trip. The famous restaurant to go to for this kind of activity is usually Menega Cafe but our driver insisted us to try New Moon Cafe. Probably because he earns commission from this cafe instead of Menega. 

Oh well, anyway all of these cafes/ restaurants are located alongside the same beach, Jimbaran so we decided to go with the driver's wishes and go find our table. There were so many tables available when we came around 5PM-ish. The sun sets around 7PM in Bali so we had so much time to kill while waiting. 

The best way to kill time here is by chatting the afternoon away. Since there were 6 of us, the conversation seems to just keep on flowing from the usual family matters to work to life/ worldly affairs. Or anything random under the sun, really. 

The sun set at Jimbaran Beach was pretty cloudy back then so we could not really catch a beautiful round sun coming down under the sea kind of sunset. Instead, before we know it, the sun has already went down behind the clouds and disappear right beneath the horizon. 

We would not be able to last that long while chatting if we did not order a fresh young coconut. Sweet and refreshing indeed. 

Since the sun is setting, it's time to make some orders for dinner. We were too lazy to move to another dining spot anyway. When you are going for this kind of dining activity, be prepared to pay a high price for basically every dishes on the menu. The first dish that we ordered is the veggie, the simple kang kong. 

Next is the fried battered squid, which cannot go wrong really. 

The most expensive of them all is of course, the grilled fish. Not sure what kind of fish is this but Omma was making a fuss over the price tag of the seafood sold by New Moon Cafe. Oh well. 

Oh wait, turns out Noona was wrong about the most expensive dish. Because apparently Omma has ordered some jumbo prawns (which she ordered by number instead of weight). Taste good thankfully. Hahaha.

The atmosphere is so good when it's completely night time as you can just chill while being blown by the gentle sea breeze. 

Some buskers came to our table to perform a song (with hope that we pay them money, of course) and since they are able to perform Coldplay's Fix You (despite some key errors), we gave them token of appreciation for their attempt. Kinda make me can't wait about watching Coldplay in this coming April. Yeah!

New Moon Cafe is located at: 

Jalan Pantai Kedonganan, Kuta

Opening hours:

Daily 10AM - 12AM

4D3N Bali Trip: Crispy Duck Love at Bebek Joni, Ubud

Anyeong! Noona just had an amazing peking duck dish from the last CNY lunch which was sponsored by big boss, thankfully! Talking about ducks, do you know that Bali has a lot of yummy duck restaurant especially in Ubud area? Ubud is an area in Bali where you can enjoy the view of rice field, which is something different from the usual beach and ocean vibe of Bali island. It's 1.5 hours driving from Kuta but if you love to see a lot of green terraces, you may love Ubud.

Since there are so many rice fields in Ubud, most restaurants in Ubud offer the chance for its diners to have their food while sitting surrounded by the rice field. Natural dining experience? Hahaha. Noona's family chose to have their crispy duck lunch at Bebek Joni since we had never tried the crispy duck from this restaurant before. We could not get the table in the rice field area though and have to settle sitting in the normal area. Oh well. 

The rice field area belongs to Bebek Joni restaurant is pretty huge. You can walk around on the pathway if you want to see the rice field closer. 

Do you see the eating area which look like gazebos? That's where the rice field table located. A lot of diners wish to eat there so it is kinda difficult to secure a table there it seems. 

Right, enough fuss about the rice field table. After all, we came here to have crispy duck feast. Let's check out the menu and start ordering. Stat!

Our order came pretty slow probably because of the huge lunch crowd. Thankfully, there are some crackers which we could snack on. Noona kinda pitied her cousin who had not eaten anything since she woke up. She looks pretty ravenous and murderous at the same time. LOL. 

After 30 minutes of waiting, our crispy duck set is finally here. Nothing fancy about the set to be honest. A piece of crispy duck, some veggie, crackers, the awesome Balinese sauce and a plate of white rice. Bebek Joni's crispy duck has a nice crispy texture to it and it tastes great with the chili sauce although personally Noona prefers the three types of sauces offered by its competitor, Bebek Tepi Sawah. It's a matter of preference really. 

One thing that annoyed Noona's omma the most is the fact that we have to use cash to make payment which is kinda ridiculous because a portion of the crispy duck costs pretty expensive around IDR 100,000 (around SGD 11ish) and that's a really huge amount of cash when you pay for the whole family of 6. Thankfully our cash is enough to cover for the rest of the expenses till our last day in Bali. *phew*

Bebek Joni is located at: 

Jalan Raya Goa Gajah, Pelitan,

Ubud, Bali

Opening hours:

Daily 8AM - 9PM

4D3N Bali Trip: A Cafe with Rice Field View at Bali Pulina, Ubud

"Is it better now that I'm not around?"

The past few days have been so freaking damn annoying. Noona did not have the mood to write about anything (let alone to work) since she was in a...uhm...kinda awkward and annoying situation. She was not even in a official relationship and yet, she's still pissed when someone gave her a mixed signal after so much "investing-in-a-relationship". Uh okay, dunno what she's typing about. So let's just divulge in a travel porn story.

Okay that sounds kinda wrong. There's no porn stuff at all in this travel post.

It has been two months since the last time Noona went for a holiday to Bali. It feels like forever, Noona can tell you. We visited Ubud,  1.5 hours distance away from Kuta. If you are looking for something different from beach and sea, you should make your way to Ubud because Ubud provides you with a chance to chill while enjoying a different view. The greener one.

This was the first time Noona went to an agro tourism spot in Ubud, Bali Pulina. If you are a local visitor, you will have to pay entrance fee of IDR 100,000. Overseas visitor will have to pay USD 10 if Noona recalls correctly. If she has to comment about Bali Pulina in one sentence, it's a coffee plantation/farm with a rice field view. It's pretty interesting really because for a start, you will have to make your way through the lushes greenery...

...to see the main star of Bali Pulina, the luwak. Luwak is an Asian palm civet who loves to eat coffee cherries and then digests and defecates them. These naturally processed coffee beans are then processed to make one of the most expensive coffee in the world, Luwak Coffee (or also known as Kopi Luwak). 

Luwak looks pretty fierce though despite the fact that they eat coffee instead of meat.

Some exhibition where visitors can see the tools and ingredients required to process Kopi Luwak. 

It will be great if guides were available to explain to us what are those stuffs (which to Noona looks like some kind of beans and spices) but the guides were all fully occupied as there were many visitors that day. So Noona has to make her own guesses on the coffee making process but looking at her brain capacity, it will be fast before she lost interest in the whole back-office operation stuff. 

Noona thinks this is where you "cook" the coffee beans before further grinding them into coffee grounds. But she admits she does not have to be Sherlock to come into this conclusion. Hahaha.

The next exihibition houses some random farming tools. Farming is such a hard work but without farmers, we will not be able to eat what we love to eat in our daily life. Let's appreciate them more people! #clappingforfarmers

The beautiful part of Bali Pulina appears when you walk further past the cultural exhibition area of farming coffee. You will arrive at the viewing platform where you can enjoy the view of the tegallalang rice field. If you are a fan of the mountain, you may enjoy this kind of peaceful view compared to the ocean therapy.

Your entrance fee of IDR 100k comes with a food and drink voucher which you can use at the cafe here. There is only one cafe at Bali Pulina so you will not miss it. You can choose either to sit at the al fresco area or under the shade of the rooftop. 

Each table will be offered a set of coffee tester. All coffees offered here are made from the coffee ground defecated by the luwak. So yeah, this is your chance to try out that expensive Luwak coffee. 

From the right side to the left side, here is teh taste offered. If you'd like to taste the original luwak coffee, Noona personally encourages you to go for the pure Bali coffee, which happens to be the strongest and the darkest coffee selection offered. 

After we have made our own personal coffee selection (mine's ginger), we also received the complimentary banana fritter which taste great with coffee. The thing is, since both the coffee (unless you opt for the pure Bali coffee) and the banana fritter are both sweet and hence, attracted a lot of unwanted guests, the bees. Noona has mastered the art of eating the fritter, drinking the coffee, taking picture while shooing away the bees. Haiz. What a tiring feat indeed. 

Once we have finished our meal (and our battle with the bees, yea, we failed to coexist), we decided to move on to our next destination. There is a souvenir shop located right before the exit of Bali Pulina. You can buy souvenir and gift for your loved ones if you'd like to. The souvenir store has a lot of fancy stuff to offer from the handmade handcrafts to soap to of course, coffee grounds.

The coffee grounds are packed nicely in a pretty box too so you don't have to do extra and just need to pay and give it to whoever you want to give them to. Fancy, no?

Bali Pulina is located at: 

Banjar Pujung Kelod, Tegallalang

Sebatu, Gianyar, Kabupaten Gianyar

Bali

Opening hours:

Daily 8AM - 7.30PM