KEMBANG GOELA

I was invited for a lunch yesterday.
The place chosen was a nice Indonesian Restaurant named Kembang Goela located in Petitenget area.
You can find the place easily. Just follow the Petitenget road from the Kerobokan Traffic light. Kembang Goela is on the left side not very far from the traffic light. Its signboard with a lady in nonja style kebaya is very obvious taking attraction.

The restaurant picked a colonial interior style with some big size printed old photographs hung on its wall.
Several antique furniture also set as an interior component.
The restaurant overall is very clean and giving a pleasant feeling to enjoy your meals.















If you are looking for an authentic Indonesian cuisine signature, I must say that Kembang Goela have it. Even the service is a little bit slow and the up selling effort I feel sometime too pushy, they were still giving a top service category.



Their signature dish are their sausages and gulai ikan.
Price wise, considered ok for food selections, but not for the drinks - expensive.
















"Sosis Om Yance or Uncle Yance's sausage" is a 75cm long sausages, served using a long wooden plate, especially to coupe the sausage. Mayonnaise, mustard and tomato sauce were the condiment to accompanied it.

"Sosis Sinyo Londo or Dutch Boy's sausage" served in a 'naughty' way........ :D
Check the picture below.




















Rice is the main dish for Indonesian. And Kembang Goela develop the rice selection into 4 types of rice. The Yellow rice, Green Rice, Red or Brown rice and normal rice.
Yellow rice is rice colored with turmeric, and green rice having its green color from pandan leaves and daun kayu suji (I do not know the English word for daun kayu suji).

















For you who like spicy food, their SambalKombinasi or Combination Chilli Sauce should get a two thumbs up. Consisted of Mango Chilli Sauce, Shrimp Paste Chilli Sauce or Sambal Terasi, and Gandaria Chilli Sauce. I wonder where did they get the Gandaria.
Gandaria is a name of a tree with greenish fruit. The fruit tastes sour but very good for sambal. The Gandaria trees is nearly extinct. To my knowledge the trees are only available in West Java.
















Last but not least, I chosed cappucinno to complete my lunch.
The lunch finally ended at nearly 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

Nyepi - 2009

What makes Bali so unique, I think one amongst other uniqueness is the NYEPI DAY. Nyepi Day or Silence Day, when all activities are stopped, the day is used to do a self instropections.

Experiencing so many Nyepi Days, I still feel the great sensation. The island is truly purified during the day. No polution, very quiet ...... so wonderful.

Many people do not like Nyepi Day, but not myself.

Nyepi day this year, that will be fallen on 26th April 2009 will be different.
WHY?
We would not have any Ogoh-ogoh on the Pengerupukan (a day before Nyepi Day).
Ogoh-ogoh is a big statue reflecting bad spirits that should be beaten by good spirits.
The lose of bad spirits visualized by burning the Ogoh-ogoh after it carried surrounding the village.

Campaign that due in the same period as Nyepi Day, caused the government thought, it will be wise for not having Ogoh-ogoh for this year.

Well, I hope I will have the same great sensation experiencing Nyepi Day, although without Ogoh-ogoh and the noise following the parade on the Pengerupukan day.

GALUNGAN - a BALINESE Holiday

Today is a big holiday for Balinese people.
Recurring every 210 days, Galungan is a big celebration.
The ceremony lasts in 10 days, closed by a Kuningan Day.

The city of Denpasar feel like 'empty' during the day.
People are going back to their villages, visiting families and friends, after praying at the temple.
They also pray for family members who passed away but yet still not be cremated.

It is not easy to find a restaurant or food stalls selling tradisional Balinese food during this days.
At least for 3 days on the Galungan day you will have problems in finding food.

Balinese also erecting poles which have been decorated beautifully with coconut leaves and flowers, these poles giving an atmosphere of big festive for 10 days here in Bali.

This Galungan Day is very special as it is very close to other Balinese big holiday - NYEPI DAY.

SELAMAT HARI RAYA GALUNGAN!

BEDUGUL - Botanical Garden

Since I was a little girl, I have already fallen in love with this place.
My dad often took me there (almost every weekend - if we were in Bali). Usually we walked in the forest, stepping a nature pathway, seeing various kind of plantation.
Those days, weather is a lot cooler compared to now. No many people like visiting Bedugul Botanical Garden like today.

The garden named EKA KARYA Botanical Garden.
Located about 60 kms up north on the way to Singaraja from the capital city of Bali - Denpasar.
They have nearly 16.000 types of plantation scattered on about 155 hectares area.















Bedugul Botanical Garden is a perfect place to bring your family for a short weekend holiday.
You can bring your food and have the children playing freely while enjoying the nice and clean air.

MAN MARU - A Japanese Restaurant

Last Saturday, without planning I went back to Ubud.
Went back? Yes, after spending 5 hours at my office in Ubud, return to Denpasar, then we decided to have dinner in Ubud.

We picked Man Maru, a Japanese restaurant located at Jalan Raya Sanggingan.
Several times passing the road of Sanggingan we have never seen this restaurant being busy.
Usually restaurant that quiet pack offer good quality of food or......... maybe good price.
Good quality + good price = very busy.
Good quality + expensive price = limited clients
Bad quality + cheap price = sometimes busy
Bad quality + expensive price = disaster
(LOL)

But since Man Maru is recommended by several friends, we thought that we should give a try.
"The quality of the food is better compared to Japanese Restaurant X, "my friend explained.
"But......, the price is a lot higher too!" he continued.

Then, we have already been in the restaurant.
We took a Japanese traditional table at the corner, closed area, divided by bamboo partition to other area of the restaurant.

We take a look at the menu, they have many variations of menus.
And true, price is lot higher compared to our favorite Japanese Restaurant.

After scrutinizing the list of menu, I decided to order ebi tempura sushi with black sesame seeds to be shared with my love ones. I never can eat a lot due to stomach problem.
They have a katsu and teriyaki. We also have a bowl of boiled eda mame, which unfortunately slightly overcooked, and it lost its crunchiness.

I choosed hot Ocha as my beverage, it is served in a nice traditional glass. Expensive! - Rp. 18.000 per pot.

They served bean sprout with sesame oil and a kind of slightly hot sauce as the appetizer.
Finally our order served. It is true, the food is very good!
The ingredients is very fresh and cooked nicely.
















We will recommend this restaurant to our friends too. That is why I posted my experience having dinner there in my blog!