Just back from trip to Ubud (only) - 4 days 3 nights. Most of the reviews I found on the net or guide books are through Western eyes. Just wanted to give feedback for people living in ASEAN. Some of the food reviews are not as great as they say on the net. Prices are not really cheap.
I have been to Ubud before so for this visit, I was really not there for the culture or the Balinese smoked duck. Our main purpose was just to have a place to relax. Have a place compact enough to walk around, go for nature walks, have good food and great place to stay.
My only regret was that the weather (it was raining 3 days out of 4) didn't allow us to take nature walks at all.
KAJANE MUA: A small number of villa, right in the heart of Ubud! Absolutely central location to everything...there's a 24-hour convenience store just directly opposite the narrow one-way road. There are good restaurants to its left, right and opposite. It is within walking distance to the Ubud Palace, market & also to the Monkey Forest too! The staff are very very friendly and provide us transport everywhere, even to Pertulu and Mozaic, Neku Museum, which are located a little bit further from central Ubud (We didn't use them often but there was once the driver even wanted to wait for us to buy staff before transporting us back to the villa. That's almost like having our own driver & guide! We told him no need to wait of course, that wasn't right... (...) )
The villas were fantastic! Absolutely beautiful. We stayed in Beiji Gita. The view was gorgeous. Although its rice paddies were just a tiny patch, they were tiered (grown on a hill), across a small gorge, with some other trees such as jackfruit, coconut trees, bananas.
Love the interior of the villa. There's a wooden swing for 2, just next to the pool. And the pool size is big for 2 person! (This is not a plunge pool). Very very charming & the sound of trickling water from the pool was really very soothing. We had breakfast by the pool (in-villa dining) everyday. If not for the bad weather, we would have enjoyed our stay more. Mosquitoes were also not a real problem in the villa (I had comparison since I stayed in another place too.) They had this romantic white veil that was more for aesthetic purposes. They also had a bathtub in a landscaped, semi outdoor area. Usually, I would fee quite claustrophobic to be in a tub but the surroundings were spacious and so much landscaping greens that you just feel wonderful to be in the tub.
MOSAIC: Took up the 6-course ‘surprise' tasting menu at 395,000++IRP. The starters were good, delicious. Its bread was also wonderful. They had seaweed bread. And another brown bread which had spices, done in such a way that you smell the spices but not taste the spices (which could be quite awful). I think that was quite a feat. The main course, however was a disappointment. It was lamb. As fresh lamb was not available in Bali, it had to be imported & I thought it tasted ordinary only (Tasted some great lamb in Australia where the meat was fresh). I'm not a fine dining expert. But I thought it would have been better if the chef decides not to serve meat that he cannot obtain absolutely fresh as that the key difference between extremely good restaurants and all the rest. Getting fresh spices, herbs, meat, fish is critical. The mashed whipped potato was heavenly though. It melt in my mouth, even though my stomach was already protesting from the amounts of food I've stuffed in. It was quite downhill for me after that. My stomach couldn't take the 2 desserts well. I think they were not all that fantastic.
It is the most expensive meal in my life (our pre-dinner drinks and a glass of Riesling at 80,000IRP caused it). Would I have it again? I don't think so... to me, it just didn't seem to be quite worth the money but again I must state that I'm not into fine dining. If I were to do it again, I think I would rather choose what I eat. Perhaps more 'heart' cooking would be involved, I realized while dining that many were being served the 'surprise' menu...exact same thing... hmm...
INDUS: Looking back at the restaurants I've tried in Ubud during my 4days' stay, this was the best. The food was really good and not all that expensive. We were not very adventurous. Being Asian, our meals preferences revolved around the Indon dishes & what better way to test the cook than with the most simple & common dishes like Nasi Campur, Nasi Goreng, Mee Goreng. We tried the recommended Nasi Campur, Malaysian Curry and the kangkung (we ordered this every day during our stay! This simple dish is delicious almost everywhere)
Then, there the view at Indus... though I must say that I was abit disappointed.. Though the restaurant's view was nice... (I thought it would be nearer), it just didn't live up to my high expectations (there were so many great reviews about the view of the restaurant).
BALI PESTO: This restaurant serves great food. To me, it was the 2nd best of my meal in Ubud. This restaurant is cheap too & serve hot rolls free. It is not as well known as Tutmak or Batan Waru but to me, the food here is just fine. Delicious! We ordered a pizza (crispy thin), a sate rice meal and of course the kangkung vegetable (Don't order the otak otak though, it's not the same as what we have in other parts of SE Asia.)
BATAN WARU: With so many good reviews from travelers, this restaurant disappoints me. I went for lunch, ordering its Indonesian food. It was nothing to shout about. Portions were small and it was also expensive for the kind of food we ordered. I think fame does not do these restaurants any good. But I think it could also be because they are more geared for the westerners' palate. Less spicy. Also perhaps their western dishes were much better than their Indon dishes.
I gave it another chance on the morning we were about to leave. It was to be our second breakfast of the day before we depart from Ubud/Bali for good. The Eggs Benedict was good, so was its croissant.
TUTMAK: For tea break and sandwich before proper dinner later. The coffee according to my hubby tasted unique and better than average. (At least I redeem myself after bragging to him that it was claimed by one reviewer Tutmak had the best coffee outside Italy.) For the simple food they provided, the price was not simple though. I'm not coming to Bali to pay Western/Australian prices so I'm not recommending this place.
NAUGHTY NURIS (?): I may have gotten the name wrong. Anyway, it's just opposite the Neka museum. Read somewhere that it's mainly patronized by expats. Though I didn't eat there.. only stop for drinks, the juice was the cheapest I had (I always check the Ubud menu for the price of juice cos I order it all the time) @ 7,000IRP. They were grilling a burger while we had our drinks & it smelled good though we weren't hungry.
CAFE WAYAN: Recommended by the staff at Tegal Sari, the food was the worst in my trip. I had planned to eat at Ryoshi the Jap restaurant but my hubby was adamant he was not trying Jap here. So I decided to try asking instead but I was explicit that I wanted authentic Indon food and the few places I tried did not quite satisfy that. This place has a good atmosphere, soothing sound of the brook. If you are after atmosphere, this is the place. If you want good food, I think you should forget this place. It is expensive, small portions and the food wasn't fantastic. I ordered Wayan's curry (figuring since it has the restaurant's name, it must be their signature dish). It was very watery and the chicken parts were tough.
NUR'S SALON: Somewhere the reviews said that Nur was more professional though slightly more expensive than some of the other salon. I was really in for a rude shock! My masseur asked me to take off everything when I went in...everything. She was looking on while I disrobe. (No disposable wear!) Next big minus. Throughout the treatment, there was no sheet to cover your modesty while she massage! Some parts of the treatment, e.g. yogurt coating, were DIY. The massage itself was in pretty good hands, so was the tumeric scrub. (I just didn't realize others meant it so literally as in massage itself). At 140,000IRP for Mandi Lulur (1.5 hrs), I think the price is a steal. But I won't have gone at all if I knew that was not offering me the basics of privacy and professionalism.
TEGAL SARI: Stayed in a deluxe wooden, one of the newer houses. The place was clean. The view of the paddy fields was gorgeous and soothing. But the getting-to-bed night ritual was not. The 4-poster bed had mosquito net around it... very charming until I climbed onto bed & discovered many insects hiding under the shelter of the net (ready to attack us when we were asleep). We tried to get rid of them by bringing the lighted mosquito coil to them. It didn't work. I resorted to spraying the insect repellant (used on my skin) at them instead. Aided with magazine sweeping the top part of the inside of the net, it was more effective. Many ‘casualties' dropped onto our clean bed. We started securing each end of the net to try to drive them out & agreed that we should only get out using one entrance/exit. I guess it was pretty fun but I can't imagine doing this every night!? (Fortunately we stayed only 1 night.) In the middle of the night, I woke feeling itchy & I knew our mission has failed. Some mosquitoes must be very sated from sucking our blood. I should have worn the repellant lotion in bed too!
For those with tender skin, mosquitoes is a problem at Tegal Sari, at least from my experience.
NEKA MUSEUM: I'm not someone for the contemporary art. I can't understand them so to me, only the first gallery was worth a visit. The first gallery is pretty good....read the text next to the painting.. especially those depicting hindu mythical stories are quite interesting. There are 6 galleries in total but some of these are quite sub-standard. They even had a photo gallery, where visits by dignitaries are exhibited! (And here I thought I was going to visit an art museum..)
p/s: DVDs in Ubud are a lot more expensive than Kuta. At 15,000IRP a piece! Some offer buy 5 get 1 free but I guess beggars can't be choosers since the supply is limited in Ubud.