there were lots of great restaurants that we went to on our holiday, will go through them in no particular order.
Yutz - had dinner there, they do fantastic steak, in standard or larger serves. Steaks come with either pepper or mushroom sauce, and one side order - either chips, mash, rice, vegs or salad. I ordered the mash and also got given a grilled tomato with pesto and green beans wrapped in bacon. Very good. Yutz can be very hot inside but the night we were there was fine. Yutz was also where we saw the one and only gecko the whole time we were in Bali (very unusual)
Billys - what can i say about Billys, the food is average but the staff and the setting makes up for it. We only went there once this trip to meet friends for drinks. The plan was to go to Drops for dinner after a couple of drinks, but the more we drank, the louder we got, the louder the band got, the louder the whole place got. We finally ordered a pizza in between wearing the flashing devil horns, dancing at the bar, and singing "simply the best" with the band.
I never realised before what a fantastic singing voice I have. My friend and I got up with the band and sang our hearts out. Afterwards I asked the boss how we sounded and he was speechless! thats how good we were...........
Anyhoo, the pizza was average, filled the gap, I found all Pizzas to be pretty much the same in Bali (quite thick and doughy, and always cold in the middle). This was until we discovered pizzas at Goodies
Goodies is a smallish narrow restaurant on the beach strip just out of the Puri Raja (turn right). Its predominantly italian and is run by an italian or greek (?) man who sits at the back table usually with his laptop, keeping an eye on things.
We went there one night early on in the trip and the boss had ribs (which came with a finger bowl) and I had a souvlaki, this was great and even came with proper tzatziki. We were pleasantly surprised by the food and prices I think it cost us just over 200,000 you also get complimentary garlic bread on arrival.
We visited Goodies on our last night as well after having entree somewhere else LOL and were going to have pizza there but decided to do the Goodies pizza. This is by far the best pizza I have ever had in Bali (I could say "ever" but the boss has his pizza oven at home and he considers himself a "pizza guru" (and he does fantastic pizzas)
The base was perfect with the correct amount of toppings (extra toppings 6000 each) we got proper mushrooms on it and everything (these were a bit hard to get in Bali) I was a bit silly and ordered one with chilli on it which was a bit silly as i had a bit of a dose of the old Bali Belly - and on top of all the indian/currys/spicy food I had been eating, lets just say the song "burning ring of fire" was playing over and over in my head......
Back to the pizza........... it was truly delicious, and only 29,000 for each pizza - the toppings were sufficient but i like to put everything on mine, they are pretty large too, you would be hard pressed to eat a whole one alone, we ended up eating some of it as well the next day and still had to leave some behind.
Drops - also complimentary garlic bread is given here, prices average about mid 50,000's. we shared an entree of squid, which was very nice and then we both had the sesame chicken. This was ok, a bit overcooked for me, and not enough sauce (i hate eating dry food)the basic complexity of the dish was good, if a little overcooked...
Piggys - i was lured into piggys by a group of young strapping aussie lads eating burgers, who promised me the best burger in town, we had a look at the menu but decided not to do the piggys thing yet as we werent hungry at that point. We went a few days later and had burgers and a long island tea each. Burgers about 36,000 while the LIT was 60,000 and tasted like watery coke, not impressed with the drinks but the burgers were pretty good, However these were NOT the best burgers in Bali, by a long shot......... more about that later...
We stopped in at the Bagus pub for a coldie, yes it was cold. They didnt have large bintangs and the smalls were nearly same price as a large anywhere else. This didnt bother me, however the staff there are pretty pushy about trying to sign you up for "program tomorrow"
obviously they have a sister/brother/aunty/uncle/cousin/grandpa who is in the touring business. We (and a family behind us as well) found this a little bit over the top, we stayed for one drink and left.
Tommys - this place is my sanctuary. When we have had enough of the usual stuff we go here. I always order the dish with the cheese, bread, relish, olives, pickled onions, salad on it, then i order extra corned beef and avocado. The boss had a steak sanger which was great too. I think however, I may have made too many pleasurable moaning and groaning noises while eating here though as the boss was looking at me strangely, oh well, cest la vie! They also have a book exchange where you can swap or borrow a book, we borrowed 2 books and returned them a few days later. I believe this place is closed till early march. Its only open 10-5 as well.
I am saving the best for last, the piece de resistance, the jewel in my crown, the find of the trip (well for us anyway)
Alleycats in poppies 2. this is a little out of the way but well worth looking for.
We went there three times and ate twice. Double vodka and redbull 5000rp - yes 5000rp!!!! double shots of spirits 15,000.
I had samosas at GOI as well as the QT, but neither of these is a patch on the Alleycat ones. I toyed with the idea of having a curry but couldnt decide which one to have. I ended up picking a beef korma, which was served with rice for 29,000. this doesnt taste like your usual korma but a bit like a rendang, my god it was magnificent.
The beef part was easily twice the size of any of the GOI or QT serves, the aroma was enticing as I was waiting for it to arrive. I ordered a naan which was ok. I couldnt stop eating - even when i was full - no wonder my clothes are straining under the pressure! It was too good to even leave a morsel - not even one wafer thin!!
The boss ordered the Full Monty Burger. This was a masterpiece in itself for 50,000. It came with egg, a huge hamburger patty (homemade) about 6 layers of REAL bacon, a piece of steak, beetroot, pineapple ring, cheese and onion. and chips. Yes it was an artery blocker, but wow, what a way to go. The boss loved it and had it both times we were there.
They also had the usual balinese food, baguettes, chip butty, and english brekkys (with egg and bacon muffins - heard a guy ask for a "Mcmuffin" and we had a chortle about that... they also had plenty of healthy salads as well.
this place isnt fancy - old tables and chairs etc but food fantastic, drinks cheap and they have a good quality pool table to use for free.
They also do the monster meals.... but that is a whole other chapter.
I think that must just about cover the eaterys, I havent put in any balinese type food in because, well its everywhere and usually bloody bagus!