So here goes for Part 2. (Part 1 one was posted on Wednesday the 20th if you want the background). Titled....JBR Payback
I wanted to just highlight a couple of restaurants that were standouts, this trip. We went to our usual favourite, Goshas, one night. This is an absolute MUST, when in Bali. They have never, ever disappointed. The staff, the price and the food, are always brilliant. For anyone who doesn't know where it is, it is in Melasti St. Your taxi driver will know. Another favourite is, Warung 96. This place is always packed and rightly so. The food is fabulous and is amazingly cheap. I recommend the lasagne. This is down Poppies 2, from Legian St end, and take your first turn right. We had lunch one day at the Zanzibar on Legian Beach. I felt like some fresh greens so I ordered the chicken and avocado salad with cashews. YUUUUUUUUM. Delicious!
Then again along the same stretch, in fact it was later that evening, after sitting out the sunset on the beach, we dined at the Italian restaurant that is part of the Kumala Pantai. Now this is somewhere that I hadn't tried before. I have been systematically ticking off the restaurants along this stretch, one by one. I have many goals in life and food is right up there on the top! The Zanzibar, the Lanai, etc, etc. I know....... it's a hard life........Anyway, I don't know the name of this place, except that it is part of the Kumala Pantai and is on the main drag along the beachfront. It was possibly up there with our 3 favourites for this trip. Everyones dinner was sensational and very authentic Italian. For starters, I had some Italian pan bread served with tomatoes, fresh slices of mozzarella and various herbs. It was just so tasty. Then I had the spaghetti carbonara. Possibly the best I have tasted anywhere. One of our group tried the volcano pizza too. It looked fabulous.
This leads me to my second favourite for the trip. Lemongrass in Seminyak. It is just a few doors further north on Jalan Legian, from the Bintang Supermarket. This is an enclosed, glass frontage, restaurant. I tried this also on advice from a fellow forumite. Great suggestion. Again, there was a large crowd of us, and nobody was disappointed. Also very reasonably priced.
The top of my list, this trip would have to be the ‘Rio Bar and Grill'. This restaurant is only a couple of doors closer to the Bintang Supermarket from Lemongrass and on the same side of the road. Very easy to find. It is only 50 to 100 metres from the supermarket. Remember, heading north on Jalan Legian.
The restaurant is not on the road. It is set back a bit down a driveway. The place is of a Brazilian theme. The chef, who I made a point of hunting down so that I could thank him myself, is from Finland. Yep, what a combination, a Brazilian restaurant, in Indonesia, with a Finnish chef. Sounds a bit like being in Melbourne doesn't it? (I am from Perth.........just loooove the food in Melbourne).
So my husband, a soup connoisseur, ordered plain old Chicken soup for starters. Well it was sensational. Nothing plain about it. How do you manage to make chicken soup an unforgettable experience? It was just that!
Then he ordered (don't remember the exact title), but it was Pork spareribs. There was nothing messy or difficult to eat about these. They were full of meat and just fell away from the bones......but the spices....just took it to a completely different level. I was totally jealous that I didn't 'have what he was having'. That is until my meal came. I had ordered...I do remember this one.......... A'la Marko Steak (Imported Aus fillet steak with a green pepper cognac sauce with all the trimmings. It was absolutely amazing. The steak just melted in your mouth, but the combination of all the flavours was really just incredible. It was so well crafted. No accident at all. It wasn't just a nice flavoured meal. There was definitely a lot of skill at play. Oh dear, you can tell that I don't get out much can't you? Another one raved about the garlic king prawns and so on... Very special.
So, enough of eating, lets move on to some shopping experiences. One of my absolute favourites in Bali, as with a lot of formites here, are the Animale factory outlets. I was a bit disappointed this time. Came away empty handed. I am finding that the prices are just getting a little bit higher each time I go there. They are not so much a bargain anymore. You can pretty well get the same prices back in Perth and lets face it the fabrics are pretty basic in quality. Anyway, don't let me put you off, they are still worth a look at. I did like the Animale Accessories shop though. I am definitely a Blingaholic and this place feeds my cravings very well. I did buy some very nice necklaces here. They were about $32AUD, but were very, very elaborate. I also bought a bling key ring here. That was only about $10. Very nice.
This time I found (on a reccommendeantion) the upstairs section of Bagus Watches. The one in Kuta square and the nearby one in Jalan Pantai also. Never knew this existed before this trip. It was fabulous. Got a lot of pressies here. Bought myself a lovely pen, very nice watches, a very smart wrist band for my son, some better sunglasses and so on. Ladies, don't miss this one, its worth a look.
A friend of mine, who is a coach of a girls teenage soccer team back here in Perth, had asked me if I would get his team some soccer shirts for their warm up sessions. Thanks again to the forum, I did my research before leaving and found the actual source for just such a thing. It is where the stall holders go to get their stock. So I managed to get 18 shirts, all in their favoured World Cup team, complete with all their nicknames and numbers printed on the back. No problem at all. I was very happy with the price of 50,000 ($5.80) each. It took 4 days. This was from Arena Sport & Music. Jl Patih Jelantik No 6 Kuta. This place is not a big shop, its just a little place so it's a little hard to find, but they do have a good sign out the front. Ask me if you need any more directions to this and I will try to explain it better. They also sell soccer boots and accessories.
So having achieved that goal, ticked another one off my list, now comes the BIGGIE. I have been researching for close to 6 months now, about having some things shipped back to Australia. Let me give you the background picture here. My husband and I have decided to build a new house....you know the one........for the twilight years, no kids, no pool, no garden, no worries.
Anyway we have started the ball rolling, so this trip we thought that we would go to Bali and buy some new things for the house and get them shipped back. On advice from the forum, I used Ketut as a contact. The lovely Trudi from Queensland has used him many times before for this purpose and I believe he also has a lot of American buyers that he helps. After emailing Ketut before leaving Australia, we arranged to meet he and his lovely wife Kadek once we arrived. They are a very lovely couple. Ketuts' English is quite good and Kadeks' was even better. So Ketut, Kadek, son Made, hubby and myself all head out to the Sanur, Gianyar, Denpasar area to start shopping. I had already emailed Ketut with some photos of things that I had in mind so he had any idea of where to start. We just had so much fun that day. Every place we went to I think we bought something. Ketut had chosen the places well. We just didn't need to go around comparing one place to another. So here is what we ended up buying:
Terrazzo freestanding bathtub and matching basin.
Also to match, a pedestal basin for the guest toilet.
Outdoor dining suite in Synthetic rattan. 8 armed chairs with dining table to match with glass top. Cushions for chairs as well
Outdoor lounge suite to match with glass top coffee table and 2 side tables. Also with cushions.
Outdoor pots. Got quite a lot of these. Square ones, round, in Marble, in Onyx, etc. Huge ranges to choose from. Also got matching pebble paving stones from the same place.
Two stone water features. Both quite different to each other. One of them was glass.
2 toilets. Hubby liked these because they were a little different to the usual ones. Very nice though. Liked the self closing lids. LOL.
We had trouble finding the plumbing shops in Denapasar that the forum had recommended, but just as we were giving up, we came across them. So glad we did. Had a lot of success here. Bought 2 showers, wall taps, bath taps, semi recessed basin, etc. Great buys here. Very happy.
We also bought a couple of busts and outdoor art pieces (this was in Seminyak).
Our best purchase from the trip was our Marble floor tiles. This was something that we hadn't actually considered, but Ketut suggested that he knew of a really good company and was worth a look. When we arrived, we met and spoke to a gentleman there that was purchasing for ‘one of his hotels'. We had a great chat. He was from Perth but had been living in Bali for 8 years now and bought a lot of marble from this place. He spoke highly of them. Anyway we ended up buying all the floor tiles that we would need for the new house barring bathrooms etc. We would never have been able to afford marble otherwise. They were absolutely beautiful. They have been great to deal with also. Answering our emails very promptly since we returned. Fingers crossed it keeps going this smoothly. I have their details if anyone is interested and I will just keep my email open.
So, after spending a whole day, we were pretty well happy with all our choices, so we went out with Ketut for a second day and retraced our steps and completed all the orders. Then we ended up at the cargo company where we started all the necessary proceedings there. So now we wait until all our orders have been made and picked up by the cargo company and then work out if we have filled a container or just part of one. Not till then will we be able to finalise all the costs etc. So a lot of you already know all of this and then some. You can see which part of the phase that we are currently at. Its' just sooo much fun but I certainly have a lot to learn!
So, I am going to leave you all in peace now and please feel free to make any comments, ask any questions or contact details, give me any advice...that's really what I am here for....... And thankyou, thankyou, thankyou. I couldn't have done any of these things, achieved any of my goals, if it wasn't for this great site and even greater contributors.
Cathy