Thursday 30 May 2013

Bali - Fabulous Sunset Bintangs and Snacks

Our first sunset was overlooking Legian beach where we find a great little restaurant/bar called Blue Ocean.  There is a shady tree and tables set with candles and lots of leafy plants around the place. Of course this is also a perfect place for the mosquitoes to hangout a dusk (but the kind staff bring a citronella/mozzie stick to sit under the table and the lemony waft of smoke swirls around our legs).

After a hot sunny day lazing around the pool we have worked up a thirst and the only way to quench it is with a cold Bintang, even my friend who is not a beer drinker downed a couple too!  A surprise snack is provided with the beer.  A couple of pieces of pita crackers are hidden in the basket along with freshly cooked (still warm) peanuts that have that salty/sweet balance to them that you find in bars all over Southeast Asian (and I have never been able to replicate at home!) but what I was interested in was the tempura leaves, which turn out to be a spinach leaf (that is what the staff tell me).  They are hot, crispy and crunchy and a perfect beer accompaniment.  Oh yeah, the sunset was great too! 
 

Bintang and beer snacks
 
 
Tempura style Spinach leaves and peanuts

We decide to stay on for a bite to eat and in keeping with eating local (which I will admit I didn't do the whole trip) I chose Nasi Campur.

nasi campur
(left clockwise: cucumber stuffed with vegetable (sushi style) chicken satay, fish, prawn crackers, beef rendang, red rice. served with 3 sambals and sauces)

Nasi campur is the Indonesian name for 'mixed rice'. Nasi meaning cooked rice and campur meaning mixed, This dish is a common and wide spread across Southeast Asia and goes by many local names, basically meaning mixed rice served with a number of meat/vegetable dishes on top.

In this case the Balinese style is served on a banana leaf in a big flat basket which has an egg, cucumber stuffed with fresh vegetables, a chicken satay stick, spicy/sweet fish with tofu, a prawn fritter, prawn crackers, tiny deep fried fish (which remind me of anchovies (but they are much larger), beef rendang and red rice in the middle. It is also served with 3 types of sambal and sauces (satay/a sambal of vegies and a fiery hot sauce).

Red rice or beras barak  is rice is perfectly cooked and has a nuttier flavour than normal white rice.

We end the evening off with a cocktail or two and listening to a Beatles tribute band at Mozzarella by the Sea.  A great little restaurant/cocktail bar (and crowded) overlooking the beach (from memory there are 3 Mozzarella venues around Legian/Seminyak).



 

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