Bali is flying the flag, raising the bar, smashing it out the park (you get my point) in it’s delightful culinary offerings. Whatever your preference they’ve got it covered here, trust me you will not go hungry. If you are anything like me, you may need to have a quiet word with yourself about your over indulgence, its easy to get way out of hand.
Below are some of my recommendations for eating your heart out in Ubud.
Found on Gootama Street, Soma descibes itself as a cafe, shop and community gathering space. I wouldn’t say it is much of a shop, but the space was big and welcoming and there were little hubs of people hanging out and enjoying the food.
I ate the grilled Tempe and vegetable gluten free wrap with sweet root vegetable chips, coconut milk, cacao and mixed berry smoothie AND coconut milk coffee with a cute little pot of palm sugar that can be added in. From the picture you can see how amazing the wrap was, admittedly not so pretty to eat but really delicious. The menu here is incredible, juices, smoothies, wraps, salads, pizzas, there’s a lot of choice. Gluten free, vegan, sugar free options make up the menu so if you have any dietary request you might normally feel awkward about, fear not you are well catered for here. The food did take some time and the staff were sometimes slow, but I would definitely recommend it. I did try to go back for the gluten free pizza night but they had sold out, so make sure you get there early.
Citar is a grill restaurant found half way up Monkey Forest Road, just after Laughing Buddha Bar. It has an open roof in the middle which is lovely to sit under, unless of course its raining and you may have to do like me and make a quick dash with your drinks to another table.
It offers a huge menu with lots of fish options and a good number of veggie ones too. There’s also your basics, like burgers and salads and of course lots on the grill along with a specials board. Happy hour is 4-7pm and then 10pm onwards and offers a great selection of cocktails that aren’t too pricey.
I ate the vegan chickpea and vegetable curry with steamed rice and a ginger and lychee mojito. Both were pretty strong, there was lots of chilli in the curry and lots of booze in the cocktail…I was one happy camper.
I nearly had an espresso martini and the sesame crusted tuna steak, grilled veg and sweet pot fries, with a choice of two sides. Both looked pretty tasty as I eyeballed them on the neighbouring tables.
The food came super quick, delivered by smiley and helpful staff and I didn’t see a single customer with a grimace or complaint. There’s no music, but you can hear the live band in the background from next door at the Laughing Buddha Bar, which I would highly recommend for a nightcap.
Although the street front may tempt you in with the delicious cakes on show, ignore them for the moment and walk straight through to the back and bag yourself a table overlooking the rather lush rice fields. The menu was eye 
popping, it felt like a lot to get my head around that early in the morning, pre-coffee.
I opted for the kombucha and a potato hash with avocado and eggs, before getting stuck into a hunk of a slice of raw apple pie with flax seed crust and coconut cream. Oh yeah, this was a gooooood brunch!
I nearly went for their homemade red velvet cake, but thought they might need to wheel me down the road if I did. This delicious food does attract a crowd and at times they were really quite understaffed, luckily the staff dealt with the occasional inpatient walk out in typical Bali fashion, with a big grinning smile.
This Raw Food Cafe Bali and Taiost Tonic Bar is found along Jalan Gootama that claims to be ‘The most exciting and creative raw food cafe Bali has ever seen’, quite a claim for such a dinky little restaurant but give it it’s due, the food 
was pretty great. Along with their standard menu they also offered a specials for each day, luckily I was there on a Friday and it was pizza night, woohoo! After much indecisiveness I opted for the gluten free raw base pizza, with greens and avocado and cashew cheese. I also ordered the fermented cheese bruschetta, made from coconut flour and oats. Both were very, very tasty and slightly on the smaller side so I’m glad I went in for both.
I nearly ordered the warm Mexican lasagne, made from layers of courgette and beetroot pate, cashew sour cream, it looked great on the table next to me.
I took one of their spirulina mint truffle balls for the walk home and it was incredible. Probably the best raw dessert I have ever had, I walked all the way back the next eve just to have another one.
Habitat Café is just across the road from the Monkey Forest, but far enough away so you won’t have any critters trying to share your meal. The balcony looks out over the road, which is hardly busy so you can watch the other Bali folk go about their day while you pick from the (again) great menu on offer. There was too much we wanted so we opted to share some dishes between us. We went for the vegan pad Thai, tofu rolls and potato cakes along with the green papaya salad and washed it down with an apple and ginger juice. Each dish tasted delicious, but if I had to choose a winner it would be the tofu rolls. Even my sister who often snarls her nose at the slightest mention of tofu was fighting me for the last one, you can’t get a better recommendation than that.
You can find out more about my Bali experience here.
