Before we went to Canggu, our second stop in Bali, we went on a day trip to various sights with a German-speaking guide. Before it started, we were allowed to visit the farm on which yoga, our guide, lives together with his family, his parents and his brother’s family. Afterwards we visited the Nungnung waterfall, Bratan Lake water temple Pura Ulun Danu Bratan, the Jatiluwih rice terraces and Pura Luhur Batukaru, a more remote and therefore less touristy temple at the foot of Batukaru, the second highest mountain in Bali. In the evening Yoga dropped us off in Canggu.
A few words to Canggu
Canggu is much quieter and more relaxed compared to Kuta and Seminyak, the two most popular resorts on the southwest coast of Bali. The traffic is not that strong and you can still find some rice fields in the middle of town. However, a lot is being built in Canggu and thus the picture is changing rapidly. In addition to the many good restaurants we come across later, Canggu is known as a surf spot and Mecca of digital nomads.
Canggu – great culinary variety
As for food, Canggu is quite comparable to Ubud. Since the place is much smaller, there is currently not as much restaurant density as in Ubud, but there is a similar variety. I have the feeling Canggu is dominated by restaurants, which are committed to a healthy lifestyle and are especially popular with a younger crowd. As we’ll see shortly, there are also excellent warungs and you should give the mobile street kitchens a shot at least once. I will try to show you the full range and go more into detail at individual restaurants.
Healthy lifestyle
This is the most popular category among visitors to Canggu, in my opinion. Of course, there are also many shades here and the spectrum ranges from restaurants with a lot of fresh and healthy food, which also offer meat and fish dishes, to vegetarian and vegan restaurants and finally to restaurants that specialized in raw vegan, alkaline dishes. If you are interested in the latter, I would recommend Serenity’s Alkaline Restaurant, which operates under the motto “may our food be your medicine”, but which I will not discuss today.
Cafe Vida
This restaurant belongs to the allrounders. It really offers something for everyone. Paleo, gluten-free, vegan … According to their own information, the ingredients come from local organic farms. They don’t use any palm oil, refined sugar, wheat flour or MSG in their kitchen. In addition, the Cafe Vida respects the environment and is a plastic-free restaurant. Organic waste is composted and returned to the cycle. Last but not least, Vida is also committed to social projects to help underprivileged people in Bali to live a better life.
The decor of Cafe Vida is made primarily of dark wood. During the day, it turns the place into a shady spot. This is also ensured by the plants that grow in front of the restaurant, which protect it from the sun and at the same time shield it from the road. In the evening, it becomes a cozy and snug place with its dim lighting. Candles and small plants on the tables enhance the pleasant atmosphere.
Before you have ordered anything, they will put a blue glass bottle with still mineral water on your table. The first one is on the house. A very pleasant and nice thing regarding the tropical temperatures.
Eating and drinking in Cafe Vida
As I said, pretty much everyone will find something here. Until 5 pm you can have breakfast in Vida. The offer ranges from fruits to Paleo Granola, Pancakes, French Toast, Porridge, Smashed Avocado and Feta, as well as egg dishes and Smoothie Bowls.
From 12 pm orders from the lunch and dinner menu are taken. Again, the bandwidth is very large. From ceviche and other fish dishes to the healthy bowl, curry, vida burgers, wraps, salads, soups and ravioli, you can find everything here. And those who prefer to put something together on their own can do it too. The menu will be changed and adapted every now and then.
On the following photos you can see the Healthy Bowl consisting of various cereals, sautéed vegetables, marinated Tempe and much more, plus home-made sauerkraut, baba ganoush, beetroot hummus and garlic tahini dressing. Furthermore, the Ribeye Steak with homemade fries, salad and green asparagus wrapped in bacon, as well as the Veggie Burger with grilled, marinated Tempe, mushrooms and avocado with homemade fries, sauerkraut and a small salad.
As it is also a café, there is a huge selection of coffees, some teas, but also Matcha, Golden and Chai Latte and so on. A large part of the drinks list is taken up by the so-called “Immunity Detox Booster Shots”. You can see the fresh wheatgrass shot on one of the photos above. Here the heart of every health freak definitely beats higher. Incidentally, the shots are cheaper in a six-pack for 100,000 rupees (around 6 euros). After the fresh juices and smoothies at the very end you will find at last the category beer and cider, which turns out to be very short.
What I have to mention are the delicious desserts. Some of them are on the menu, but you can also just go to the showcase at the bar next to the entrance and pick something nice there. By the way, the photo above shows a Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake.
Conclusion
Delicious food, huge selection of drinks, friendly service, nice atmosphere and also wonderful for a romantic dinner for two. As in most restaurants of this kind, prices are high for Balinese standards, but still cheap for western ones. For two fresh juices, the Healthy Bowl, the Ribeye Steak, a cupcake and a NY Cheesecake with raspberries including service and taxes we paid 576,000 rupees – the equivalent of 36 euros.
Info – Cafe Vida
Address: Jl. Pantai Batu Bolong No.38A, Canggu, Kuta Utara, Kabupaten Badung, Bali 80351
Opening hours: Mon – Sun, 7 am – 10:30 pm (Kitchen open until 9 pm)
Phone: +62 813-3988-6864
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Green Sport Café
This restaurant and café seems to belong to the Ecosfera Hotel. I often worked in the Dojo Coworking Space next door. The Green Spot Café caught our eye on the way between the Dojo and the beach. We have then once made use of their lunch offer. They had three bowls to choose from and a drink included which came for 90,000 rupees (about 5.60 euros). We decided to go for the falafel and the shrimp bowl and drank a homemade lemonade. Just right for lunch.
Conclusion
Since we only ate lunch once in the Green Spot Café, no final verdict can be made. It was delicious, the ambience straightforward and appealing, and the ceiling fan made the midday heat bearable. Like almost all restaurants, the Green Spot is also open to the street. What we ate has definitely made us want more.
Info – Green Spot Café
Address: Echo, Beach, Jl. Batu Mejan, Canggu, North Kuta, Badung Regency, Bali 80361, Indonesia
Opening hours: Mon – Sun, 7 am – 10:30 pm
Phone: +62 361 8469103
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Posh restaurants
We only visited one of them, the Mason. It did not look that expensive. Only when we had the menu in hand, it was clear to us.
Such restaurants are mostly in foreign hands and have prices like in industrialized countries. I mention it anyway, to show you that there are such kind of restaurants around. For an Indonesian average earner, this category is absolutely unaffordable. Personally, it makes me a little uncomfortable when the price level is beyond good and evil for locals. Another restaurant of this type is located in the same street and is called Billy Ho.
I hope that this is not a general trend and prices are soaring in Bali. It would be a shame.
Mason
We noticed the restaurant, as we withdrew money from one of the cash machines directly next to it. The Mason looks unspectacular from the outside. The building is simply a concrete cuboid. And the interior does not immediately suggest that it is an admittedly good but also expensive restaurant. We had a cozy table at the wall. At the long tables in the middle of the room you have to sit on stools. On the following photo you can also see that it has not lacked staff. And in the evening the restaurant is full, which is also reflected in the parking lot in front of it.
Surely you are curious about what we ate at Mason and what it cost us. In fact, the house specialty is the grill, which is mainly meat and fish. We decided to take several little things.
On the following pictures you can see everything we ate. For starters we had hummus, baba ganoush and flatbread. The hummus was okay but very mild. The baba ganoush was delicious. The combination with the fried onions was excellent. As a main course, José had the calamari and I had a green salad. For some reason we had ordered mashed potatoes, which I can not quite understand anymore. Together with three bintang on tap and a large bottle of still water, these few little things cost us a whopping 577,500 rupees, the equivalent of about 36 euros. In the info box I have linked the menu so you can see exactly what else you can get at Mason.
Conclusion
A really good restaurant. Delicious food and attentive service. You can tell the professional management of the restaurant. The decor is stylish. The long tables in the middle and outdoor tables with stools might be uncomfortable in the long run. So you better take a table along the wall. The prices are extremely high for Balinese standards. Okay, why not give yourself a treat once in a while.
Info – Mason
Address: Pantai Batu Bolong Street No.39a, Canggu, North Kuta, Badung Regency, Bali 80361, Indonesia
Opening hours: Mon – Sun, 12 pm till late
E-mail: info@masonbali.com
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Warungs and Balinese street food
As explained in the blog post “Eating out in Ubud“, Warungs are usually simpler restaurants with predominantly Indonesian cuisine.
The rolling snack bars are very popular among the employees of the shops and the lodging establishments and also among construction workers. Here you get a hot meal for little money.
A frame is mounted on a scooter, which consists of a gas-heated soup kettle and a holding area around it, as well as a showcase for vegetables and other soup inserts.
They drive through the streets and attract attention by ringing signals.
Rolling snack bar
We definitely wanted to eat a soup at one of these snack bars in Canggu. The communication was not that easy as the guy did not speak a word of English.
I made clear to him with my hands and feet that I didn’t want any meat in my soup. What I got was delicious. I have to admit that I was not sure with everything what it was.
The hygienic conditions are of course not perfect, as you can easily see on the next photo. I also had some problems afterwards. But it was definitely worth it to me. As the saying goes: no risk, no fun.
As you can see in this case, it can be done plastic-free. The soup is served in a ceramic bowl and the cutlery is a regular metal spoon.
Makan 2 Warung
The Makan happened to be right next to our accommodation so it was a good idea to eat there. It didn’t keep at one time, we went there at least four times. That certainly had several reasons. On the one hand the convenient location for us, on the other hand, the selection of Indonesian dishes and it was simply good, in the end the prices were also very reasonable.
Eating and drinking at Makan
Like many Warungs, the Makan has a showcase from which you can assemble the food according to your own taste and as much as you like. Since these showcases are uncooled and are open or at most covered with a curtain on the side where you take out the food the hygiene conditions are rather uncertain.
The Makan also offers many freshly cooked dishes. If you want to play it safe then order something from the menu. There are many classics of Indonesian cuisine, such as Gado-Gado, curry with vegetables, chicken or seafood, Nasi and Mie Goreng and chicken satay. Everything costs between 20 and 45 thousand rupees (1.25 – 3 euros). The fresh juices were also delicious. The papaya juice was our absolute favorite because it was nice thick and creamy.
Ambiance
As you can see in the following photo, the ambience was very modern. The building is reminded me of a barn, the walls are partially unpainted, the tables and chairs look as if they were made of pallets. In the background to the left of the picture you can also see the display case with the prepared food, which I mentioned at the beginning.
Conclusion
The food and drinks were good and cheap. The staff is young and welcoming, but with many guests in the house they can’t really cope with. Every now and then, straying dogs or cats came to the restaurant and begged for food. The cats also jumped on the table after leaving it and ate the leftovers. This is certainly because some guests are feeding the animals, but it should be stopped by the staff. I have not seen this happening in any other restaurant. Nevertheless, I can recommend a visit to Makan 2 Warung. It is a relatively new restaurant and the staff can still learn.
Info – Makan 2 Warung
Address: Jl. Nelayan No.33, Canggu, Kuta Utara, Kabupaten Badung, Bali, Indonesia
Opening hours: Mon – Sun, 8 am – 10 pm
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Eating, drinking and chilling on the beach
There are small restaurants all along the beach in Canggu on Batu Bolong Beach, where the surfing area is located. Many of them also lend surfboards, some even have a covered area and some only offer bean bags, loungers and umbrellas. I have not seen that you have to pay for the umbrella and sunbed here, as you usually do in Europe. It’s enough if you order something to drink.
At the western end of Batu Bolong Beach, where the famous Oldmans Pub and Restaurant is located, in the evenings there is often live music directly on the beach. Most beachside restaurants, where you can have dinner, are located further west at the end of Jalan Pantai Batu Mejan.
The Paluh Surf & Café
For us The Paluh Surf & Café became the hangout when we spent time at the beach. It is one of the restaurants that are right on the beach. Here you can borrow a surfboard, hang out on a bean bag or relax on a lounger. The menu is not very extensive, but eventually you take a snack on the beach and thus absolutely sufficient. Most guests will only take a drink anyway.
Here you can perfectly enjoy the sunset. You should arrive on the beach at 6 pm at the latest. Sample needed?
Info – The Paluh Surf & Café
Address: Batu Bolong Beach, Canggu, North Kuta, Badung Regency, Bali, Indonesia. The part of the beach between Jl. Nelayan und Jl. Pantai Batu Bolong.
Opening hours: Mon – Sun, 7:30 am – shortly after sunset (max. 9:30 pm)
Phone: +62 815-4754-9114
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Dian Café
Where the small Dian Café is located, several restaurants are close together on a terrace that borders the sea. It means that the beach is interrupted here. Therefore it can easily happen at high tide that the spray makes you wet if you sit at the water front. In the immediate vicinity is the Echo Beach Club, the largest of the restaurants on this stone terrace by the sea. Also very close by is La Brisa Bali a very popular beach club and restaurant. Here the motto is to see and be seen.
The Dian Café offers more down to earth cuisine. Food and drinks are good and still reasonably priced. The best thing is of course the location which is right next to the sea. Here you can watch the surfers or just the waves and enjoy the sound of the sea. We ate curry and fish & chips in Dian Café and drank watermelon and papaya juice.
Info – Dian Café
Address: Badung, Canggu, Kuta Utara, Kabupaten Badung, Bali 80361, Indonesien
Opening hours: Mon – Sun, 7 am – 10 pm
Phone: +62 813-3875-4305
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