Babi guling, sate lilit, nasi campur and more: what to order in Bali, and the warung and restaurants where we go to eat it.
Balinese food is bold, fragrant and built on one thing above all: base genep, the island’s all-purpose spice paste of shallots, garlic, chilli, galangal, turmeric, ginger, kencur and more, pounded by hand. Learn a few dishes by name and the warung menus start to make sense. Here is what to order, and where we would go to try it.
Six dishes to know
Babi guling
The island’s signature dish: a whole pig stuffed with base genep and turned over a fire for hours. A plate comes with slices of meat, crackling, spicy sausage and lawar over rice. It is a ceremonial dish that became the ultimate lunch.
Sate lilit
Unlike the skewered chunks found across Indonesia, Balinese sate lilit is minced fish, chicken or pork mixed with grated coconut and spices, then wrapped around a flat bamboo stick or a stalk of lemongrass and grilled over coconut husks.
Nasi campur
“Mixed rice” is the everyday lunch: a mound of rice with small portions of whatever the warung cooked that morning, from shredded chicken and tempeh to egg, vegetables and sambal. Point at what you want and pay by the plate.
Also look for: bebek betutu or ayam betutu, duck or chicken rubbed in spice paste, wrapped in leaves and slow-cooked for hours; lawar, a chopped salad of vegetables, coconut, spices and minced meat; and sambal matah, a raw relish of shallot, lemongrass, chilli and lime leaf that goes with almost everything.
Something sweet
Bubuh injin, black rice pudding with coconut milk, is the classic breakfast treat. At the markets, look for jaje Bali, colourful rice-flour sweets made with palm sugar and coconut, many of them the same cakes made for temple offerings.
Learn a few dishes by name and the warung menus start to make sense.
Where to eat it
01Restaurant · Ubud
Babi Guling Ibu Oka
Ubud’s classic Balinese spit-roast pork
The name everyone knows. A family warung near Ubud Palace serving fire-roasted babi guling with crackling and rice since the 1980s, with plates from around IDR 8.000 to 75.000. Go early; it sells out.
Good for: Food lovers, quick lunch, budget travellers, local experience
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02Restaurant · Ubud
Hujan Locale
Indonesian street food, reimagined in Ubud
Will Meyrick’s Ubud restaurant turns Indonesian street food and regional recipes into generous sharing plates, with plenty for vegetarians. Adults only (12+).
Good for: Couples, groups of friends, Indonesian food discovery
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03Restaurant · Seminyak
Merah Putih
Indonesia’s regional flavours under one roof
A dramatic, cathedral-like dining hall in Petitenget with dishes from across the archipelago and a nine-dish Indonesian tasting menu. A great first taste of the country’s regional flavours.
Good for: Date night, special occasions, groups, first taste of Indonesian cuisine
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04Restaurant · Seminyak
Bambu
Candlelit Indonesian dinners over lotus ponds
Candlelit pavilions over lotus ponds and authentic regional Indonesian dishes. The romantic choice in Seminyak.
Good for: Date night, special occasions, family dinners, groups
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05Restaurant · Ubud
Naughty Nuri’s Ubud
Smoky pork ribs and famous martinis
Smoky charcoal-grilled pork ribs and famously strong martinis at the original Sanggingan warung, running since the mid-1990s.
Good for: Casual dinners, groups of friends, meat lovers
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06Restaurant · Ubud
Locavore NXT
Hyper-local tasting menus on a sustainable campus
For the big night: a 20-plus-course tasting menu built entirely on Indonesian ingredients, from a team with its own fermentation lab and food forest. No. 44 on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2026.
Good for: Food lovers, special occasions, sustainability-minded travellers
View detailsCook it yourself
07Activity · Ubud
Casa Luna Cooking School
Ubud's original Balinese cooking school
Ubud’s original Balinese cooking school, founded by Janet DeNeefe in 1987, with classes plus market, coffee and palm-sugar tours.
Good for: Food lovers, couples, culture seekers
View details08Activity · Ubud
Paon Bali Cooking Class
Cook Balinese food in a family compound
A family-run class in Laplapan village near Ubud where you shop the morning market, visit rice fields and cook around nine Balinese dishes in a traditional home.
Good for: Food lovers, families, couples
View detailsEating like a local
- Warung prices are usually listed per plate; ask before you order if nothing is written down.
- Babi guling and nasi campur are lunch dishes. The best warung often sell out by early afternoon.
- Ask for your sambal on the side (sambal terpisah) if you are not used to the heat.
- Drink bottled or filtered water, and choose busy stalls where the food turns over quickly.
