INDONESIAN FOOD
Bu Rus
Bu Rus is our favorite warung for local food. Everything on the menu here is really good. We’ve been here for lunch several times and never been disappointed. I highly recommend the Chicken BBQ Satay, Nasi Goreng, Mei-Goreng. Their satay is especially good as they use a nice spicy BBQ rub on the meat, and the accompanying peanut sauce is delicious.
Gautama No. 5
This place has no name, it just has the address on the board in front. It’s located on Gautama street and I guess the address have the number 5 in it. The family cooks the food here and they have several vegetarian options. Their food is always delicious. We recommend the Nasi Goreng, Chicken Satay, Cap Cay, Bihun Goreng and the curries. The Cap Cay is especially delicious and one of our favorites here. Cap Cay is basically a veggie stir-fry in a light tomato based sauce. It’s delicious with rice; but you can even eat it as a soup.
Casa Luna
Casa Luna is one of the fancier places in the touristy area where the foreigners hang out. But the Indonesian food here is the best in this area. We really liked the Chicken Satay, which is served with rice and the beans and coconut side dish and the Nasi Goreng. 
Biah Biah
This place is always packed, with a line of people waiting outside for tables. We were walking on this street and saw so many people waiting for a table so we immediately got in line to see what the fuss was about. We were not at all disappointed, as the food here is cheap, served fast, so delicious and very authentic. We tried so many things on the menu; you can order small or big portions depending on your preferences. Also, they have so many vegetarian options. We love the starters here: spring rolls, an assortment of veggies, and the beans and coconut side dish called Lawar. Our favorite starter is the Perkedel Kentang: it’s potato fritter, just like a pakoda, served with spicy sambal. Another thing I love here is the Nasi Campur. Campur means mix, so it’s basically a plate of a various veggies, meats and condiments served with rice. And don’t skip the desserts here. We’ve tried all the desserts in this place and love every single one of them! But my top favourite would be Pisang Goreng: it’s a fried banana with a sweet sauce, with an option to top it with ice cream. What’s not to love? 
Ibu Oka
This place is the best spot to try Bali’s most famous dish: Babi Guling. It’s a Balinese style roast suckling pig. Babi Guling is a celebration meal here, served at weddings, anniversaries and other joyful occasions. And it’s also available in many eateries. It’s prepared by stuffing the pig with Basa Gede (a fresh spice paste made of things like shallots, garlic, ginger, galangal, fresh turmeric, bird’s eye chilli, black peppercorn, salt, and shrimp paste), rubbing the skin with turmeric, then hand turning them on a spit over an open fire, basting them with coconut water throughout the 6 hour roasting process. Definitely, do not miss this if you’re a pork lover!
Nasi Ayam Kedewatan Bu Mangku
This is where you can eat the chicken rice of Indonesia, basically my favorite food in the whole world. Slow-roasted chicken thighs, tender breast meat slathered in a Betutu spice mixture, a hard-boiled egg, and a turmeric-tinted minced chicken satay skewer served with white rice, along with green beans with coconut, salted peanuts, and fried shrimp crackers provide crunch, and you can add several pieces of sliced chili or spicy sambal. It’s just a small humble eatery where you sit on the floor and eat. A delicious meal and a great local experience.
ITALIAN
Milk and Madu
We love getting pizza here when we’re kinda bored of eating local food. This place has really good wood fire oven pizza an on Tuesday evenings they do a buy one get one free, with a live band performance. The vibe is fun and lively and the food and drinks are really good. We love their Kombucha, it’s one of the best in Ubud. I recommend the Margherita pizza, it’s classic and well made and a large pizza is always wolfed down by us in minutes. 
SANDWICHES, BREADS, CAKES
Daily Baguette
This place is great stop to pick up fresh bread, croissants, and cakes. They also have a seating area upstairs where they serve the most delicious coffee we’ve tried in Ubud. Their sandwiches are awesome because you can pick the bread and the fillings. They have different types of breads ranging from baguette, sourdough, rye and veggie and meat fillings with cheese. I also love their big dense chocolately cookies that are chewy. It’s also a great place to work from and people watch on the street below.
MEXICAN
Cantina Taco Bar
Cantina is by far the best tacos and nachos we’ve ever had in South East Asia. The chef is from California and you know they don’t mess around with their Mexican food. We’ve been here several times and tried pretty much everything on the menu and the quality of the food is always top notch. We highly recommend the Pulled Jackfruit Tacos, made with a savoury raw jackfruit stuffing. It sounds weird to eat Jackfruit this way but trust me the tacos are beyond delicious. The nachos, the fries, the fish tacos, and the street side Mexican style burgers are also really good. Pick anything on the menu you won’t be disappointed! 
INDIAN
Queen of India
We never eat Indian food while traveling as we want to explore as many foreign flavors as possible. Also, Indian food in restaurants is never the kind of home-style Indian that we like. Our neighbor and Canadian friend wanted to try Indian food so we decided to go to this place. Food is decent, just your typical north Indian fare: Curries, Biriyani, Samosa, Pulao, Dal Makhani etc. Nothing great but not bad either. I was really craving a Gulab Jamun so we tried it and it was just about okay. And don’t expect kind smiling welcoming Balinese people, service is more along the lines of eat, pay, get lost.
Mumbai Central
This place was really a surprise. It’s Indian home-style food, without oil. But slightly fancier homestyle; think samosas with potato pumpkin filling. A yellow dal with carrot. Masala dosa with 5 different types of chutneys. Rice pudding with Longan. Kichdi with green leafy veggies. They even had Gajar-ka-halwa and Rice kheer. Everything we ate here was really delicious and satisfying but it’s on the pricier side. SB Tip: The spa here is really amazing! Don’t miss out.
HEALTHY, VEGAN, VEGETARIAN
Smoothie Bowls
Smoothie bowls are a cuisine of their own in Ubud. So many little cafes and eateries serve their version of a smoothie bowl. It’s basically a smoothie, in a bowl, with several toppings layered on top. My favorite toppings are cacao nibs, mango, chia seeds, coconut flakes, raisins. You can’t go wrong with a smoothie bowl! Any combination that you can think of works! The best smoothie bowl that we had, were the Sayuri Cafe and Buddha Bowl. You can also find it in Habitat cafe, Pundi Pundi and Green Keys.
Sayuri Healing Food Cafe
Kismet Restaurant and Lounge
DESSERT
Gelato Secrets
This is hands down the best Gelato we’ve ever had in Asia. All of the flavors we tried here are really delicious and some of the flavors are Balinese inspired like the coconut sorbet, dragon fruit cinnamon, durian, and so on. They have a line outside most evenings. They even have coffee and waffles! Our favourite flavors are Pistachio, Coconut, and Passionfruit. Always ask for 2 scoops of complimentary flavors and mix them! We recommend Coconut + Passionfruit, Pistachio + Strawberry, Durian + Dark chocolate. 
Acai Queen
This place is an Instagrammer’s dream. They have pineapple shaped bowls, and swings, and pink and purple decor, and the food is very very pretty: Avocado toasts, Peanut Butter and Strawberry toasts. But the highlight is the Acai Bowl. Acai is a superfood berry that grows in a tropical climate. You can choose a bunch of different toppings and spend an hour straight eating and taking photos. Some days it gets really crowded because of Instagrammer’s waiting to get the perfect shot.
CarameL Patisserie & Cafe
This cute bakery and cafe has delicious coffee and macaroons. they also have cakes, pastries and other desserts.
Frozen Yogi
It says Yogi to attract the nutters who come to Bali to eat pray yoga. The yogurt is pretty great and they have a lot of choices of toppings. They also have decent wifi!
Ubud Raw Chocolate
This creamy and delicious artisanal chocolate is handmade in Ubud from ingredients sourced locally. They have a couple of different flavours, my personal favourite was Goji Berry. These are heavy chocolates. We were full after a few bites! It’s also a great gift and souvenir to bring back from Bali. 
Bonus
Buddha Bowl
We really love because it’s so cozy. We’ve spent so many rainy afternoons working from this cafe, drinking endless pots of ginger tea. The menu is a mish mash of Thai, Vietnamese, Balinese, and Western. But almost everything I’ve tried is really good. My favorite is the Vietnamese rice bowl, which has grilled pork, with lemongrass, garlic, chili, coriander and rice, comfort food for me since living in Vietnam in 2017. I also recommend the Chiang Mai noodles, the fried rice, the smoothie bowls and the breakfast options. 
Places to Avoid
- Tukies: This place is known for its coconut ice-cream but we really hated it. It tasted so artificial and chemical. Go here only if you want coconut water or granola, but don’t eat the ice cream.
- Clear Cafe: This place is awful. It’s filled those nutty vegan types, it’s over priced and the food is so meh. When we ordered a ginger tea they basically served us hot water with pieces of ginger in it.
- Taco Casa: This place is always crowded, i guess it’s because of the cheap cocktails, but their food is horrible. And the wait time is insane.The service is quite terrible. Go to Cantina Taco Bar.
- Umah Pizza: Really really terrible pizza that tasted like bread with some ketchup and toppings!
