Balinese buffet at Glory Restaurant in Legian

Sunday afternoon Ika, Jevon and I went down to Glory Restaurant on Jl. Legian in Legian, for some authentic Balinese food. The funny thing about Bali is that there are not many Balinese restaurants. There are a ton of roadside snack place out in the country, selling the cold mixture of rice, peanut sauce, sprouts and chili’s, but in the tourist scene it all Padang food from Sumatra, nasi goreng and Javanese cooking.

One of the best places to enjoy authentic Balinese food, other than a Balinese person’s house, is Glory Restaurant. Glory has been open since the 70’s and manager Putu, has a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience in Balinese cuisine.

Ika is from Java, and there are differences in her type of food for sure. In Central Java food is usually sweet, and often deep fried. With Balinese food they love to use pork and the traditional dish, lawar contains pork blood and pork fat. Ika enjoyed her Balinese food, minus the pork. Some of the dishes I tried were Urutan (pork sausage), Timbungan (spicy minced pork, roasted in a bamboo tube), Jukut Bayam (spiced mountain greens), Tum (spiced forcemeat steamed in banana leaf), Jukut Urab (steamed vegetables and shaved coconut), Jagung goreng (fried corn), Ikan Cekalan (Salted fish).

In this era of being trendy, one can grab parts of any cuisine, dribble taco sauce on something, and say its ‘authentic food’. Here at Glory Restaurant, you have a traditional Balinese food selection, prepared and cooked by Balinese chefs. These guys are fussy, and will take dishes away if they feel they have been out too long. Aside from the Balinese buffet, which is every Sunday, Glory is a great family restaurant, plenty of room, good food and expert cocktails.

Glory – Bar & Restaurant
Jalan Legian Kaja No. 445, Legian – Bali
Tel (62.361) 751091 / Fax (62.361) 753219
Email : info@glorybali.com