Places to eat in Kuta: 1992

Times change, people change, places changes, prices go up. Sitting here in London I’m flicking through a Lonely Planet from 1992. My first trip to Bali was in 1993 and it intersting to what places LP recommends for eating in the Kuta area.

Here’s what they say: ‘There are countless places to eat around Kuta and Legian; they range from tiny hawker’s carts to fancy restaurants, from cheap warungs to bars and pubs, and from steak houses to juice bars. Like so much else about Kuta, there’s not that much that is straightforward Indonesian or Balinese – you could stay in Kuta for a month, eat in a different place every meal and never have to confront so much as a humble nasi goreng. In Kuta the food is psuedo-western top to bottom. although its always going through some transient craze whether its a spate of Mexican restaurants or the discovery of pizza.

Prices in Kuta’s fancier restaurants are no longer rock bottom, so if you want to eat cheaply try places like Depot Viva on Jl. Legian, the food carts that cater to local workers or the night market near the post office. Many of the fancier lpaces have Australian wine for 3,500rp per glass.

Around Kuta
Places may come and go but Poppies remains one of the most popular restaurants ever, although the food is very straighforward, and the prices (from 6,000rp to 9,000rp for main courses) are quite high. Its on Poppies Gang, close to the heart of things, with a beautiful and quite romantic garden and attentive service. A few steps west beyond Poppies is TJ’s, the place in Kuta for Mexican food. In this deservedly popular restaurant, main courses are 5,000 to 8,000rp.
Further down Poppies Gang, towards the beach, there are several popular places for light meals. Fat Yogi’s turns out good pizzas from their genuine wood-fired oven and their croissants aren’t bad at breakfast time. Further down the gang, there’s Warung Transformer and the pleasant Tree House Restaurant, a good place for an excellent and economical breakfast.’

How about that, looking back 13 years at some of your eating options in Kuta. Poppies and TJ’s are still around and still do quality food. Many of the small warungs menitoned are no longer around and the entire food scene has exploded, with fast food chains, lounge bars and attached restaurants and a whole different level than that which was on offer in 1992.

Talking with a long time restaurant owner fairly recently, I learned that in the very early day of the modern tourist scene in Kuta, simply getting proper ingredients was hard. everythnig tasted of coconut oil, becuase that was all they had. Apparently in order to cook with it and not have it soak into the food you have to get it super hot, whih isn’t easy as it tends to flash. Some people used pig fat, which isn’t very good for you, but tastes okay. These days you just zip over to Bali Deli, Dijon Deli or Bintang and pick up whatever oil you need.