It's finally time for us to try the famous Babi Guling Ibu Oka, first made famous by Anthony Bourdain almost 8 years ago. I was a little apprehensive about trying this and wanted to go to Babi Guling Pak Malen in Seminyak but our guide was pretty convincing when he told us that he preferred this one here. Oh well, since he's the local, we decided to trust him and went with his recommendation.
We nearly missed this shop until the guide pointed it out to us. Heh! I was expecting some gigantic pig roasting away in front of the shop but apparently it was all done behind it.
He's all set to eat! Haha! Check out his happy face~
The setup around the shop was pretty simple and considering there are THREE branches just around the same area in Ubud, I think that is a smart move on the part of the owner. Business was so good that they have so many outlets in the same vicinity (5 minutes from each other) so that is no easy feat. We went to Ibu Oka 1!
The mandatory "teh botol" was much more expensive here at 7000 IRP as compared to the usual price of about 3000 IRP in most other places. I suspect the hike in price here is due to their popularity with tourists. We were thirsty and within seconds, we managed to polish off the whole bottle! Hehe!
All of us had the "Nasi Guling Spesiel" and even though reviews mainly said it was mild, I still found the meal satisfactory mainly because I did not have to reach for any water while I eat; a constant occurrence when I had spicy food. I absolutely loved the crispy skin, the soft tender pork strips, and the crunchy red coloured crisps? The only thing I disliked was their vegetables as I am not a fan of vegetables with coconut milk stirred in. The chilly was also a little too much for my palate. Their pork sausage was actually good although I couldn't finish it as it was really spicy for me. My fiancé and the guide found it mild though so maybe it's just me.
They provided extra chilly for extra kick if you find the food too mild. For people like me, it is not necessary at all! LOL!
The avocado juice here tasted more watery than Bebek Tepi Sawah's. In fact, it tasted a little mango-ish...maybe their juicer was not cleaned properly? Indonesian style of avocado juice seemed to be blended avocado drizzled with chocolate sauce as opposed to the Singaporean version of drizzling it with thick, fragrant "Gula Melaka".
Since we were still thirsty after a while morning under the hot, unforgiving sun (I have my sunburnt to attest to that), we ordered a young coconut to share (IDR 20000). Thankfully it was huge and the flesh was so smooth and thin (a mark of young coconut).
The total bill for such simple food went to about IDR 240000! Three special rice, two iced tea, one avocado juice and one coconut.
Look for them right in front of Ubud Royal Palace or follow their exact address here:
Warung Babi Guling Ibu Oka 1
Jl Suweta,
Ubud.
Tel: 085100077490
No comments :
Post a Comment