Kismet Restaurant and Lounge
My favourite restaurant in Ubud, easily. The serving sizes were generous, the food was fresh, and the flavours were amazing. My absolute favourite thing to get was the Dragon Bowl with tempeh skewers; red rice, greens, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, roast pumpkin, roasted mushrooms and capsicum, with a lemongrass tahini dressing. The tempeh skewers were honestly the best tempeh I've ever had, ever. We also had the Asian Bowl, which was so fresh, made up of red rice, greens, veges, avocado, nori, sesame, kim chi and other goodness, and we opted for the satay seitan skewers. The rice paper rolls were filled to the brim with marinated rice noodles, tofu and fresh veggies, and came with a delicious peanut sauce. All so good. The wait staff were attentive and warm, constantly topping up our water glasses with delicious cucumber infused water, and the general atmosphere of Kismet is relaxed and classy. We came here for my birthday/Christmas dinner as they also serve cocktails and wine, and it was such a wonderful evening. Go, go, go, get the dragon bowl with tempeh skewers, go.
Another favourite in Ubud, we loved the vibes here. We had a delicious lunch starting with the best rice paper rolls that we found in Ubud which were filled with rice noodles, crumbled marinated tofu and raw veggies, served with chilli sauce and peanut sauce, both delicious. I had the white tiger bowl which was a big veggie filled bowl with tempeh, roast pumpkin, greens, fresh veg, and a tahini dressing. Louis had the Japanese bowl, also veggie filled deliciousness with tofu and nori etc. We also had an iced sencha green tea (so refreshing in the Bali humidity) and an iced coffee on cashew milk; yum! We came back a couple of times, and spent a fair amount time lounging around in their egg chair, soaking up the fresh air, the good music playlist, and the beautiful green view. On other trips we also had a hibiscus iced tea which was tart and refreshing, and the tofu larb (fresh, crunchy, tofu goodness), and a good old fashioned long black coffee.
Cheap and cheerful, this is a classic Indonesian warung with a beautiful homemade touch. Puspa is right there in the kitchen next to you whipping up your lunch, proudly offering vegan options for any menu item, serving up red rice, and only using coconut oil in her cooking. The serving sizes are quite small (for a big eater like myself), but the prices are so low that you can always go for seconds, or get a couple of extra rice on the side. We had the vegan nasi campur which came with an amazing jackfruit rendang, corn fritters, tempeh, and other delicious things, plus the vegan curry, a coconut milk based yellow curry with veggies, tofu and tempeh. We also had fresh coconuts that were larger than our head.
We went here a few times for cool drinks, to escape the humidity. The green juice was so good, slow-pressed and very healthy good for you green vibes delicious. The smoothies were cold, thick and sweet; a big tick in my book, because there is nothing worse than a warm or watery smoothie and I've come across far too many in my travels. We did decide to order a smoothie bowl one day which was exceptionally underwhelming, just a smoothie in a bowl with literally (I swear I'm not even exaggerating) a teaspoon of raw granola on top. In saying that, some of the raw wraps and bowls I saw coming out looked good.
Alchemy
An Ubud institution that everyone has raved about as a must-go for as long as I can remember... A little underwhelming? Maybe it was all the hype? We had some tasty smoothies (banana, spinach, pineapple) which were flavoursome, cool and refreshing, as well as a choose-your-own smoothie bowl and a salad bowl. For the smoothie bowl, we chose a papaya banana smoothie, plus the standard fruit toppings, granola (which was yum and crunchy), chia seed pudding (which was really liquidy) and coconut flakes. It was sweet, the fruit was high quality, the toppings were good (minus the chia seed pudd), but what is with warm smoothies??? Not down with it. Our salad was also yum and fresh, with greens, a raw pad thai, a raw Indonesian-inspired zoodle-y type salad, tomato, and marinated veggies. Good flavours, fresh, very healthy... I don't know you guys, am I missing something here??? Why was I so underwhelmed?
Another well-known cafe in Ubud which I'd had on my go-to list for a while, which ended up being quite expensive for what it is and a little underwhelming. The nori rolls were delicious and cured my sushi cravings, but five dollars for sushi??? The nasi goreng was nice enough but a small serving size (Louis had to buy some tofu gado gado from a little warung across the street afterwards to supplement). They do have a make-your-own salad option, where you fill out a sheet and tick all the things you want and choose your dressing which was awesome, super fresh, and definitely one of the best things about Earth Cafe. Louis ordered the acai bowl one day and it was warm and watery and flavourless, which was pretty disappointing. Earth Cafe is good if you're after a simple, relatively unassuming meal but definitely didn't live up to the hype!
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