Bali and beyond

[Antoallison]

I missed the flight !x## Boarding now for your TR.

Food photos look amazing .. they do restaurant fit outs and service well.
Bali is so close to Perth that I may be tempted to go again. Previous and only trip was 8 years ago.

 

[LadyC]

Settimo Cielo

This Italian restaurant is located down the road from where we are staying so was an easy walk down in the heat for our lunch.



MasterC's pizza


Vitello tonnato - very tasty


Beef carpaccio with truffle dressing - so good we nearly ate it all before I took the photo. Interestingly we ordered another serve of it which was not quite as nice because there was less dressing


Cold cuts board with salumi, cheese, olives, bread etc. Nice enough but no stand outs.

 

[Pushka]

Oh wow, way braver than me in eating uncooked meat.

 

[LadyC]

Burrata - absolutely divine. Could eat numerous plates of this.


Kingfish and artichoke tartare - nice enough but not a stand out either


Seared yellow fin tuna with avocado and fennel - the flavours didn't work for me with this dish


Beef tartare - only so so and least favourite of the beef dishes


The quality of all the dishes was high but some of the flavors/combinations didn't really work for us. Worth a look if you are in the area

 

[LadyC]

Oh wow, way braver than me in eating uncooked meat.

In general or in Bali? The gentleman and I love a good steak tartare but we choose carefully where we order it. I get a bit more worried about certain seafood in Asia rather than meat (just due to my past experiences with dodgy prawns/oysters).

 

[Pushka]

In general or in Bali? The gentleman and I love a good steak tartare but we choose carefully where we order it. I get a bit more worried about certain seafood in Asia rather than meat (just due to my past experiences with dodgy prawns/oysters).

In Bali. I’ve come home with a few tummy issues although I still love the place. When we would stay in Legian. Even came home with Campylobacter once, as I needed to be tested when I came home. Public Health dept here notified and would not listen when I told them it happened in Bali. Poorly cooked chicken I think.

 

[LadyC]

In Bali. I’ve come home with a few tummy issues although I still love the place. When we would stay in Legian. Even came home with Campylobacter once, as I needed to be tested when I came home. Public Health dept here notified and would not listen when I told them it happened in Bali. Poorly cooked chicken I think.

Pesky chicken. It was our downfall in Sri Lanka - completely ruined our holiday. I feel your pain!

 

[LadyC]

Boy n Cow - Seminyak

Boy n Cow markets itself as a meat boutique. We enjoyed our Christmas dinner there but were disappointed that they only serve grain fed beef. It is only open for dinner and also has an online store from which you can buy their meat if you are staying in a villa with kitchen facilities.

Tomato and Burrata - the burrata was nice but too much tomato for me.


Pork Belly terrine - this was quite tasty


Beef tenderloin - The gentleman ordered this and thought it was reasonable.


Lamb shank - Falling of the bone, I thought the lamb shank was delicious. The peas were a bit meh. And that's a blob of beetroot puree in the foreground btw.


Some sides of broccoli and creamed spinach. The creamed spinach was excellent and had us googling the recipe as soon as we got back to the villa.


Further sides of carrot and asparagus to round out the meal. Just middle of the road.

 

[LadyC]

Da Maria - Kerobokan

This is an osteria/pizzeria situated on the main street in Kerobokan. It is owned/run/managed (?) by Mr Terzini of Icebergs fame. We enjoyed a lunch here on Boxing Day.

Pizza for MasterC


Prosciutto - an eye watering $20 plate - no value for money here!


Snapper crudo - I thought this was a bit bland


Burrata with zucchini - so delicious we came back to the restaurant again to eat this


Chicken coteletta - Absolutely delicious


Pork Belly with spinach - The gentleman ordered this and rated it highly


Pickled cabbage salad with parmesan - Lighter in flavour than we expected, it was a nice addition to our mains.

 

[LadyC]

I have been impressed with the fact that most of the restaurants we have visited have kids menus. It makes dining out a lot easier when you don't have to work out what your little one might eat from the regular menu. Most restaurants have websites but the menus aren't always up to date or clear about a differentiation between lunch or dinner menu or if there is a kids menu.

We ate almost all of our meals out at lunch time which is great with children also as we found restaurants were quieter (no need to book) and therefore food served faster (happy child). Dinner service we found was slower and therefore a bit more challenging.

 

[LadyC]

Sisterfields - Seminyak

When in Bali and feeling the need for some Melbourne cafe action, Sisterfields is the place to go to get your smashed avocado fix. High quality food and coffee with Melbourne pricing and plenty of instagram food action.

Kiddie's pancakes


Pork schnitty and sides of haloumi and smashed avo!


Chilli cheese scrambled eggs with sides of smoked salmon and smashed avo!

 

[LadyC]

Sadly, it was time to leave Bali and head across to Kuala Lumpur for two nights. After the across town traffic battle, we arrived at DPS airport and had a quick passage through check in and immigration to the lounge. We were flying Malaysian Airlines over to KL and had the pleasure (?!) of using the Premier Lounge at DPS. if you have attended before, you know what it is like. If you haven't, you aren't missing anything. The lounge was very busy but the staff were working hard to ensure everyone had somewhere to sit. We idled away some time before heading across to the gate to board the plane.

 

[Pushka]

Sadly, it was time to leave Bali and head across to Kuala Lumpur for two nights. After the across town traffic battle, we arrived at DPS airport and had a quick passage through check in and immigration to the lounge. We were flying Malaysian Airlines over to KL and had the pleasure (?!) of using the Premier Lounge at DPS. if you have attended before, you know what it is like. If you haven't, you aren't missing anything. The lounge was very busy but the staff were working hard to ensure everyone had somewhere to sit. We idled away some time before heading across to the gate to board the plane.

It’s the only lounge I’ve been glad to leave.

 

[GSP]

Good read and can relate to many aspects of the story. i.e having also been to Bali similar number of times including November, with children in toe of similar vintage, staying at Villa's in Seminyak and eating at a number of the places samples above (kids also had the funny pizza's at Da Maria - they (kids) made it too.

The food scene at Seminyak/Kerobokan has improved out of sight in recent times, a tip however (for any thrifty AFF's), is to buy a $10 Perth Entertainment book (it has a Bali section) which gives you 25% off at a large selection of quality restaurants. You can also double down and join Chope rewards and make your bookings through them to score points for further discounts.

 

[LadyC]

Good read and can relate to many aspects of the story. i.e having also been to Bali similar number of times including November, with children in toe of similar vintage, staying at Villa's in Seminyak and eating at a number of the places samples above (kids also had the funny pizza's at Da Maria - they (kids) made it too.

The food scene at Seminyak/Kerobokan has improved out of sight in recent times, a tip however (for any thrifty AFF's), is to buy a $10 Perth Entertainment book (it has a Bali section) which gives you 25% off at a large selection of quality restaurants. You can also double down and join Chope rewards and make your bookings through them to score points for further discounts.

We saw other kids making pizzas at Da Maria but my little one isn't quite old enough yet. Thanks for the tip on the Entertainment book card - good to know.

 

[LadyC]

MH850 DPS - KUL J

This 2hr50m flight was in a 737 with 4 rows of business 2x2 across. The flight to KUL was fully loaded with plenty of holiday makers heading home after the Christmas break. The MH crew were very quick to serve the meal as soon as possible after the seat belt signs were off. I didn't really eat much of the meal. I wasn't expecting the catering out of DPS to be very good so planned accordingly to eat before we got to the airport.

J seat


Obligatory legroom shot


Menu


Hoki and Prawn with Tagliatelle


Beef with noodles


The IFE was reasonable for a short haul intra Asia flight. My only complaint is that they shut it off about 30 minutes before we landed which seemed a bit redundant.

There was another plane landing at almost the same time as us on another runway and it was interesting to watch the parallel descent.


A relatively quick passage through immigration and our baggage was waiting for us when we reached the carousel. It was about 7.45pm by the time we left. I organised a car to pick us up and take us to the hotel as I thought catching the KL Ekspres might be too hard with MasterC at that time in the evening.

 

[GSP]

Looking at the choices of meals I would have went the Chicken Tandoori Skewers, the other meals don't look that flash.

Funny how you say the KL landing, it was (similarly again), flying into there (this time from HYD) where I watched another plane for several minutes wondering how we were going to land together only to see it land parallel somewhere else at pretty much the same time.

If it's any consolation, the MH flights to/from India in J were just OK, although service was pretty good.

 

[GSP]

How long was your travel from KL airport to your destination?

 

[LadyC]

How long was your travel from KL airport to your destination?

We were travelling around 8pm and the drive in took about 45 minutes. The traffic was light and I believe the airport is about 50km out. The car pick up was good but the KL Ekspres train is also good and a lot cheaper! We stayed in Sentral so quite close to the train station.

Looking at the choices of meals I would have went the Chicken Tandoori Skewers, the other meals don't look that flash.

Funny how you say the KL landing, it was (similarly again), flying into there (this time from HYD) where I watched another plane for several minutes wondering how we were going to land together only to see it land parallel somewhere else at pretty much the same time.

If it's any consolation, the MH flights to/from India in J were just OK, although service was pretty good.

Although the meals weren't much chop, I am fairly particular so appreciate many others may be okay with them. For the price we paid, I was very happy with our MH flights and would fly with them again.

 

[LadyC]

St Regis Kuala Lumpur

We decided to stay at St Regis in Sentral as we were only in KL for a 36 hour period and we didnt think we would be doing lots of tourist sites. I am a bit of a Four Seasons fanboi but I haven't heard good things about the new Four Seasons in KL. We just booked an entry level room for our 2 night stay. The room was quite spacious with a small sofa and very odd mini bar. There was a separate dressing room and a large bathroom. The bathroom had a separate shower and bath and best of all, a Toto toilet!