Have you missed going abroad or have a holiday outside your country? I do, a lot! It's been a privilege right now until God knows when. What I love the most about traveling is tasting their authentic food, I'm always keen to try something new and local. It gives joy and an unforgettable experience. What about you?

If you've been to Bali, you must've known about Canggu. This hype area in Bali is filled with hidden gems, nice cafes, and beach clubs. There's this restaurant that you can't miss since it's so pretty and will give you a memorable experience. You can feel like you're in Santorini here! And yes the restaurant's name is Santorini. They have 2 restaurants, in Kuta and Canggu but this one in Canggu is more instagrammable.

Once you enter this place, you can feel the Santorini vibe everywhere you see. The murals on the wall are so beautiful and detail, I can stare at them for hours. Not to forget the stairs with a balcony area for photo spot, that's just too cute!

Besides the place, the food is awesome too. I like Greek food even though I've never been to Greece myself but I like how it tastes clean and fresh without feeling too heavy. I'll share some food that I tried there.

First time trying spinach and cheese pie. This is also an appetizer. The skin is crunchy with spinach and cheese combination, quiet filling but not too heavy. Love the crunchiness combined with the spinach.

Meal for kiddos. We ordered spaghetti bolognese and the portion's quite big though. They're very thoughtful with the plastic plate and cutleries, so cute!




It's such a pleasant experience to taste Greek food and feels the Greek vibe in Canggu, Bali. Don't forget to stop by this place to have a unique experience while you're in Bali. See you on my next post!
 

Who can resist a good food at a nice place? I won't for sure.. It's been a while since my food post, do you miss me? I'll share you mouth-watering food photos along with super nice place for you to hang. Bali has so many yummy yet beautiful restaurants and this is one of the places to have the best lunch in Seminyak that can't be missed while you're in Bali.

Seminyak is known as tourist's favorite place nowadays from local to international, this area is always a turn on. Many say if you want to have the best dining experience in Bali, Seminyak is the place to go. From Indonesian, Asian to Western, endless choices are offered here and Batik Restaurant Bar is surely on my list.

Concept & Interior

Batik itself according to Wikipedia is a technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to whole cloth originated from Indonesia. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of the resist with a spouted tool called a canting, or by printing the resist with a copper stamp called a cap. The applied wax resists dyes and therefore allows the artisan to colour selectively by soaking the cloth in one colour, removing the wax with boiling water, and repeating if multiple colours are desired.

Batik Restaurant Bar is known as South East Asian Restaurant in Seminyak Bali that serves Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesian food. A very unique restaurant where all the interior and even the furnishing is influenced by the real Batik. Reinterpret the batik tradition in refined way, Batik Restaurant Bar is not just an ordinary restaurant but a cultural reminder that has been set to guide people to that awareness in a subtle, arty and tasty way. It's visualized in every corner of the restaurant from the patterns to the process of making, from the stamps to the ingredients. All in a very detail way that I'm truly amazed with how they arrange everything.

Batik Restaurant Bar Interior - 1st Floor

Batik Restaurant Bar Interior - 2nd Floor

Batik Restaurant Bar Outdoor Area

Batik Mini Tour

This restaurant isn't just a usual restaurant where you eat, hang and leave as usual. They offer 'Batik Mini Tour' that you can ask for free while you're waiting for your dish to discover the timeless beauty and magic of batik. Vania kindly took me for a 'Batik Mini Tour' and here's what I learned:

Batik Fabrication Steps

I didn't notice before but the six fabrics hanging on the main dining room have more meaning than just a normal fabric. They show various steps of batik production from waxing to coloring. It's a complicated process that needs accuracy and patience to create a perfectly beautiful piece of batik fabric. That's why the real Batik fabric is expensive. There are many cheap batik these days because they use printing rather than manual method.

Batik Waxes and Natural Dye

Seeing this area for the first time, I thought they're just decorations or perhaps selling something (the wax kinda looks like soap btw). In fact, all of them are the raw materials that needed in the process of Batik production for each phase. There are different types of woods mostly use to derive natural colors for batik coloring, Kayu Tegeran will become yellow and Kayu Secang will become red. Beside that, there are waxes such as Malam Nemblok to cover and protect any specific motif from any coloring. Another important wax during the process is Malam Ngenreng, which is the first wax used right after the pencil sketch drawing on the fabric and Malam Nerusi which is the second step of waxing, dropped in the backside of the fabric to reinforce and fix the first wax.

Batik Stamps

I know that they're beautiful and expensive because I've seen them at my work place long ago where I was working at furniture and handicraft company. And here, at Batik, there are so many on the wall and used as wall decorations behind the bar area which are so beautiful and stunning. They are used to create a perfectly repeated pattern all over the fabric. All of those stamps are hand-made, will left you imagine how much time, efforts and details needed to weld and knit the metal copper lines as base to create the final design. These batik stamps nowadays already left behind and started to become extinct.

Batik Stairs

As we go to the second floor, I can see the unique stairs where there are so many different types of batik along with the name of the city where it comes from. There are 23 cities on the display here, they are the most important cities that become house of batik production centers within Indonesia and Bali is one of them, so proud! Indonesia is very rich and I can't be more proud!

Batik Canting Pen Board

I know that Canting is an important tool to create batik patterns in the old days. But honestly, I've never seen one and don't know what it looks like. Here they use canting pen to create a modern art. This frame with 1800 holes on it can be used to display words using pattern made by canting pen. As you can see here, it's now . If you plan to have a party or birthday here, they can make your name on the wall. Want it?

Batik Art Panels

Another piece of modern art combining batik and painting. For me it creates a deeper perception of batik and a proof that a traditional art can survive in this modern world.

Batik Fashion Mannequins

Until now, batik is still exist and can live up to the high fashion era. This is one of the proof where Ali Kharisma, one of the famous fashion designers, display his designs on the mannequins at the second floor of Batik Restaurant Bar.

Batik Coins

I'm surprised on how detail they put the batik element as furnishing inside this restaurant. On the second floor at the bar, if you take a look a bit closer to the bottom of the bar counter, there are so many old style coin representing the major batik cities all over Indonesia with their flags and symbolic element. These batik coins resembling small stamps which are used on each bottom of batik fabric to show the originality and where those batik are made. Nowadays, we just use label inside the clothing.

Food & Beverages

Nem Nuong (IDR 65K)

Vietnamese marinated minced beef rolled on lemongrass stick

This reminds me with Balinese food which usually known as sate lilit, the difference is it's usually made with fish. The way to eat it is slightly different, using the lettuce, we can fill it with the minced beef, coriander leaves, sweet sour sauce then roll it up and eat the whole thing. It creates a bursting flavor inside my mouth. Recommended as appetizer, so refreshing!

Thai Pandan Chicken (IDR 45K)

Marianted fried chicken wrapped in pandan leaves

It's a classic Thailand food, simple yet yummy. It comes in small portion as appetizer, very fragrant and the meat is so tender. It uses thigh chicken meat, yum! Perfect for small bites.

Thai Veggie Papaya Salad (IDR 45K)

Som Tum - With young papaya, carrot, peanuts

If you want something spicy and refreshing, I really recommend this for you. Tell the chef if you're Indonesian so you can get a local spiciness level. For Indonesian, it's kinda similar to rujak but it's more refreshing and sour. So many texture and I really love the crunchiness combination between the young papaya, carrot and peanuts. Love the presentation too, so unique!

Pho Bo (IDR 70K)

Popular Vietnamese beef noodle soup - sliced tenderloin, bean sprout, coriander root, sliced onion

Who doesn't know Pho Bo? It's a most well known and must try dish from Vietnam. The taste is light and delightful, a perfect comfort food for anyone. The thin sliced tenderloin is the key, dipped in the hot broth, it creates the perfect and juicy beef. I love to add chili slices and the sour sauce as well to create more flavor. Can't be missed..

Steamed Barramundi (IDR 110K)

Tom yum broth, enoki mushroom, bok choy, and fresh coriander

The highlight of my lunch! The barramundi is so tender, perfectly cooked and tom yum broth and enoki add some more flavor to the fish. It's a perfect combo. I love the extra tomyum broth at the side, comes with rice too so if you're hungry, this is for you to have.

Warm Apple Crumble (IDR 45K)

Served with vanilla ice cream

I had warm apple crumble before but this is a bit different. This is crunchier and richer in texture. The warm glazed apple with the crunchiness from the pastry and crumbles blend perfectly with the sweet and cold vanilla ice cream. Very recommended.. This is a light bite dessert after a full course meal, perfect for sharing if you don't want to eat too much 😋.

Batik Punch (IDR 50K)

Pineapple, Orange, Lime, Cranberry, Soda

I tried this beverage as this is their signature drink. I like how they use real fruits too inside because some place only use syrup or concentrate for their mocktail. It's not too sweet, in fact it's so refreshing sweet and sour taste. Love the combination!

My kind of casual OOTD for summer Top: Cotton On Shorts: H&M Wedges: Hush Puppies

Bali has countless hotels at so many locations but this is my first time reviewing hotel around Ungasan or Uluwatu area. I bet you must have heard about Golden Tulip before, right. There are 3 Golden Tulip Hotels in Bali which is in Denpasar, Sunset Road, and Ungasan. This one is the best Golden Tulip of all, the one in Ungasan.

Last month Golden Tulip Bay View Hotel & Convention invited me to experience their hotel for a night. Since I had an event to attend the earlier morning, I arrived a bit late in the afternoon at Golden Tulip Bay View. I got to stay at Deluxe Room with beautiful pool access, this was my first time having a pool access room btw and I was so excited.

It's been a while since I write a hotel review, don't worry, I hope I can write more not only about traveling but also hotel review. Back with Bali holiday, few months ago I had a chance to go to this beautiful resort in Ubud and spent a day there.

Surrounded by trees, Best Western Premier Agung Resort Ubud is located near the Jl. Sueta Highway is 5 kilometers from the Ubud Monkey Forest and 2 kilometers from exhibits at the Puri Lukisan Museum. I kinda love the location, it's a quiet area but still close to the city, best to have your own accommodation here because it's quiet dark at night.

Streamlined rooms with wood floors have free Wi-Fi and flat-screen TVs, along with desks, sitting areas and balconies or terraces with seating. There's a laid-back restaurant with a terrace, and a coffee shop. Additional amenities include a fitness center and a spa, in addition to an outdoor pool, and a sundeck with sunloungers and a bar.

I arrived there earlier than I expected around 7.45 am, it's a Balinese holiday, Galungan that day so the traffic was super smooth. Spent my time taking pictures and strolled around, I love the atmosphere, so serene and I feel so relaxed. Look at the pool, they have 2 pools, one is on the top over the stairs (deeper one) and one is at the bottom (for kids).

Bread section at Breakfast Buffet

I really love the toaster because I can put anything there beside normal bread slice like croissant and even banana fritter, my favorite! It makes everything taste better.

Pastry and Cakes Area

I'm not really a fan of eating cake and pastry early in the morning as my breakfast. But it still has a good variety.

Main food area

It has a lot of choices for breakfast and delicious too. Variety from Asian to Western, I can find many food that I like here. 

Salad area

The salad is good, they have mix salad so no need to mix yourself if you want to have a standard good taste. The vegetables are fresh and many choices with a few selections of sauce. 

Drink area

Juice, milk, cereal, infused water is normal that you can find at every place but the fresh juice is yummy and fresh (some hotels only give bottled juice). They have jamu too, it's healthy but tasted too strong for me, lol.

After having a full tummy after breakfast, then it's time to walk around, favorite part of going to the hotel is room tour! They have 5 room types starting with deluxe, deluxe green view, deluxe pool view, deluxe executive and suite. I got a chance to see the deluxe pool view and deluxe executive.

The room is big enough and feel so homey, all the dark wood color makes it look more elegant without loosing the tropical touch.




All the wooden furniture matches the theme as well. It's not a built-in type, all are loose furniture which makes it feel like home.

The room is well decorated with tropical vibe with wood flooring, dark wood furniture. The best thing is the bathroom! Even though it's Deluxe type and the bathroom isn't that big but hey, they have bathtub, what a pleasure...! It's the best feeling to relax inside the bubble on holiday.

One of the best thing is to have a huge room and this room type can give you that just right. The interior with all the wood carving is filled with Bali vibe, traditional meets modern. As Indonesian, we usually see this as an ancient kind of place, but for tourists they love it, especially in Ubud.



The dressing room area with wash basin and built in cupboard on the other side.




The bathtub facing greenery is an awesome place to be in. Beside the bathtub, there's a shower place. It's a quiet large bathroom and I always love big bathroom.

Yummy Lunch at Best Western Premier Agung Resort Ubud