Makase is the Southeast Asian restaurant at Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach, but before you think hotel restaurant…I’ll skip it, let me tell you that this is where Steve and I had one of the best Indonesian meals of our Bali trip.
The menu features dishes from across Southeast Asia, but we decided to order only Indonesian food, and it turned out to be a good decision.
While we waited for our food, we were served crispy rice crackers with different kinds of sambal and pickled vegetables. Such a good snack, and a great way to start the meal.
Here’s what we ordered:
Tuna Shiso Sambal Ikan
Balinese tuna tartare served on little shiso leaves with kecombrang and sambal embe. Fresh and light, and a lovely way to start the meal.
Pork Bao Bun
Glazed pork belly with lawar kacang, scallions, and sambal matah. A really good bao with lots of flavor.
Ikan Bakar
Jimbaran-style grilled snapper served with sambal matah and dabu-dabu. Simple, and really, really good.
Kondro Bakar
Braised beef short rib with spices from Sulawesi, served with peanut sauce and sambal colo-colo. This was my favorite dish. The meat was so tender it could have been eaten with a spoon. At the table, our server poured a light, flavorful broth into a small bowl. He spooned a little over the beef and suggested we eat the rest with steamed rice. It was so, so good. If you order the Kondro Bakar, make sure you also order a side of rice.
Dessert, Mango Brown Rice, was another experience. Not just because it tasted great, but because it was assembled right at the table. A large banana leaf became the backdrop as mango sorbet, coconut panna cotta, and the rest of the dessert were carefully arranged in front of us. It looked like a little piece of edible art and tasted just as good.
Makase is a fantastic restaurant, and I’d happily recommend it even if you’re not staying at Hotel Indigo. It’s more expensive than eating at a local warung, but not nearly as expensive as you might expect considering the quality of the food, the beautiful presentation, and the nice setting. If you’d like to experience Indonesian food at a very high level, I can definitely recommend Makase.
Makase, Jl. Camplung Tanduk No.10, Seminyak, Kec. Kuta, Kabupaten Badung, Bali 80361, Indonesia
