Foodie Travellers Must Visit Bali As Indonesian Cuisine Named In Global Top 10

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Bali lovers will already know how Indonesian food just hits differently.

Now, the cuisine of the archipelago has been recognised in the world’s top ten by the international foodie community.

The online experiential travel guide Taste Atlas collated the world’s top 100 cuisines in 2023. Indonesia has come in at an impressive sixth place.

Indonesian narrowly missed out on being in the top five as China pipped it to the post.

The best cuisines in 2023 according to Taste Atlas hail from Italy, Japan, Greece, and Portugal. With Mexico, France, Spain, and Peru completing the top ten. 

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Indonesian cuisine is as rich and diverse as the archipelago itself.

While tourists in Bali have the world’s cuisines at their table, from Mediterranean to modern Asian fusion, from American-style burgers to Japanese sushi and beyond, there is such a wealth of culinary wonders to experience within Indonesian cuisines that tourists are seriously missing out if they choose to stick to their home comforts while in Bali. 

According to the votes cast by top foodie travelers on Taste Atlas, the most popular Indonesian dishes and delicacies are satay, sambal, laksa, rendang, and soto.

While some of these dishes don’t technically originate from Bali but rather from other provinces around the country, many would argue that the Balinese have adopted and elevated these Indonesian classics over the centuries. 

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Satay is a particularly important dish in Indonesia, especially in Bali. Satay is comprised of meat, either chicken, pork, goat, or even more exotic choices, marinated in a spicy, deeply flavourful marinate with a peanut base.

Satay is often prepared in huge quantities before Balinese Hindu ceremonies and big festivals.

Tourists planning their upcoming trips to Bali must allow for plenty of time to experience the incredible diversity of food on the island.

Classic Indonesian dishes like nasi goreng (fried rice), mie goreng (fried noodles), and Ikan Bakar (grilled fish) are really just scratching the surface. 

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Perhaps what makes Bali so special in terms of its culinary offering to tourists is the range of dining experiences available.

Tourists are welcome to drop by local street food stalls and warungs to try first hand the food that keeps the island fuelled up, or go to the completely other extreme and book a table at one of the many fine-dining Indonesian restaurants that are dotted around Bali’s top resorts, and everything in between.

For tourists traveling to Bali for the first time, some must-try Indonesian and Balinese restaurants serve up some of the finest food on the island.

Murni’s Warung in Ubud has long been the go-to restaurant for tourists looking to sample traditional Balinese food in a comfortable, clean, and affordable eatery. 

Located on Jalan Raya Ubud, Murni’s Warung has been serving meals to celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Brad Pitt, and Barak Obama, as well as tourists and locals for over forty years.

What started out as a tiny cafe that served a few small meals a day to the intrepid backpackers of the early 70’s.

Now, Murni’s spans over four floors and features an antique shop, and it has expanded to include Murni’s Houses and guest accommodation in the heart of Ubud. 

The United Nations World Tourism Organisation has named Ubud as a Global Gastronomic Center.

This means that over the coming months, the UNWTO, the provincial government, and culinary business leaders in Ubud will be working together to create new and exciting food travel experiences for tourists and elevate the food and beverage sector in Bali’s arts and culture capital.

Speaking to reporters Vinsensius Jemadu, from the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism, said “We have a tourism portfolio. The main purpose of tourists visiting Bali is Indonesia, 60% for culture, 30% for nature, 5% for artificial tourism.”

“Gastronomy is included in culture. So it’s so big that even from UNWTO statistics, most tourists come to Indonesia because of culture. That is our strength.”

“Why are we developing gastronomy? It is because it is very popular with tourists.”