For those unfamiliar with Indonesia, a warung is essentially a street food stall. While a number of restaurants catering to tourists have "warung" in their name, most of these have grown to proportions far exceeding the true humble warung.

On my recent visit to Ubud, a local friend introduced me to Lada Warung, a small shop near the center of Ubud that is closer to a street stall than most food places in this tourist oriented town. Like a traditional street stall, there is a buffet-style selection of pre-cooked dishes to select from. There’s also a menu of other dishes you can order if nothing on display appeals. Unlike your typical street food place, there’s brown rice on offer in addition to white, along with a long list of healthy fruit juices.

I ended up with a selection of vegetarian items, although there were also meat dishes like curried tuna steaks on offer. The tempe, cooked in kecap manis, was just the way I like it. The corn patties – another Indonesian favorite of mine – were also very good. I sampled all three of the sambals on offer, and they were each very spicy and delicious. This was actually one of the best meals I had in Ubud, and it was definitely the cheapest.

Lada Warung is located on Hanoman Street just a short way down from where it meets Ubud Raya Street, not far from the art market.

Posted by michael under Restaurants
Tags: Bali • Indonesian • Ubud
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