Chill Out - Gili Air (Lebaran'12)

This place was very much recommended by the staffs at Omah Gili. Chill out has the capacity of around 50 to 70 pax indoor but you can lay down outside facing directly to the beach, sipping ice cold beer while sun bathing under the scorching sunlight. I wouldn't know where or what to compare Gilir Air's super laid back and breathtaking serenity. It wasn't only Chill Out that provide such spectacular view, but it goes the same for many other restaurants and cafe.

Menu : Chicken Curry

Price : RP 35,000 ++
Score : 6.5 / 10

>> The curry came in pipping hot with steam still ashing out from the bowl. What I love best about this curry was the consistency! Exactly how I like my curry, not too viscous, not watery either. The portion is excellent! This comes with steam white rice and in addition, the fillings inside were generous. Mountains of vegetables and big chunks of chicken were in there. I wanted to give this a 7.5 pointer but the fact that this is a 'mild' curry turn this to a 6.5 dish. I personally thought it was lacking a 'kick' on the taste buds, again..too mild for my liking. Lack of curry spices and most importantly chili. But then again, adjusted to the main target consumers, the 'Bules'. Therefore, fully understandable :)

Note : This dish has a lot of potential !! A little more of this and that will make your taste buds go ' WOWWW' !!

Menu : Beef Burger

Price : RP 45,000 ++

Score : 7.5 / 10

>> I ordered Fried Rice and switched to this menu over here upon seeing another customer's beef burger sent over to their table. If wouldn't for that moment of 'laper mata' I don't think I'd order a burger. Nevertheless, this was good stuff! I would never expect to find such chunky and crispy and salty french fries over here. I thought it would be thin, greasy and soggy :p The beef patty was alright, nothing too special about it, but their home made mayonnaise was a star! The mayo sauce made the burger alive, add chili into and between each bun layers and you'll go eat in silence *not wanting anyone to interrupt your meal*. Thumbs up :)
Chill Out Bungalows and Bar

Gili Air, Lombok Indonesia

Phone : +6281999364607

Email : chilloutbungalows@yahoo.com

Omah Gili - Gili Air (Lebaran'12)

This is the establishment that I had mentioned before. Omah Gili is owned by FW's high school friend and it only made sense to visit his place during our holiday trip. Not a 5 star luxury place to pamper yourself but certainly a decent, reasonably clean place, but most importantly very friendly service and a sense of blending into the local Gili Air community. This small establishment is relatively new, located around 200m behind Manta Dive so it's a good alternative for Manta Dive accommodation even if no sea view available. Omah Gili has 8 cottages, two types of room offered: 4 units of Joglo (Geladak) and 4 units of Lumbung.

Our room was clean and air conditioner worked well. We liked much the outdoor bathroom. They provide a 5-galon bottle drinking water in each room. No problem at all for water supply - not fresh water though - and electricity was fine. Note: no TV provided. By the way, you would regret your visit in Gili Air if you spend time watching TV because the island is just too beautiful. The staff are all friendly, particularly the front desk officer.

The breakfast okay, and although it wasn't located on beach-side, it was not far from the beach. It was a perfect location for a holiday hideout-- nice and quiet, not too close to the crowd. It feels just like home, but with extra services, cleaner air, and other island treats. No lunch and dinner offered so you have to find meals for yourself but no worry, there are many beach front restaurants with reasonable prices ready to serve you in Gili Air. I recommend Biba Beach Cafe & Chill-Out, great tasty food, unforgettable view towards the sea and Lombok island, nice service with good price. 

Omah Gili
Behind Manta Dive & Sunrise
Gili Air - West Nusa Tenggara Indonesia

Warung Kampung Gili - Gili Air (Lebaran'12)

 

I wanted to taste what the real 'kampung food' or in a better way of saying 'local food' really taste like. I asked the friendly people at Omah Gili and he recommended us a 'Warung' (A Food Stall) not far from the inn; around 5 minutes walk from the inn. By the way Gili Air is not a big island, pretty tiny actually. You can circle the entire island 360 degree less than 2 hours and that is by normal adult walking pace. Go figure the size, pretty small right ?

The 'Warung' actually exceed my expectation, I thought it was going to be dirty and sloppy, but nothing like that. A handful of local and international tourist were there, blending in with the community trying to communicate with broken bahasa indonesia, english and hand sign language. The Warung was in fact pretty clean, good home cooked food were served here. Nothing fancy or 5 star, but definitely a good portion meal, relatively cheap and using super fresh ingredients.

Menu : Nasi Campur
Price : RP 15,000
Score : 6.0 / 10

>> Size portion is decent here, enough to cover 3/4 of my tummy capacity. I like the peanut satay sauce with steam vegetables on the side; tasty! I'd give this another half point if only the chicken wasn't that dry. I had quite a tough time chewing it. I wouldn't recommend you guys to try this.

Menu : Ayam Pelecing Pedes
Price : RP 20,000
Score : 7.5 / 10

>> The star dish of the day is this beautiful red colored dish over here! I love the generous amount of chili poured across the chicken. Unlike the overcooked chicken above, this one wasn't at all. Crispy on the outside yet tender and juicy still on the inside. By the way, look at the size of the chicken, huge isn't it? Good stuff !!

Menu : Tumpi Tumpi
Price : RP 15,000
Score : 6.5 / 10

>> I was curious when I read it on the menu and asked the owner about it. He explained it was like 'perkedel' but instead of potatoes, they uses finely shredded coconut instead. Combined with spices, herbs and chili then portioned and deep fried before serving. I thought the taste was pretty interesting, it was like eating well seasoned shredded coconut basically :)

Menu : Pelecing Kangkung
Price : RP 10,000
Score : 5.0 / 10

>> I thought I was going to love this dish when I saw it on the menu. All I can think was the amount of chili that this dish will blow my tongue off. In fact, it wasn't the case at all. It was definitely a different 'pelecing' sauce with the 'ayam pelecing' dish above. This sauce was leaning more to tomato base instead of chili and for your information, I'm not a big fan of sweet tomato base chili sauce.

However, I must say the 'kangkung' itself was well cooked.

Menu : Nasi Campur
Price : RP 15,000
Score : 7.0 / 10

>> Nasi Campur here is basically you go to the kitchen and there were a few plates of cooked dishes displayed. Choose anything you want and they'll pick it and serve it for you! What I love most is the 'Tempe Orek' or another similar to 'Tempe Balado'. It was spicy and mind blowing! Yummmehh!!


Warung Gili

Gilir Air, Lombok Indonesia

The Angel's Bar and Cafe - Lombok (Lebaran'12)

Lombok is mainly populated by the Muslims and thus during the fasting period, very little restaurants were opened. This lunch trip to 'The Angel's Bar and Cafe' was a random pick and on an average was alright. It is situated at the center heart of the city. Even though the service was super slow but however we were informed in advance before the waiter took our order. It was due to the 'Lebaran Holiday' that many took leave from work.

Menu : Nasi Goreng Angel
Price : RP 30,000 ++
Score : 6.0 / 10

>> A reasonable good plate of fried rice, nothing too special or damn good about it but definitely far from horrible. The portion is okay, the seasoning is good, the eggs is well cooked and even got 2 chicken satays at the side. But nothing scream 'damn delicious' to me. I did finished it but might order something different if I got the chance to revisit.

Menu : Ayam Taliwang

Price : RP 35,000 ++
Score : 7.0 / 10

>> Another round of Ayam Taliwang here in Lombok. I was determined to survey as many Ayam Taliwang as possibly could during my stay in Lombok and this one was a seven pointer. The chicken is beautifully grilled; very moist and juicy still. But the chili in 'Taliwang Raya' (Date of Post : 2 Sept 2012) is by far the most spiciest! There is nothing wrong with the chili here and pretty good on an average, thus I will still recommend you guys to have this a try.

Taliwang Raya - Lombok (Lebaran'12)

This is my first real encounter with 'Sambal Lombok'. For those who don't know, 'Lombok' literally means 'Chili' in Sundanese language and with that meaning behind the name of the island, I wanted my tongue and mouth to be burnt by the 'sambal', the food served here uphold to the name and did not disappoint me at all. Bravo! The restaurant is situated in 'Mataram' area and was  actually a quite famous place, upon reaching the place I understand why. Not only the food was good, the place was well kept, spacious, clean and has a view of rice fields at the back of the restaurant.

Menu : Ayam Bakar Pedes Manis

Price : RP 25,000 ++

Score : 7.0 / 10

>> The chicken meat itself is not good, very very dry and too tough to chew. But the chili sauce is mind blowing good (which translate to very very spicy) hahaha! The portion is relatively small, enough for one. They uses 'ayam kampung' and thus resulting in the smaller size in compare to 'ayam negeri'. 

Note : Organic chicken is healthier!

Menu : Gurame Bakar Pedas

Price : RP 35,000 ++
Score : 8.0 / 10

>> Unlike the chicken, this piece of fish is grilled to perfection. Flaky meat yet not soggy and definitely moist and juicy still. Bottom line; not overcooked! The chili spread on top is similar to the chicken except a notch hotter (I assume from the title of the dish). It has been so long that I finally got myself wanting to chew on ice cubes due to chili burning sensation in my mouth. I wanted to take away the chili in bottles and bring it home to Jakarta, but they can't prepare on such short notice and thus next time maybe!

Jeeva Klui - Lombok (Lebaran'12)

So here I am, slapped back from my 8 days Ramadhan holidays from Lombok, Gili Air & Bali. I'm actually desperate for another extra week to pamper myself but nevertheless, reality is cruel and thus face it -__- lll. I am going to write a series of post with '(Lebaran Holiday 2012) at the end of the title just to mark as a continuation of my 8 days food journey. It might be quite long but i'll try to be as concise as possible. So relax, put your feet up and start feasting your eyes!

Above are several pictures of the resort I stayed (Jeeva Klui) during my trip in Lombok. Jeeva is situated near to the city center and has a stretch of private beach (Part of Pantai Senggigi) connected directly to the resort. Certainly a breath taking view! The resort only has about 20 bungalow cottages and thus it felt very homey. There were a handful of European tourist but even with that, the place still seemed serene to me. A good recommendation for those looking to visit Lombok.

Jeeva Klui only has one restaurant, bearing in the mind the small scale resort that I classify them to be, it make a lot of sense! The partly outdoor resto sits directly in front of the resort pool and open for all breakfast, lunch & dinner till 11 pm.

Menu : Corn Fritters

Price : Complimentary (Free)

Score : 5 / 10

>> The sweet and sour condiment sauce at the bottom suits my taste but I think the fritter itself was rather cold and soggy. But at the end of the day, this was a complimentary dish so I'm not going to complain too much about it hahahaha!

Menu : Aromatic Beef Salad

Price : RP 65,000 ++

Score : To Be Advise

>> I must honestly say that I sort of forget what this taste like. But definitely and surely not horrible! If it was bad, it's impossible for me to forget the dish. On the other hand, it didn't leave an impression on me and thus it is logical to say this salad didn't blew me away :p

 

Menu : Tuna Sambal Bawang

Price : RP 85,000 ++

Score : 6.5 / 10

>> I was surprised by the size of the tuna fish. I am not sure how much does a kilo of tuna cost but man...Jeeva is generous with their portioning. I like everything about the dish, the salad was tasty, rice was perfectly steamed and cooked, the 'sambal bawang' (chili onion) makes the perfect condiments EXCEPT...the tuna was overcooked and thus slightly too tough for my liking. Nevertheless, it might be a one time mistake made by the chef. Thus if you are a tuna lover, you might wanna have a go at this.

Menu : Ayam Taliwang

Price : RP 85,000 ++

Score : 7.0 / 10

>> Again! Thumbs up for the portioning :) Unlike the tuna, this time the chicken is well cooked. Slightly burnt grill on the outside but still tender and juicy on the inside. The only thing that I would like the chef (if possible) improve is on the sauce. Ayam Taliwang is suppose to be spicy and hot but the taste here lean more towards 'coconuty and peanuty' flavor if you can imagine what I'm trying to explain. It is like a satay sauce but with a stronger coconut flavor instead of peanut.

Menu : Trio Tomato Risotto

Price : RP 80,000 ++

Score : 9.0 / 10

>> This might be the best risotto I have ever tasted in Indonesia. I had a couple of good bowl of risotto back when I was in Melbourne, but in Indonesia?? Hell NONE! At Jeeva, the rice were all plump, soaked with all the goodness of the tomato gravy sauce. The risotto is far from overcooked, exactly right on point! The sunripe tomatoes were extremely sweet thus the name of the dish 'Trio Tomato Risotto'. After the 2 Indonesian dish on top, I understood that the resto cater to the European tourist that come to stay at Jeeva and thus adjusting the taste of the food to their tongue not the local Indonesians.

 

Menu : Penne Zucchini

Price : RP 80,000 ++

Score : 7.5 / 10

>> Another good pasta dish! Now I am more certain with the statement I made above; the fact the chef at Jeeva caters to the European tongue and taste. This is my first try on a Zucchini pasta dish. It has a cream sauce base, similar to "Carbonara" but not as thick. I am not a big fan of cream base pastas but this I certainly don't mind having :)

Menu : Chocolate Fondant 

Price : RP 55,000 ++

Score : 7.0 / 10

>> My meal wouldn't be complete if I haven't had dessert to sum everything up. I chose chocolate fondant and it was an average one. The technique behind was nailed; right temperature, soft texture, melted chocolate oozing out from the center upon cutting into but it lacks a little bit of sugar and a gigantic scoop of vanilla ice cream at the side (instead of whip cream). Nevertheless, not a disappointing menu!

Jeeva Klui Resort

Jln Raya Klui Beach No. 1 Lombok Indonesia

Phone : +62 (0) 370 693 035

Fax : +62 (0) 370 693 036