One of the best places to get fresh seafood in all of Bali in undoubtedly Jimbaran Bay. While you can, of course, stay in Jimbaran Bay, many people choose not too as there is little there beyond a long, magnificent beach, and some markets. (It goes without saying that this would certainly appeal to some). The alternative is to take a day trip – or rather, an evening trip – to Jimbaran Bay for a seafood dinner.
My family and I were staying in Uluwatu at the time and opted for the latter option. One evening we took a taxi out to Jimbaran Bay and watched the sun set over our seafood feast. The housekeeper at our villa, Made, organised a driver for the evening, presumably one of his mates, who picked us up at 4:30 for our dinner in Jimbaran Bay.
The drive took about 45 minutes in heavy traffic, despite being only 5kms away. The traffic seriously crawled for most of the way. There’s no such thing as a freeway down here. It cost 350k rupiah return, which was probably a bit much, but it’s hard to negotiate when you’re already in the car and he had been called out to your place to drive you. Whoops – didn’t really think that one through. He still came down from 400k though, which is more than you can expect when you’re already on your way. Live and learn.
He took us to (apparently) his favourite restaurant on the beach, called Cafe Jukung, the one he takes all his customers. I’m fairly sure he received a commission for his effort (at least many of the reviews of Jukung have suggested this) so I suppose this is the reason he brings all his customers here, he was certainly very chummy with the staff. I expected we’d walk along the beach and pick a place based on price or menu but everyone was keen to just sit down here so that was even better. One less decision we had to make. I went for a wander anyway, as is my custom.
Jimbaran Bay Beach is actually very beautiful. A lot of the beaches on the Bukit Peninsula can be a bit hit and miss, but this was a clear hit. It’s 4km long, fairly wide and was even getting some small waves as well. Under different circumstances you could see yourself coming here early afternoon, seeing the Jimbaran Bay markets, having a few hours/beers on the beach before finding a place for dinner. The only downside – and as an Aussie it weird to say this – is that there weren’t any beach chairs and umbrellas available.
Like many places in Bali, Jimbaran Bay is an easy place to bring kids. The beach is very wide so, assuming you still keep a close eye on them, they can be free to play in the sand near the table if they are not too keen on sitting at the table.
So after returning to our table, I chose from the menu the red snapper. This meant that I then had to go in and actually select which fish I wanted to eat. This was pretty cool, even though they all look pretty much the same, and were probably caught from the same school in the same net and tasted the same. The main thing you are selecting is the size and weight of the fish, and most were well over 1kg.
This will probably be the most expensive meal of your trip being high-quality seafood, even by Australian standards – it certainly was for us. The fish was 18k ($1.80) per 100g which seems alright on the surface, but when a fish is 1.3kg, the cost racks up pretty fast. I got a red snapper with medium heat and it was just divine. The flesh was so soft and what few bones there were came away easily. And it was topped with a delicious mix of spices that it didn’t even need any additional sauce or lemon. The fish came with green sides and some chicken soup as well as white rice, though the rice was not even touched. It’s like bread at a buffet, its free, but you don’t want to fill up on it.
My in-laws got what the menu called the “Special Package” or something. The Special Package came with an assortment of fish, lobster, butterflied prawns, mussels, calamari and crab. It was presented beautifully on this large tray and was cooked to absolute perfection in a similar assortment of spices. That was about 1.1m rupiah (~AUD$110) and was plenty for 2 people. Like I said, expensive for a meal in Bali, but there was not much else to complain about.
I honestly don’t know what prices the meals at the other restaurants on the beach go for, so I can’t comment on the value but I expect it’ll still be a fair bit more than your $2 mie goreng at the local warung. (And please don’t hear the negative tone from the sentence, I fell in love with mie goreng in Bali, and its price tag!). Sometimes your motto in Bali has to be “that was genuinely expensive, but it’s still a very cheap vacation”. And if you are not yet a pescatarian, I would hope this seaside dining experience would change your mind.
Now, the seafood dinners are only part of the reason a day trip to Jimbaran Bay for dinner is a must. The other part is obviously the setting. Like I said, it’s a lovely beach and it is situated such that the sun will set out to sea while you eat your dinner. Sunset, seafood, and sand in your toes is a pretty magical way to spend the night. My best tip is to get there a touch earlier than you expect most so that you can get the best seat in the house with an unobstructed view of the show out to sea.
Next time in Bali, whether I stay again in Uluwatu or out in Seminyak or Kuta (unlikely), I’ll certainly be hitting up Jimbaran Bay again, though next time I’ll probably spend a little longer and explore the area outside of the beach as well.
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