Street vendors peddling delicious local Balinese foods are a common sight on the streets of Bali. Many of my favourite Balinese foods are sold by street vendors, either from their street stalls or food carts. Street food sold on the streets of Bali, and in fact, all of Indonesia is varied, cheap and tasty.
Sate and Bakso food stall
Some tourists worry about hygiene and getting sick (Bali Belly) from the street foods. I eat street food all the time and don’t get sick; however, I have been eating it for years now. Furthermore, on my first visit to Bali in 2004, I did get ill, and it wasn’t pleasant. *It wasn’t street food that made me sick, as I hadn’t yet eaten from a food cart at that time.
I do think you will be missing out on a very yummy part of Bali if you skip eating the street foods, so here are a few tips for those wary, but wanting to try some of the delicious meals on offer.
Eat where the locals eat.
Eat during the popular eating times (busy time).
Eat at the busy places – long lines usually mean satisfied customers and high food turnover = fresh.
Buy from a vendor that specialises in one type of food – they will be replacing their fresh ingredients regularly.
Hot food such as the bakso, soto ayam and sates are probably better to start with than the already packaged foods such as nasi campur and nasi jinggo.
Use sanitising wet wipes to clean your hands and face before eating.
1. Sate Babi
You cannot visit Bali without trying the sate. This is my favourite! Sate babi is skewered pork, cooked over a charcoal grill and served with peanut sauce and/or chilli sauce, and lontong (which are slices of compact rice cake). Sate also comes with different meat e.g. sate ayam (chicken), sate kambing (goat), sate sapi (beef) or sate ikan (fish).
2. Pisang Goreng
Fried banana! Bananas are sliced lengthways, battered and then deep-fried until golden brown on the outside, and soft, sweet and yummy on the inside.
3. Bakso
You can literally find bakso stalls everywhere in Bali, and there are many mobile basko carts still doing the rounds. This meatball soup is very popular with the locals and tourists alike. The bakso meatballs, typically made with finely ground meat and tapioca flour, are usually served in a beef broth with noodles, tofu, vegetables and crispy wonton. Sauces can be added for flavour if you choose.
4. Nasi Campur
Nasi campur translates to “mixed rice”. You can purchase nasi campur from street carts where it is served in a small package containing rice and a selection of other dishes, including meat, tofu, vegetables, peanuts and egg.
5. Nasi Jenggo
Similar to nasi campur, nasi jenngo differs only in the inclusion of chilli sauce (from what I can tell). It is served in a banana leaf and contains white or yellow rice along with a selection of side dishes, including fried tempeh, chicken, vegetable and chilli sauce.
6. Soto Ayam
Chicken soup! This famous chicken soup can be found all over Bali in food stalls and street carts. It is a spicy chicken broth which contains chicken, noodles and egg.
