Fancy a great meal for a great cause!?
Fair Warung Balé is a restaurant of around ten tables, with an humanitarian purpose. Prices are higher than other restaurants of same category but it is an opportunity to stand for a good cause!
This initiative is indeed the collaborative effort of two Swiss NGOs and aims at facilitating the access to medical care for resourceless people. The principle is quite simple: 1 meal = 2 free of charge medical consultations for people in need.
On a geographical point of view, Fair Warung Balé is located in the heart of the city of Ubud, 350 m from Ubud’s Palace, at the beginning of Jalan Sri Wedari street (bordered by guesthouses and restaurants), which is perpendicular to the large Jalan Raya Ubud street.
The restaurant consists in two distinct areas: a small open “terrace” with 4 tables (one with stools and the three others on stilts where we are sitting cross-legged) and a bigger room where you can find several tables under the same roof and where we sit on either stools or chairs (fairly less quiet than the other room as it allows more people in).
- Fair Warung Balé’s terrace
- Fair Warung Balé’s kitchen
Balinese-inspired decoration with a touch of colour and cosy.
The employees have a rather decent level of English (and even master a few French words!) and are quite helpful. Moreover, the menu is in English and there are a few pictures to assist the choice of the meal.
The entire menu seems delicious and it is tough to choose.
What did we try out for you?
Mahi-mahi fillet with garlic butter, vegetables and rice for IDR 65,000 (€3.7): this dish was simply delicious! Mahi-mahi (sea bream) was melting in the mouth, the sauce to die for and the vegetables and the (small portion of) rice were really good. The entire dish was amazingly presented and revealed delicious.
Cashew nuts spicy chicken, vegetables and rice for IDR 65,000 (€3.7): exquisite! If you like cashew nuts, no need to look further (the nuts are roasted, a real delight)! The portion is quite copious (little rice but a lot of chicken). The whole is delicately spicy but remains fairly mild. We ask for more!
- Mahi-mahi fish fillet with vegetables
- Spicy chicken with roasted cashew nuts
Lime, ginger and crushed mint juice at IDR 25,000 (€1.4): light and delicious.
Banana/ginger juice at IDR 23,000 (€1.3): very tasty, even though it sits heavy on the stomach (due to the banana).
The restaurant also served many fish specialties (tuna tartar is especially popular), originally twisted Indonesian specialties, a selection of mixed salads, sandwiches made out of homemade French baguette, and French desserts (chocolate mousse, lemon pie, crepes and pancakes). The selection of juices is definitely interesting as well for its originality.
The kitchen is rather small compared to the number of available tables but fairly well maintained. The restaurant does have WIFI, which we did not get to test.
We absolutely loved the food they served us (according to our taste buds, some of the best available food in Ubud!) and the charity purpose of this restaurant.
UPDATE (20/11/15): we went back to Fair Warung Balé to taste the famous tuna tartar (the big one for IDR 90,000, about €5.1). A real delight! The portion is copious and the tuna, really fresh, is mixed with onions (many of them) and pieces of mango, accompanied with some bites of homemade baguette. A real must try!