During my blissful stay at Desa Visesa Ubud, I also got to dine in at two of their native restaurants, one of which is Lumbung Restaurant.

Lumbung, when translated to English means a warehouse/barn of rice that is usually used to store the rice after harvesting. Meanwhile, rice is closely associated to home, as both of them when combined, bring families together to enjoy wholesome home-cooked comfort food. With this meaning in mind, Lumbung Restaurant aims to promote Indonesian Culinary Heritage that represents Indonesia’s indigenous cooking techniques and ingredients. Lumbung Restaurant also is also committed to 3 main variables, the experience, people and communication. And based on my dinner experience, I should say in prior that Lumbung Restaurant succeeded in delivering those 3 keys and infused them to our intimate experience.

The atmosphere of Lumbung Restaurant itself is modern but still rooted deep with the feel of Indonesian intimacy, almost feel like home. The warmth and the serene vibes brought a sense of comfort and even more, with the attentiveness and caring attitude by the people who served us (especially the helpful, Mr. Wayan), we felt completely welcomed.

For the evening, we chose to have some really good selections, and without further ado, they were as below.

# Sate Ayam Sambal Rebus (6 pieces)
Coconut grilled chicken satay, served with red chili, salt and lime.

This chicken satay (skewer) was a great start. It was smoky (grilled with charcoal) and the chicken chunks were still tender (moist) inside. The sambal rebus (boiled chili) with hint of fresh lime and salt was a refreshing one. This tasted almost too familiar, and the resemblance to sate taichan was uncanny. 😉

# Gohu Tuna Maluku
East Indonesia speciality raw tuna with ginger, tomato, shallot, chili, kalamansi, kemangi.

Ah, a specialty of East Indonesia, a dish with raw tuna, ginger, tomato, shallot, chili, kemangi and kalamansi. I always love having Gohu Tuna every time I pay a visit to an Indonesian restaurant and here was no exception. The refreshing mix of ingredients and its fresh raw tuna brought out the feeling of summer, enhanced much with the distinctively fragrant kalamansi highlighting the overall flavor. LOVE!

# Lawar Kacang
Balinese tradtional veggie, mix of long beans, tossed with roasted coconut and spices.

Lawar kacang is a typical Balinese veggie. It was great, as expected. The crunchy texture of the chopped long beans was a great sensation, especially when combined with the sweet roasted coconut and spices.

# Penyetan Bebek Goreng
Braised and deep fried half duck served with Sambal Dadak and lalapan (fresh vegetables).

This one was one of the best that evening. The deep fried duck was slightly crispy outside with juicy duck meat. The sambal dadak was a great pairing for the duck overall. But with a touch of sambal matah, it was even better!

# Nasi Campur Nusantara
Indonesia style mix rice with Ayam Tangkap Aceh, Chicken Satay, Lawar Kacang, Sambal Petai, Telur Pindang, Tempe Bacem and Perkedel Kentang.

So, this is more or less a complete plate of almost every good dishes they serve. Bali is usually famous for their Nasi Campur, and this was more or less the same. Thee result was a fulfilling dish, each bite with different combo and it brought difference experiences. For example, when I decided to have a bite of rice, with the chicken, lawar kacang and sambal petai, it actually brought out the savoury and spicy overall taste. Then when I had a bite of the rice with telur pindah (marinated boiled egg) and chicken satay, it brought more the sweet smoky overall flavor to that specific bite.

# Pisang Rai
Banana breaded with rice flour and coconut served with palm syrup and coconut milk.

The best closure we could have asked for. The banana was sweet soft and blanketed with fragrant coconut mix. The best part was the luscious and sweet palm sugar to bind all the ingredients.

The evening was even better than I hoped and everything went so smoothly. One thing I noted was that the taste of the Indonesian cuisine here seemed to be toned down a notch in order to make it more adaptable to guests from all around the world.

To sum up the experience, we were content and felt very relaxed. The atmosphere, the service and the hearty food represented the best of what Indonesia could offer and I am sure, most guests who have dined there will agree.

LUMBUNG RESTAURANT | BALI
Desa Visesa Ubud
Jl. Suweta, Banjar Bentuyung Sakti
Ubud, Gianyar 80571
Bali, Indonesia
Phone: +62-361-2091788
Website: www.visesaubud.com
Instagram: @desavisesa