We were tossing between a few highly recommended restaurants for our one ‘date night’ in Bali, Mama San, Sardine and Merah Putih were on the top of the list. I left booking a table at Mama San a little too late (like the week of our trip) and the only available times were after 9PM. So Merah Putih is next on the list. We managed to get a booking quite easily through their site, so we got ourselves a dinner date to attend! After checking out sunset at a beach in Seminyak, we managed to walk through the dimly lit streets with taxis honking for your attention – glad to say we made it to Merah Putih in one piece although a little bit sticky from the humid weather.

Walking through the corridor, we entered the main dining area – this has got to be one of the most amazing restaurants we’ve dined at, ever (that didn’t cost us our life savings too). A high ceiling, lots of greenery, fairy lights and candles – are we really here?!

Their menu were divided into 2 columns, traditional and modern indonesian. We made sure we tried a bit of both in our selection of small and large plates. It is more like a shared plate/tapas approach here, we ordered 2 small and 2 large which was just enough for the 2 of us.

L: Bonus starter of duck soup (which reminded me of soto ayam)
R: Nasi Kuning; Coconut, tumeric, lemongrass, pandan steamed rice 

L: Sate Lidah; Ox tongue, rice cake, fern tips, peanuts
R: Perkedel Kepiting; soft shell crab, salted egg, corn sambal

Babi Kecap – Pork belly, soy, tomato, greens, crackling

Javanese Spiced Sea Bream; tomato laksa, eggplant, mudcrab

We haven’t eaten enough ‘traditional’ Indonesian food to judge how these dishes were but it was nonetheless exciting to our tastebuds. Our only regret? Not having enough space for dessert! (what?!) It worked out to be about $30-40/pp which is pretty good for “fine dining”. It was such a lovely experience, a good way to start our holiday in Bali – would definitely come back and try more of the interesting dishes on the menu!