Eat like a local in Ubud

Balinese locals don't eat out at restaurants. They eat at warungs - family owned businesses sometimes set in humble lean-tos made from wooden, bamboo or thatched materials.

"The warung is an extension of the home where the cooking is done by mothers and grandmothers, where the food is practical, and where the recipes have integrity and have been handed down through generations," says Janet De Neefe, the Australian-born author of the Indonesian cookbook Bali - The Food of My Island Home.

One of the best places to sample Bali's warungs is Ubud, a vibrant town set in the island's lush central highlands.

From warung nasi: eateries that sell rice, noodles and simple Indonesian dishes, to warung padang: curry houses serving the pre-cooked cuisine of Padang city in West Sumatra province, to warung kopi: coffee shops selling hot drinks, roasted peanuts and other snacks, the streets and winding back alleys of this serene mountain hideaway are heaving with interesting places to eat and drink.

There are also warungs catering specifically to tourists - upmarket cabanas that sell local favourites adapted for Western palates as well as Thai, Chinese and cosmopolitan food.

Here are three Ubud warungs that stand out.

WARUNG BERNADETTE

Situated in Mos - one of Ubud's dozen-odd satellite villages - Warung Bernadette is a cafe-style eatery fitted with rustic wooden furnishings that enjoys a loyal following among Ubud's expatriate community.

Its owner is Bernadette Gatenby, a self-taught chef from Jakarta who spent years working in Australia before relocating to Ubud to set up an eatery billed as Bali's home of rendang - a rich, flavoursome beef and coconut curry.

"I grew up in a neighbourhood where there were many families from Padang," Gatenby says of the spiritual home of rendang.

"I was always enthralled by the amazing aromas wafting from their kitchens and I'd sneak away to watch them cook. Some of the old ladies let me help them and passed on the secrets of authentic rendang."

As the meat base, Gatenby uses tender topside beef. She dices it into cubes and stews it in coconut milk for 12 hours and then again for another eight hours the following day, adding incremental portions of onion, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, lemon leaf, turmeric and galangal and a witch's brew of aromatics.

"I tried to make rendang in Australia so many times but it never came out the same as it does in Indonesia," Gatenby says.

"The missing link was fresh coconut milk. In Australia you buy it in a can. Here we get coconuts, crack them open, carve out the coconut meat and use a wet cloth to squeeze out the milk. It's hard work and it's time-consuming. But it makes great rendang."

MURNI'S WARUNG

Set in a jungle-clad gorge overlooking a bend in the Wa River, Murni's Warung holds the enviable title of being Ubud's first real restaurant.

"When tourists first started coming to Ubud in the 60s and 70s, there was nowhere for them to sit down for a meal," says Murni, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name.

"The warungs closed after lunch and the market closed even earlier.

"But I thought I could offer them more. So I made friends with an American girl who knew a lot about cooking and gave me the recipe for apple pie, cheesecake and guacamole. At first, I didn't even know what these things were because we never had this food in Indonesia. But I learnt how to make them and the tourists, they loved it!"

Today Murni's is an Ubud institution and the first port of call for many of those who call the village their second home. The cakes are still as comforting as ever, but for a real taste of Ubud, order the bebe batuka - Balinese duck. Marinated overnight in Indonesian herbs and spices and served with finely chopped vegetables, a pyramid of yellow rice and confit sauce, the meat is succulent, rife with flavour and literally melts in your mouth.

"Before people wanted cake," says Murni, "but now everyone who comes says 'Give me the duck'!"

SCHNITZEL WARUNG

When it comes to bucking trends, this fun and colourful eatery takes the cake. Set in a compact, open-air terrace in an alleyway adjacent to Jalan Raya, Ubud's main drag, Schnitzel Warung specialises in crumbed meat: beef fillet, pork tenderloin and chicken breast fried to perfection and served with mashed potato and a triumvirate of sauces: homemade gravy, coconut and mushroom, and sweet and sour chilli.

"People walk past and say 'What the hell?' A schnitzel house in Ubud? That doesn't make sense'," says owner Maya Dowland, a chef from the Philippines.

"But then they smell a schnitzel come out of the kitchen, they get curious - and hungry - and often order one for themselves."

Busy schnitzel houses in the West pre-crumb their schnitzels to better cope with lunchtime and evening rushes. But when Dowland tried doing the same in hot and humid Bali, the crumbs fell away.

"I spent three months investigating different ways of working with herbs, crumbs and flour to learn how to make schnitzel in Bali that was crunchy on the outside but moist on the inside," she says.

"I basically had to reinvent the wheel: the beef, I age it myself; I marinate the chicken breast overnight in a pesto sauce; the pork has to be sliced at a certain thickness; and the oil is a blend of coconut and olive.

"Anyone who knows how to make good schnitzel knows that the secret is in the preparation. Ours is fastidious. We leave nothing to chance."