Blue Bali (Behind Nus Bukit Timah Campus)

This little hideout is really a paradise to chill to dine and to relax. A lifestyle retail shop and a restaurant with a Javanese theme brings out the true spirit of the Balinese culture; Relaxed, Casual and Sensual. Somehow the place intrigues my senses with the close to nature yet clean and mosquito bite free experience.

The white and black colonial building stands strikingly at the edge of the botanical garden and through a hardwood carved door of the equally small porch is a world filled with aromatic incense and traditional Javanese instrumental music. Immediately you feel relaxed and be led by the casualness of the friendly staffs in their beautiful batik Indonesian uniforms. The restaurant is very much an outdoor close to nature setting, luxuriously decorated with wooden dining furnitures, intriguing stone sculptures and lots of cushions. Ceiling fans and the natural wind collides while the smoke from the anti-bug incense shows makes the entire place feels dreamy.

You can choose to seat in the main dining (Joglo) are with choices of proper dining tables, on the floor group dining or these beautiful little huts (Lesehans) sat upon a shallow pond with real living creatures and luxuriously vegetated with aquatic plants. We sat in one of these traditional Javanese Lesehans with daybeds and low dining tables, perched atop the luxurious cushions and beautiful batik table coverings. Menu was served with a good recommendations of yummy javanese cuisines, however we ended with some tapas and brew from their brehaus.

They do have a good array of indian and indonesian cuisines and the few really yummy ones are the Naan sets, Fried Tofu was yummy, and not forgetting the tahu goreng with fantastic peanut sauce. You don't have much to choose from on the desserts yet we found some really interesting meal enders. The lemongrass panna cotta was an interesting mix of taste, something citrusy and grassy clashing with the soft tofu like texture of sweet vanilla custard. We also had the cendol which turned out to be a drink. The ingredients used for the cendol are generous which made it a little too sweet and we expected the green worm like jelly which turned out to be bead like. The food was pretty yummy and priced slightly higher than expected. Portion was generous so its really good to share.

The beer was outstanding. 3 house brews to choose from each with different characters and comes in half or full pint. Happy hours are available with lower priced brews, on top of that they also do serve wine and cocktail. Great place to chill or for a romantic dates. I do spot some bugs flying around yet none landed near me. The place is picturesque and great for gatherings and events. Simply loved the place and hope to hang there more often despite the lack in parking and inconvenient location with minimal public transport.