5
Celine Lee -
3 years ago
What a unique dining experience! Dulang means "royal plate" and for one night, you are treated like royalty - a King and Queen. We were greeted at the entrance, given frangipani flowers to put in our hair, and seated. It is an intimate setting, with a few tables under an outdoor roofed setting. The whole experience was seamless. Suyasa introduced himself as our waiter for the evening and explained the origins of Dulang, how the restaurant shifted to focusing on Balinese cuisine, and how the meal will be served. As a welcome, they also washed our hands with some scented water from the King and Queen of the Badung regency, it smelled so good! We ordered two glasses of Riesling, which paired perfectly with our meal.
Started with a refreshing traditional Lomoh drink or also called Jamu (turmeric), and 3 different kinds of crackers - peanut, shrimp and rice - paired with 3 kinds of sambal from different Balinese regencies - sambal matah, sambal embe goreng, and sambal tomat.
Next up was a warming beef soup from the Karangasem Regency, "Soto Sampi Karangasem". One of the best beef soups I have tasted, though the beef was slightly tough and difficult to chew. Be wary of the chili sambal, it is very spicy! Just a small drop will do, it's very potent!
From the start to this point, the meal felt a little rushed, as they were bringing dishes to our table back to back. I did wish there was more time to relax and take more photos at the beginning, though slightly difficult given the dim settings. Although before we started the soup, Suyasa informed us that the main course, Dulang, would take another 20 minutes to prepare. So that gave us some breathing room.
When the Dulang came out, we were speechless, it was so impressive and beautiful! My favorite dishes were the beef satay, long bean and papaya salad, duck in the bamboo tube, and banana leaf baked fish. It was a real treat and a feast for two! We were so stuffed and still tried to make room for dessert, which we thought were just 3 small plates to share. Except, it was 3 small plates each! Wow! It consisted of Limpung (fried banana dumplings), Dadar Gulung (pandan crêpes), and Bubur Ketan Hitam (black rice porridge with coconut sorbet). The Dadar Gulung is superb and not too sweet (must be the palm sugar). It doesn't end there! To conclude the meal, another waitress Tusti brought over the final Balinese sweet, Jaja Laklak, a rice cake with grated coconut and palm sugar, and a cup each of Balinese black tea and coffee Luwak. Tusti was also very kind to tell us about the regencies of Bali and their specialties. She and Suyasa were excellent hosts, and accompanied by the delicious food, Balinese Gamelan (bamboo instrument), and traditional Balinese dance, our experience at Dulang was truly memorable journey!
