Bali Thai — Restaurant in Vancouver

Bali Thai was a stalwart at the old Harbour Centre foodcourt, before they remodeled and kicked out all the independent operators in favour of the same old boring chains. I was so excited to find recently that they had popped up here at International Village.

The food is as good as ever. Aside from being one of the few options for authentic Indonesian food in town, it puts itself above the majority of food court joints with the home-cooked character of the food. And don't worry if you're an Indo-newbie: the owner is super-friendly and will make sure you get the tastes you want.

My absolute top favourite dish, the dish I craved from the day the old store closed, is their eggplant sambal. It is possibly the best aubergine dish I have ever tasted - the eggplant is tender and the flavours of the sambal just explode on your tastebuds. It's not hot, just full of rich flavours. With the coconut rice it just can't be beaten.

They also do a mean beef rendang green curry and a whole range of other things that, unfortunately, I have never tasted because I just love that eggplant so much.

Just one word of warning - if she offers you some of her home-made sambal on the side - say yes, but take care. It will knock...

Awesome food quality, price, and portion. The taste- Wow!

I ordered a large plate that comes with a choice of rice, two meat options, and one vegetable. I was so happy to have my rice half and half (coconut rice and turmeric rice). When my plate was ready, I was also offered some toppings like green chili, sambal, cilantro, and fried shallots.

Every component was fresh and delicious, especially the turmeric rice and Balinese chicken were 🔥. They both had lots of base aromatics like lemongrass and/or Szechuan peppercorn somehow, so quite 🌶️ spicy. Beef rendang was so tender with subtle coconut milk flavor. I do not have many experience with Indonesian food, but I was quite impressed by the authentic and home cooked flavors from this place.

Service the lady at the counter was very attentive and professional. She informed me allergy caution with a certain menu and approximate wait time. I was not surprised because this place seemed to be steadily busy with continuous customers and one person taking all the orders, plating, and ringing. I waited 10 minutes to receive my plate, but I was so pleased by the service.

I should definitely come back and try what the lady recommended (lemongrass...

First thing to note was the extremely friendly service! Good recommendations from the lady who took my order. She recommended the 'create your own' option, but I settled on their Mee Goreng (fried noodle, but subbed for rice noodle/vermicelli) for $15.99. It was very tasty and the portion size is good for two lighter meals. Garnished with a couple of cucumber slices, there was a variety of well-cooked meat, shrimp, egg and vegetables. Nice balance of sweet/savoury flavours. From what was said by the staff, it's pretty exact to their Nasi Goreng (fried rice) except for the rice vs. noodle.

I think they can accommodate your desired spice level for their dishes. For $16.79 total, it's a great price for the quality of the food. They were kind enough to include a plastic wrap as a bag (like the ones from the produce section at the grocery store). The only complaint I had was that the food container itself was so oily. I'm not sure what happened, but my hands had a lot of grease on it taking the container out. Minor issue, and I'd make sure that doesn't happen again, but will...