CAFE VIDA Healthy Organic Restaurant Canggu — Restaurant in Bali

I ordered "sacred cacao," emerald keto forest "cold pressed organic juice" and an all day breakfast. I'm giving this order a one star rating because, although the main was great, the other two items were not as advertised. I have been consuming ceremonial cacao for many years, and what Cafe Vida is calling "sacred cacao" is cheap cacao powder in a plastic bag, which is what I was shown when I asked about it. So using the term "sacred" is extremely misleading. The drink was also meant to include reishi, lions mane and cordyceps in it… but I wasn't convinced that they were included.

Secondly, the juice is advertised as "cold press." However, it was clear that a centrifugal juicer was used, it was running near the till / coffee machine, not a cold press juicer. A centrifugal juicer has a high-pitched sound and you can hear the RPMs are much faster than a slow juicer, which tends to be more quiet and when using a hard vegetables you can hear the crunching sound not a high whizzing whirring sound. The high foam on top of the juice is also an indicator of a centrifugal juicer. I don't mind paying a high price for quality food and for paying what is advertised, but this just didn't quite seem right.

The salt and pepper were provided in open bowls without a little spoon. The little bowls look funky but are not hygienic. My fork and knife were already used, so when I when wanted to add salt all that was left was my hands. This is unhygienic as I don't know who has touched it before me. So salt and pepper in a sealed container would be ideal, but worst case scenario providing a little spoon to dispense the salt and pepper would be better.

I had wanted to order a coffee after my meal and I asked for the menu to be left on the table, but the waitress insisted on taking them with her and said if I needed it again, I could just ask. There were three people total in the cafe, so it wasn't as if they were needed to give to others.

I don't enjoy leaving a one star review, but there were multiple factors that contributed to this as...

The eating is lovely: so serene, comfortable and welcoming.

I wanted to change a few things in a bowl due to food intolerances. The lady who served me was friendly and said I could, so I did. There was a LOT of miscommunication and they didn’t allow me to swap ingredients out of my bowl with those from another eg. Spinach instead of kale! Then she confirmed it was ok to make the swaps I requested. The bowl came… looked delicious but very sparse with barely any depth. There were four different dips- not enough food for these though… When I asked where my spinach was in the bowl (is said salad mix) she said the half piece of romaine lettuce was the ‘salad’ I asked for some spinach under the impression it was an ingredient that I’d requested and they’d forgotten to add.

When it came to paying, I politely thanked them and said that there was a miscommunication and the lady at the till said it’s ok they won’t charge the extra spinach. Then they showed me the bill- the TAX was an insane amount and they charged for the spinach- they wouldn’t take it off despite just saying there was no charge, I asked for management and they said no one was there.

There was a WHOLE debate in front of me between the workers- but I didn’t understand any of it and no one was explaining. After about 15mins they finally decided to take it off the bill!!! I was so upset as I felt like I was made out to be wrong, was told one thing then another constantly! The food is tasty, just be prepared to pay extra for ANY changes to your meal and to be made to feel...

I first heard about Cafe Vida from an organic farm who said their only client in Canggu is Cafe Vida. The cafe itself is just the front building of a family compound, small but cozy and well-appointed in simple Balinese style more befitting of Ubud rather than Canggu. i had the Dr Seuss, a green egg omelette with watercress, avocado and some cherry tomatoes. It was good. The watercress was crisp, slightly bitter, very juicy, the avocado was ripe and seasoned, the cherry tomatoes were sweet sour and quite plump, the eggs themselves were like an egg crepe and quite tasty and not as dry as it looked. All in all I was impressed … or maybe I was surprised because it tasted like high quality ingredients, seasoned expertly, and cooked with care — not really the norm in Bali. That’s not really easy to find in Bali tbh. Big ups for the pear and elderflower Jun — it is the best kombucha I’ve had this far in Bali by far, better than all the bottled stuff (pretty terrible) and much more flavorful than most others that are being sold at restaurants and cafes on the island. The sour-sweet balance was just right whereas most places skew too sweet or way over-fermented. the mouth-feel was smooth and the taste refined. A chooser would have liked the effervescence of a secondary fermentation but in bali that’s a lot to ask.

Crazy to think of all the places that market their healthy, vegan/vegetarian credentials and yet use commodity vegetables. I commend Cafe Vida for executing on their values and doing it with a lot of...