Cafe Wayan — Restaurant in Bali

This is a long standing and very good wurang style restaurant along Jl. Monkey Forest in central Ubud. We had a couple great meals here during our last visit to Ubud over a decade ago and was glad to find them still open and faithfully serving excellent Balinese and Indonesian dishes in their charming garden setting area.

Opening hours are 10am to 11pm. They have many tables so walk-in is usually not a problem but if you want to ensure specific romantic seating in the garden, best to reserve in advance.

We had two meals here again during our recent visit to Ubud. They were both great. One meal was a more casual lunch where we enjoyed the Beef Randang, a generous serving of nicely stewed beef, a bit on the sweet side compared to the hotter and spicier versions you might have tried elsewhere in Indonesia or Malaysia. The Nasi Campur (vegetarian style) was better than we expected and tasted very good as well, a nice combination of veg ingredients, sambal and rice. Very flavourful and worth reordering.

Most impressive however was a separate dinner at Cafe Wayan where we tried their Smoked Duck for 2 - a signature heritage dish which is best to call in advance and preorder. This was a huge and sensational serving, think succulent dark duck packed with local spices and wrapped in betelnut leaf before being slowly smoked to perfection. Aroma was amazing, flavours intense and absolutely delicious, probably the best individual food item we have tried so far this year. Starter of chicken soup, sides and satay were also very good. This was a feast of great food, leaving us with really full bellies and big smiles on our face.

Will eagerly return to Ubud the next time we are in Bali and specifically reserve table in back to again enjoy the Smoked Duck in the intimate garden setting at Cafe Wayan. This was just a...

Returned on 19Sep2024, This time we came at 6.30pm without any reservation and managed to get a table near the entrance. I ordered the Bali Special platter and turned out a fantastic feast of everything! Authentic and good quality, one of the best nasi campur I’ve tasted in Bali. My partner had his usual Beef rendang and it’s as good as before. We also did our nosey around the restaurant, it was breathtaking, beautiful garden with privacy settings and huge!! It also has a cooking quarter inside the ‘village’! I would definitely return and consider their cooking classes.

Recommended by the local guy, 3 of us came in last minute around 10.15pm for dinner. Was told kitchen was closing at 10.30pm and we could dine until 11pm. But when placing order, I felt some tension and stress that we were hurried and preferably order something simple and easy to cook. I also gave up the intention of having a bottle of wine so I went for just plain water instead. While eating our meal the guy told us that we could stay till as late as we could. Only if he told us earlier I would have ordered the bottle of wine. That’s no big deal but it’s communication and service that can be improved on. The dishes turned out very delicious and on high quality. The settings charming and inviting. We had the Beef Rendang which was one of the best we have tasted in Bali, many other places were let-downs, and it’s not as sweet as Malaysian or Singaporean style, it is on the savoury side. (Not like someone mentioned on previous review!) The Seafood Nasi Goreng was perfectly cooked with generous amount of seafood pieces, well balanced taste and had wok flavour. All served with acar and sambal terasi. Prices are slightly higher but well worth it. Definitely will return and recommend this place. Will come...

Review for Dinner and Cooking Class the next day. Great food great experience……

We stopped in for dinner last night, but we had visited earlier in the day to book in a Vegetarian Cooking Class, they have a list of different options to choose.

Dinner was awesome so we knew we’d be in for a treat the next day for our cooking class. We both ordered a Vegetarian Nasi Campur with a side of Sambal Matah. It was a really nice dish, great flavours and a good selection as well… a little larger in size with more options than we’ve previously had at other local restaurants. It included tofu, spiced tempeh, urap, rice, Sambal, turmeric coconut spice mix, vege curry and a spiced nut mix.. delicious flavours!

Service was great in the restaurant as well.

The next morning we had the cooking class which started at 10am. Prep, Cooking and Tasting until 12.00pm the eating everything you cooked after that.. so sooo good.. but so soooo belly full of delicious food.

Cooking class included a walk around the garden introducing us to all the fresh herbs and spices growing around the cooking area. There was a large selection of fresh ingredients ready for us to cook with as well.

Class was very informative and hands on, we prepped, chopped, ground and then cooked a selection of vegetarian dishes, from mains to sides and then a dessert. Everything on the Vegetarian Cooking Class (Lesson 5) was absolutely delicious 🙏 we also had tasting along the way as we completed each dish.

It’s also a really nice environment to cook in, great setup… it was only the two of us so it was like our own little private class which was super nice.

Overall a really awesome experience at Cafe Wayan, both Dinner and Cooking Class were really great.

Terima Kasih 🙏 Sampai...