Casa Curandera Bali — Restaurant in Bali

I’m so grateful this place exists around the corner from my villa!

I’m someone who values eating as close to a paleo food philosophy as I can with quality, ethically-sourced and organic ingredients but I also love flavoursome food and because of this, I have wound up mostly going to plant-based cafes the past 2-weeks because the ones I’ve been going to (alchemy, seeds of life, sayuris healing food) seem to value quality ingredients. However, I started to crave animal products, flavour, better pricing (though this place is probably on par on that front) and variety. Even if you follow a plant-based food philosophy, Casa Curandera still has plenty of options for you.

I’ve been here 3x now; my first visit was for a late lunch, then brunch, then dinner.

Their food is great; particularly the cassava fries (especially if you like fried potato chips but are suss on the ingredients and oil used to fry them), the jackfruit arepa and the banana bread! I’ve also had a casa curandera smoothie which was delicious.

I had the arepa de la abuela for breaky (arepa w/ eggs) which I enjoyed less than the jackfruit one as the arepa was too firm, having been toasted for the eggs to sit on top of, so that it was difficult to slice up.

Edit: Since my original review I’ve also had the hot chocolate with bone broth which came out barely hot so that I asked and had to wait for them to (presumably manually) heat hot water to top it up with. This took a while which only meant my drink had cooled down even more by the time the hot water came out. For the price they charge, this wasn’t worth it. I want to try their matcha but am afraid of the issue recurring if the heated milk is not from a coffee machine.

I’ve also since had the jackfruit tacos which were far less enjoyable than the jackfruit arepa. The tacos were overfilled especially with the slaw-like salad inside, and I think the dressing or tangy flavour of the slaw/salad overtook the dish. Lastly, the sauce + cashew cheese condiments you get with the plate of cassava fries is far too sparse for the number of cassava fries you get. They only fill the condiment sauces about half way. I wasn’t told that I’d be charged extra when asking for a top of them.

The place itself is aesthetically consistent and beautifully made and I imagine the gardens and landscaping, which they’re just installing now, will be magnificent once they’ve had time to settle and blossom. The service is attentive, genuinely friendly and warm as well, especially...

Pretty unfortunate experience... Short story: It would have been a great evening if the kitchen would have been opened and allowing us to choose whatever we want to eat and not rushing us into ordering a pizza, since it was the only thing available, and if we could have had something to drink.

For the curious ones: We booked online for 21h30 (they were taking bookings until 22h) and got lost so arrived at 21h40. When entering we were informed that the kitchen would be closing in 5 minutes and that we should rush. We did not mind and quickly chose something from the menu. When ready to order, we were told none of the food on the menu was available, only the pizza. This was very unfortunate since we specially came for the colombian-italian food, which for some reason was not available anymore eventhough the pizza still was...?

Nevertheless we stayed and ordered two pizzas and a bottle of water. They did not have bottled water. So we ordered two cokes, which they also did not have. In change they proposed a beer to us. So you can eighter drink beer or nothing at all...

We then asked to speak to the manager and were told he was already gone and was not available. When asking why they are taking bookings for 21h30 when the kitchen is closing at 21h45, we were told that if we had arrived at 21h30 (it is true the delay was on us) then we could have had something else and not just pizza, as if the 10minutes would have make a huge difference...

When we were eating (other people were still there also), they started closing everything, blowing of the candles etc at 22h, when closing at 22h30, which made us feel rushed.

Nevertheless, they offered us a brownie and appologized for the missunderstanding. The brownie was good as well as the pizzas. The server was kind and the...

Had a TERRIBLE experience 🤯—the western woman owner of this restaurant was extremely obnoxious, unconscious, loud, and inconsiderate of her customers. We were there to relax and enjoy the calm nature surroundings, and the owner was oblivious to the customers eating in her restaurant, and was extremely rude and disrespectful! She walked in with a self entitled and arrogant attitude and was talking loud on her phone, having business calls and totally dominating the whole quiet space of the restaurant with her loud, abrasive and annoying voice and energy.

She has no respect or consideration for her guests, and was very full of herself—totally devoid of any HUMILITY, care, consideration, or sensitivity for the people who wanted to enjoy their meals and the nature in peace. It wasn’t possible with her playing loud videos on her phone, being forced to listen to her business calls that she had on speaker phone next to our table and how she didn’t seem to care about other customers who were much more quiet and respectful of the space than her. Her loud business phone calls she conducted next to customers was disrupting other peoples conversations and intruding the space. Very disappointing!

To the owner—a little humility, care, mindfulness, graciousness, awareness and consideration would go a long way! The owner is obviously very unconscious and self absorbed—and has a lot to learn about how to serve her customers, instead of having her customers have to serve her with a reminder in hospitality! Totally disgraceful and absolutely...