Galle Club | Sri Lankan & Coastal Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Bali

I, like another reviewer, found the food and drinks to be equally amazing - in that it's amazing how equally underwhelmed and disappointed I was with both.

The warning signs were all there. But like a bad relationship, I so much wanted it to be good that I ignored them all.

Red flag 1: Not a single smell was coming from the kitchen, at any point. (When the mains came out in record time and all together -a near impossibility for freshly cooked food, even for highly skilled chefs - I understood why.)

Red Flag Two: Drinks are both tiny and weak. (Tiny drinks should be strong.) Boyfriend's Tanguery 10 Martini was polluted with black olive juice. (Who puts cheap black olives in a martini?!) My signature cocktail, the Pol, was very sweet and weak. Nice enough, I guess, but underwhelming.

Red Flag Thee: Asked for some yogurt (like riata) to accompany the appetizers for a balance to the sugar and spice. (The only properly spiced dish we got, btw, was the short rib - which was basically pureed to be baby food consistency.) Was brought an extremely sweet yogurt (obviously from the breakfast menu, and of generally low quality). An utter abomination.

Red Flag Four: They have something on the menu made with Heinz ketchup. (Actually, I suspect a lot of things are to one degree or another. See below.)

As to the food, we tried a large variety of dishes, and the flavor profile was very one note. It basically all tasted the same. The execution was poor. The fish in the curry was rubbery. The lamb needed at least another hour or two of slow cooking. Neither had any spice or punch. (Oddly, the staff came out and asked us, after ordering, if we wanted it very mild. We said absolutely not - make it spicy! La la - caboos - pedas - hot! It was, however, not spicy. And what a bizarre question!) All the dishes tasted like someone had dumped spoonfuls of sugar in them. The sides offered no ability for creating balance or variance from the overwhelming sweetness. No sour, no pickle, no cream. It's just sweet, sweet, and more sweet.

Most edible items were the cabbage and cucumber dishes. But these were only fresh in comparison - both were still very sweet. The cucumber, sadly, was not fresh.

It was as if they were trying to cover low quality produce with sugar and sauce, ad naseum.

I'm extremely confused by the glowing reviews and, based on my experience, can only assume these are friends of the owners or otherwise receiving some form of kickbacks.

TLDR; Do yourself a favor...

There are times when you just love a place, restaurant or spot that touches your chords to heart.

Galle club is truly one of them.

In the blink of an eye, we fell in love with this Srilankan restaurant offering Madras filter coffee (our all time ❤️).

It has a vibe which is so cozy, so full of warmth, that feeling of old days with a tinch of modernity. From location to vibe, cutlery to food, staff to owner - everything was 10/10.

Every bite was a treat to taste buds and needless to say that this will now be visited by us multiple times.

We tried their Kabuli Chana Kurma which had curry leaves and Cinnamon to add a flavor and it was the best Chana Kurma we ever had.

The Veechu Parotta made in Madurai style were so delicious that we ordered them twice.

Not to forget the most delicious Hopper (Appam) was so good that we had to takeaway so as to enjoy the deliciousness for the dinner 🍽️

The pickle made out of roasted pineapple called as Pineapple Accharu was sweet and sour and definitely yummy 😋

The cherry on the cake was the complimentary Madras filter coffee which the restaurant offers in between 09:00 to 17:00 hours and just like others, it was amazing.

We will definitely recommend this place to everyone visiting...

Whilst staying in Ubud, our hotel was right around the corner from Galle Club Restaurant. It had only been open a few months when we visited, but it got fantastic reviews online so we thought we would give them a try.

The menu is inspired by Sri Lanka cuisine in a sharing plate style, so you get to experience a variety of dishes for the table. I don’t have a lot of experience with Sri Lankan food, but I have to say, after my meal at Galle Club I certainly want more of it!

The starters were fabulous, and we followed on with a selection of 3 dishes for mains between 2 of us. The highlight had to be the Roast Pumpkin Kari, it was absolutely sensational. I also really enjoyed my Pandan inspired Crème Brule for dessert, which was beautifully subtle in flavor.

The atmosphere and design of the restaurant was as beautiful as the food, with modern and inviting décor. The service (as with almost everywhere we went in Ubud) was wonderful, and the team ensured we were well looked after.

If you’re looking for somewhere a little more unusual for dinner, or you want to try some delicious Sri Lankan food - Galle Club Restaurant should 100% be top of your list. The food, the drinks and the setting were...