Warung Chef Bagus Kuta — Restaurant in Kuta

Chef Bagus is a place I have long wanted to go. The reviews and comments about this venue are pretty impressive. Here is our account based on the two dishes we had. I am a pork spare rib fiend, so I chose the full rack with chips and a full corn on the cob. My Wife had fish and chips. The restaurant was pretty quiet when we arrived, we were served a small bowl of prawn crackers with dipping sauce. The sauce had a tiny bit of zing or punch heat wise, but was nice. Apparently, this is one of the sauces for the ribs. I just don't do heat on my food so I opted for a no chilly option for my ribs. Gotta say, the service was pretty quick, the staff were really lovely. My Wife got her fish and chips first. These looked like gorgeously crumbed portions, but they at first glance looked like oversized fish fingers. The crumb coating was as tasty as, but just too perfect to be hand done I think. This, I don't believe these were fillets of fish, more likely a processed prepackaged portion. Could be wrong. In saying all this, the fish did taste pretty nice. The fish came with a bottled tomato sauce dipping bowl. Not what we expected. The meal also came with chips on the small plate the fish came on. They were crinkle cut packet chip, cooked OK. I bloody love a great feed of chips. We would rate her fish and chips as a 6. The fish and chips only cost $6.50, so reasonably priced Onto the ribs. The cost was $21 Aus. Ribs is one of my fave feeds to get anywhere. These were no Tony Roma Anahiem rated ribs by any means, but they were pretty nice. Presentation and amount was good on both counts. I had a full rack and there certainly was a lot of meat on them. Great serving size for me. The elephant in the room always first mentioned!!!!! Tenderness! Sadly it was not fall off the bone melt in your mouth, get in my belly tender. They looked amazing, but when a restaurant claims best ribs in Bali, they have to be tender. Don't get me wrong, these were delicious, but this was a bit disappointing. My coward no chilli sauce was really tasty from start to finish. These ribs were best described as good, but not great. The chips were the same crinkle cut chips, cooked OK, but nothing to write home about. My ribs came with 2 dipping bowls, 1 was normal bottled tomatoes sauce, the other seemed like Soya Sauce, or kechap manis soya sauce. I am not that fancy that I could tell the difference. Again, these ribs were bloody nice, but certainly not rave worthy. I also had a corn on the cob as well. Now I kill for a great char cooked over coconut husk corn. You want that delicious but scary buttery garlicy yumness that only a Bali cooked corn on the cob can give you. You want to be walked down the path on Kuta beach tasty as you chew into it. This did have char on it. It was buttery. But no journey of gastronomic wonder was had sadly. It was nice, but not a standout. As mentioned this venue has been on my list for years, but I think our meal was less than I had dreamed of. As we were finishing our meal, another table had Sate delivered, damn that smelt great as it wafted past. One of those I should have had what he's having moments. The staff were awesome, the restaurant looked very cool decor wise. Lots of photos of the restaurant from early days till now. Pics of the Chef and various people over the time. I am super glad I went here and no doubt I will go again, but may go down the traditional Indonesian tucker route. I would rate my ribs as a 6.5 I guess. All in all, nice meal, but less than anticipated. Put Chef Bagus on your list though. It's still one of those must do Kuta...

Chef Bagus was a professional, knowledgeable and experienced chef, and taught a great class with a light-hearted and entertaining atmosphere. All the staff were friendly and spoke good English.

We were picked up from our hotel promptly at 8:30am and taken to a local food market for an informative tour about Balinese produce and ingredients we would be using in the class. After that we were driven to the restaurant where we learnt to prepare a comprehensive range of Balinese food through 10 different dishes. This included being able to eat them at the end of the class at lunchtime with our fellow participants. After lunch, we were driven back to our hotel, arriving at about 1:30pm.

The cooking was reasonably hands-on and the recipe book was included as well (although this didn't include the restaurant’s famous pork ribs but I don't blame them for keeping that recipe a secret!).

It was well worth the money for a very enjoyable and fun experience. The restaurant was clean and spacious enough for the number of people in the class. I think there were 17 participants that day and Chef Bagus did well to ensure everyone got a chance to cook.

Our only gripe was that during the day the staff kept asking us if we wanted drinks and only at the end did they mention only the first drink was free. I think the whole class thought all the drinks were included in the price (USD34) of the class as the way they were asking us felt as if they were offering them. Just a suggestion that it wouldn’t hurt for them to state this. The drinks were reasonably priced but it was more just the surprise which left a slightly sour aftertaste to what would otherwise have been a...

My girlfriend and I did the cooking class, and let me tell you, it was perfect for what we wanted. This isn’t a cooking class where you have your own stove and you follow step by step, but that doesn’t take away from the experience at all. You learn over 15 recipes, and in enough live detail that you can confidently go home and do these recipes yourself. He guided the group masterfully, and had people pitch in to help and get some technical experience where it made sense. He even sends you home with a recipe book of the things you learned that day. Afterwards, you eat the food you helped prepare!

The one thing I’ll say is that his personality steals the show. He really is a joy to listen to, and his joking around just sets the tone for a wonderful experience. His set up crew also has the support choreography down, they are professionals that keep everything running, transitioning smoothly, as well as keeping everything VERY clean.

In terms of the flavor of the food, I think we just have different tastes, as we thought it was somewhat bland and didn’t really blow us away with originality or flavor. I’d call it “decent comfort food.” American taste buds are often used to over salted/over sweetened products, so keep that in mind as you read this!

Definitely worth the money. The experience was wonderful, and even if the food wasn’t our thing we still...