Powder Room by R4D — Restaurant in Pulau Bali

After a great evening at R4D the other night we wanted to give breakfast a go at Powder Room. Prior to we spoke to Will and he recommended the egg and bacon muffin with fried chicken. Of course he is biased 🤨but he wasn’t wrong. That’s exactly what we got.

Charlene ordered it, and I (Ronny) did too, albeit two pieces of fried chicken. Man…… it was so damn delicious, tender chicken, eggs cooked to perfection, crispy bacon, and the added caramelised onions really complemented it, all sandwiched between a home made muffin. It was exactly what we needed for our 7km round trip walk to enjoy this meal. Highly recommend you give this a go. Definitely 5 star worthy, and definitely a gym junky’s cheat meal (not that every day in Bali hasn’t been a cheat meal for us the last couple weeks). Get your protein hit peeps, with umami to boot!

For something sweet we had the babka, and it was nothing short of amazing. Not too sweet, great texture, and ingredients you can individually a taste, like with a great HiFi system where it has a wide sound stage and you can individually hear the instruments. It was very well balanced and delish.

The pastry item we had was the croissant. Just a good old plain croissant. Now croissants in Bali are a real gamble. The climate we think can really jeopardise them, and what we are used to is flaky exteriors with buttery soft interiors with dozens upon dozens of layers, with just enough butter between each layer to give it the texture and flavour they deserve. The croissants here came close, but you have to make an exception due to the climate. Just about every croissant, probably all actually, we have had in Bali stops short of what a brilliant crossaint should feel like in terms of texture. The one we had here hit targets in the flavour department but texture wise it’s up there with the best we have had in Bali, but not back home; wasn’t flaky enough. So context is everything when hunting for French pastries in Bali, manage your expectations.

For the walk back home we had to get the ‘not a mars bar’ and the yellow marshmallow thingamabob. Needed a few extra calories for fuel, not that we didn’t fuel up prior. A sweet tooth’s dream, melt in your mouth marshmallow and caramel so decadent it should be contraband.

The cafe was cute, rustic, service was attentive, Will also put aside some time to have a chat with us. It’s great when the Chef spends time with his customers, as it adds to the whole experience. Don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t blowing his own horn or anything, we just spoke about food again, as well as restaurant recommendations in Ubud.

Overall we have to give it 5 stars. The whole experience, and food itself was brilliant. The croissant, as we said, in context of the climate, and with expectations managed,...

Well sorry to buck the trend but this place to me is as overhyped as it gets. The marketing of it is impressive, I myself couldn't wait to try as R4D is way out of my budget. But I went 3 times, had 3 different items and each time was increasingly disappointed. The pastries are ok, certainly not amazing in taste, though again, the marketing is actually exciting with a commitment to sustainability and local and all that, but the result, so so. And then I had the chicken breakfast sandwich. That was so undercooked, I thought it was more like fish and I prayed I'd be able to digest it. Too much strong tartar sauce, 1 mini piece of lettuce, heavy breading and luckily not much chicken. That's it for me, no reason to try again when there's less famous and far more incredible and unique sweets, etc. everywhere you look. I wished I had liked it. I...

** update Nov 2024

Set breakfast reduced in size and increased in price. Still delicious components made in house, but definitely less of a value @ 118k including tax and service. See picture comparison.

Also, would love a savory pastry option for set breakfast. Plain croissant was tasty but also had a shellacking of sugar on it.

Delicious breakfast set. Jamu, coffee, fresh fruit, tasty granola, thick yogurt, pastry of choice. I went for lychee-raspberry bomboloni, which despite being deep fried and full of cream was surprisingly light hah.

Also coincided with the monthly community farmers market where I picked up some goodies, and enjoyed their chill...