Total Bali Food Tour: Rice Terraces & Eat Street

Our Bali Total Food Tour will whisk you away from the tourist track and introduce you to real local life — through its food! This tour combines two of our top-selling Bali tours (Hidden Rice Terraces TrekandLocal Eat Street Tour) for one epic adventure. We’ll kick off our adventure with a visit to a large bric-a-brac antiques warehouse, followed by a walk through the local market, where your guide will explain how local businesses operate. Then we’ll make our way to the rice terraces of Kerobokan that define the country’s agricultural industry. Here, your guide will explain how thesubakirrigation system works — it’s an ancient irrigation system, having first been introduced by Hindu priests when they arrived on Bali over 1,200 years ago, but is still very much in use today. Thesubaksystem is about so much more than just watering plants, though. It creates ecosystems for new life, and is bound by the community’s temples, where water priests honour the relationship between humans, the Earth, and the gods. You’ll learn more about this relationship with a visit to a localsubaktemple, a gathering place for farmers. We’ll walk from here in to the expansive rice fields of Kerobokan, where we’ll begin our trek of about two to three kilometres (wear comfy shoes that you don’t mind getting wet!). The local farmers here don’t just grow rice, but also tomatoes, beans, bananas, eggplant, chilies, corn, sugar cane, and water snails. The rice fields themselves are home to a number of aquatic species, including frogs, fish, crabs, and snails — it’s the perfect little ecosystem, and you’ll have a better understanding of how it all works together. After our trek, we’ll be met by our driver, who will take us back to the starting point. Here, you’ll be able to change out of your trekking clothes and into something more comfortable for wandering the street stalls of the local Bali ‘Eat Street’ at night. There’s no rush, though, so take a break on our large deck and watch the sun set over the rice fields before we head out in our VW Kombi limo for our feast. Our first stop will be a local roadsidewarung(café) famous for itsbabi guling(rotisserie-cooked suckling pig). Your guide will order for you a shared dish for two people and explain all that appears on the plate before you —which will have maybe five or six different elements. Don’t forget to buy some pork crackling! From there, it’s back into the VW Kombi and we’ll head to the largest local Eat Street in Bali, tucked just behind the major tourist area and easy to get to — but oh-so local! We’ll start at the top of the street, where your expert guide will escort you through the numerous smallwarungsand stalls, picking out things for us to eat as we go. The street here is jam-packed with motorbikes and cars, and the later it gets, the busier it becomes; we go a little early to make sure we can get into the places we want. Of course, your guide is also an expert on local food, and will explain to you the food and traditions of what is on offer. On arrival, your guide will explain all the places that are available for eating here — far too many for one night! The good news, though, is we always share dishes on a night like this, so you’ll have lots of room to try it all. We start out in what is actually a car park by day but a fantastic eating place at night that is home to the yummiestsoto ayam(chicken noodle soup) in the area. This is one of Indonesia’s most famous national dishes. Walking along the main street, you’ll learn about all the different culinary influences on offer: Javanese, Sumatran, Sulawesi, Japanese and Thai/Indonesian fusion. You’ll learn about traditions likeikan and ayam bakar(barbecued fish and chicken typically enjoyed with beer and a side of music!). If you like spice (or think you do), then we can stop at a small place specialising in Japanese fusion, where there’s a chili challenge that goes up five levels to “inferno” with the world’s hottest chilies! Or, if you need an energy boost, how about an energy-filled dessert, Indonesian-style! You’ll see “Joss Milk” sold all over the country, which is an Indonesian energy powder you mix with milk. Believe it or not, it goes amazingly well with our favourite desert, which we’re going to grab at a smallwarung. This place is famous for its dessert made from a crumpet-style batter cooked in an earthenware pot over hot coals. Choose from the top 10 list or design your own; our favourite is Toblerone, banana, ice cream and cheese. The prices are cheap all long Eat Street, so if you decide you want to buy some more treats, you can pick up some extras for about USD$1-2. (How much can you try in one night?!) Your guide (now your best foodie friend on Bali) will assist you with finding a taxi for your trip back to your hotel (or to the next stop for your night out). And now that you have the keys to Bali’s local Eat Street, you can come back on your own to try even more local dishes. Directions to meeting point: From Jl Kerobokan heading north, turn right at the lights known as LIO corner (J l. Petitenget is on your left). You will now be travelling toward Denpasar on Jl. Tekumar. Turn left at the next lights into Jl. Mertasari and follow this road — it runs straight to our office in about 3-4 kilometres. Need a taxi to get to the meeting point? Our local guides in Bali recommend theBlue Bird taxi appas the easiest way to get around.