Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Bali: Indonesian-style Ribs at Naughty Nuri's

Sweet soy sauce. Kecap manis. To Indonesians, that is the perfect combination of the sweet and the umami. We like our food a little sweeter. Back in college, it was the only condiment I kept in my kitchen at all times.

While living with my aunt in South Carolina, I easily picked up their sweet soy sauce habit. We put it on scrambled eggs. We put it in grits.

But one American expat and his Javanese chef-wife in Bali had an even better idea. Let's put it on barbecued ribs, baby.
They opened Naughty Nuri's Warung in Ubud, serving the carnivorous natives and tourists ribs, steaks, lamb chops and more, marinated in "Indonesian-style marinade." That is, it's sweet soy sauce based. Yes, Bali has the suckling pig "babi guling", ikan lilit, bebek bengil, what have you. But my brother and all my cousins (ok, well, all my male cousins) claim Naughty Nuri's is their favorite eatery in Bali.

A warung is meant to be a low end eatery and while the ambiance at Nuri's is undoubtedly casual, the prices are pretty high for the country's GDP. Bali is, after all, a tourist hotspot. $7 is a steal for New Zealand lamb chop, but a pricey meal for your regular native.
If you're reading this, though, you're probably a tourist, so go there and splurge on fall-off-the-bone tender ribs and juicy lamb chops. But please, don't ask for ketchup or A1 sauce. You won't be needing it.

Naughty Nuri's Warung
Jl. Raya Sanggingan (Across the road from Neka Museum)
Ubud, Bali
Phone: (361)977547
8am-10pm daily
http://www.naughty-nuris.com/
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6 comments:

  1. Wandering ChopsticksMarch 2, 2010 at 11:20 AM

    Last summer on a drive up to SF, I used only kecap manis as a marinade for steak kebobs. My sister ate all the skewers before we even arrived. So I gave her my bottle of kecap manis to take with her to school and that's her favorite marinade since.

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  2. glutsterMarch 2, 2010 at 9:28 PM

    I can taste those lamb chops that I got like it was just yesterday!

    I <3 and miss Bali!

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  3. mattatouilleMarch 3, 2010 at 11:33 AM

    I think those lamb chops were a little more, like $13 bucks. Anyways, those ribs are certainly delicious!

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  4. EatTravelEatMarch 3, 2010 at 7:07 PM

    Sweetened soy sauce is good on anything :). Rice, lap cheong, fish...Haven't tried kecap manis though. But I am quite sure I would enjoy those ribs!

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  5. AaronMarch 5, 2010 at 12:14 PM

    I can't help but notice the similarity between "kecap" and "ketchup." Do you think they're related?

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  6. gourmetpigsMarch 5, 2010 at 2:18 PM

    In Indonesia the word "kecap" just all-encompassingly refers to sauces (I think it's supposed to be all fermented sauces), but in this day and age it is mostly used to refer to soy sauce.
    For ketchup we'll say tomato ketchup or tomato sauce and I don't really know which word actually came first.

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