Live from Amsterdam!!
I can hardly believe these 5 weeks have already flown by and I am back in my beloved Amsterdam. Upon arrival I was greeted by my mom and her BF and the sun shining her light on this beautiful city. Had everybody been whining about this for the last weeks or am I just lucky 
?
The last 5 weeks I have received a ton of emails asking me about Bali travel tips for raw foodies so here it is; my raw travel guide to Bali, enjoy!
UBUD
Ubud is the raw food, yoga & hoop mekka of Bali, and certainly a big & upcoming hub that attracts raw foodies from all over the world! I had a magnificent time here, so much so that I decided to come back next year for two full months. Ubud is a really great travel destination if you’re into rae food and holistic health and you’ll undoubtedly return home with a bunch of new friends and an even deeper appreciation of the raw food diet!
The climate in Ubud is great. A little less suffocatingly hot than the beach areas, and some more clouds and short tropical rainstorms which are nothing short of spectacular. I stayed in Penestanan which is like a little suburb of Ubud, just off the main road. The two big main roads in Ubud are Jalan Raya (main road) and Monkey Forest Road, which is off of main road and very, very long. Hanoman street is also a big street off of main road, a few streets further than Monkey Forest Road.
Raw Food Hot Spots:
Alchemy
One of my all-time favorites is without a doubt Alchemy. I lived right across from this raw vegan health food store/cafe/juice bar/colonic centre. The staff here is super amazing, a mix of enthusiastic and ever friendly local Balinese and talented expats. Fresh juices, cakes, truffles, energy bars, kale chips, flax crackers, quiche (try their quiche!! It’s to LIVE for) irish moss & kimchi, probiotic coconut water, plenty of superfoods and supplements. All raw vegan. Also greens and fruit for sale. They have hula hoops, a rebounder and a guitar for you to play with and free wi-fi.
Beautiful Emma! My raw food couch surfer…
They are opening up their raw vegan restaurant right next door as we speak. Make sure to check it out and report back to me how the food was .
Website: alchemybali.com, facebook
Price range: moderate. 55.000 IDR for a 550 ml green juice, 15.000 IDR for a chocolate, 30-40.000 for a piece of cake
Location: Jalan Campuhan 1, Penestanan, Ubud
Clear Cafe
Every raw foodie (and their sisters) seems to rave about Clear. Me and my gang? Not very impressed. Clear Cafe has a raw menu but also carries cooked dishes and meat dishes. Clear definitely has a luxurious atmosphere and some of the dishes are worth trying, but the overall service and quality of the food isn’t all that spectacular if you ask me. However, Clear Cafe does have a pretty cool shop up front which includes free taste-testing, woohoo . The little shop actually holds some pretty amazing items; try the raw crackers (both curry and zucchini are great), spicy cashews, vegan brownie and bliss bar. They also sell ridiculously cheap raw organic cacao powder and a great dehydrated nori snack.
In the cafe, my favorite was the Green Hornet Smoothie; a chocolate smoothie including spirulina. Everyone raved about it! Tip: order their ‘Hot Lava Chocolate’ from the raw menu, and specifically ask for a RAW/COLD smoothie. We ordered this off of the raw menu and got a boiling hot chocolate drink. Flabbergasted we asked for elaboration and got the answer ‘the ingredients were raw’. I think they didn’t really appreciate us laughing our asses off in amazement. later we figured out a lot of raw foodies had had the same experience. The ‘amigo burrito’ was pretty darn good, according to Emma (it sure as hell looked tasty). Clear has pretty frugal portions, we all agreed. Oh and one evening they put a tuna dish in front of me. I didn’t even order anything… (fasting).
Note: no pin/credit card, cash only…. Free wi-fi
The burrito with sunflower ‘refried’ beans, crackers, salsa & cashew cream
Marat & Denis, two Lithuanian raw foodies we met through couch surfing! They were super cute & funny, if not a little annoying. Just kidding. Only Marat was annoying…. lol
Website: www.clear-cafe-ubud.com
Price range: moderate – slightly expensive (35.000 – 50.000 IDR main meal, 35.000 salad, 35.000 smoothie, 35.000 small dessert)
Location: Jalan hanoman 8 (right off of main road/jalan raya)
Down to Earth
Down to Earth is a few short minutes away from Clear Cafe, in a side-street of Jalan Hanoman. Down to Earth is a vegetarian cafe with some raw and raw vegan options. It has a health food store on the ground floor and a real cozy cafe upstairs with some nice lounge seats as well. Lots of juice and smoothie options, some raw desserts (pie, icecream, chocolate), a few raw entree options (mainly salad). Plenty of vegetarian cooked options! I really liked the ‘jelly belly’ a juice made out of apple, ginger and aloe vera.
Website: n/a
Price range: moderate
Location side-street off of Hanoman street (after clear cafe, keep walking, side-street is to the right, there will be a sign)
Taksu
I’ve only been to Taksu once but it was a great experience. Really good food, decent-sized portions, enough variety. The enchiladas, lasagna, spring rolls, they all looked amazing. Their raw apple pie with cashew frosting and dragonfruit dressing was the bomb. Epic smoothies! Great view as well.
Free wi-fi. If you go before juli 2012 there is a 20% discount coupon in the ‘bali spirit festival 2012′ booklet (available at The Yoga Barn). Only open for breakfast/lunch hours, closes at 6PM.
Hey there good-looking
What? We were hungry OK!!
Website: taksuspa.com
Price range: very affordable (35.000 for a filling main meal, 35.000 for a small smoothie, 35.000 for dessert, 16.000 for a small platter of sushi)
Location: few feet down from Down to Earth, side-street from Hanoman street
Soma – High Vibrations
Love this place! Really authentic look and feel, cozy interior. Soma has a decent variety in raw foods to offer, including salads, crepes, rolls, smoothies and juices, and stellar desserts! Also, they offer fresh cacao fruit at a bargain. If you’re into chocolate at all, this is a must-try. Such a great experience to eat cacao just as is, and the fruit was really sweet. I also really liked their Ayurvedic teas (pitta cooling for me please!).
John, the owner, is a really cool guy and 12-year raw foodie. He came and sit and talk with us every time we were there and gave us some cool tips on things to check out (though I don’t agree with him on Fivelements not having good raw food ). You simply must try their ‘Mochalicious’ cake (see photo), and I also loved their raw hummus platter, though it’s om the small side for that price. Emma tried the raw crepe with banana ice-cream filling which was really good but also a tiny portion. John does make a good point: smaller portions are better for the body!
Cacao fruit! Inside those white fleshy parts are the beans, which crumble into nibs. Magnificent!
Thank God I’m not the only one who does this. But I might be the only one who walks over to complete strangers and takes pictures of their food?
Mocha-fucking-licious
Raw foods’ finest
Reviews on happycow
Price range: moderate – expensive (30.000-40.000 for a smoothie, 30-35.000 for a side-dish, 40-50.000 for a main meal)
Location: side street between hanoman and monkey forest road, near the football field (dewa sita street)
Stay tuned for part two!
holy shit all this food looks amazing! & you guys seem to be having so much fun!
yeah its a raw foodies paradise, so easy to meet tons of like-minded peeps there!
Sabine recently posted..Traveling in the Raw: Bali (part one)
Thats it. Booking my ticket to bali now. One way, preferably.
I’m with Tom on this one. Not only did you make me all excited to eat more raw food again, now I really want to go to Bali: it all looks amazing, both the foods, the restaurants as the environment (and your experiences!). Guess I’ll be dragging Lemon Man along with me next Summer. Now let’s go to skyscraper.net to check out the damage the tickets will do us…Kisses!
The Self Help Hipster recently posted..Law of Attraction: Giving up & Moving On.
you should come in march/april and i’ll give you a tour
Sabine recently posted..Traveling in the Raw: Bali (part one)
These pictures are amazing! The mochaliscious pie and quiche look the best!
Thank you so muh for putting this together!
Thank you thank you thank you! I had been wanting to visit bali for such a long time now and this is really the kick in the butt I needed to finally make it happen!
Awesome post….Can you share with us were or what resort you stayed in…
I have been eating completely raw foods for 3 years, and my biggest recommendation for this would be to do as much research as you can from as many of the raw food experts as possible and become an expert on the topic yourself, I have tried many different variations of the raw food diet, and have found that for my body (I am very athletic) a balanced diet of about 70% carbohydrates, 15% fats and 15% protein was perfect, I no longer get sick, I sleep far less, have been able to put on muscle easily (often a complaint from other men doing the raw food diet is that this can be difficult) I feel fully energized sleeping only 4-5 hours a day without an alarm and my skin looks great, however that is what works for me and the most important diet is what works for you.
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