| The most visible member of the 17-family strong Indian community in Bali, he runs four hugely successful Indian restaurants under the name of Gateway of India, undertakes catering for every single group of Indian tourists, is currently in the throes of inaugurating a brand new up-market Indian restaurant and is on the must-interview list of every Indian television channel that arrives in Bali. |
| He is not too busy, however, to fill me in on the nuances of Balinese cuisine. Bali, like India, is overwhelmingly Hindu, but I was startled at the differences between the two versions of the religion. Vegetarianism, as a concept, does not find much favour: Balinese Brahmins are allowed "" nay, encouraged "" to eat duck. |
| That's because, according to Kalra, the duck is a selective bird that is a fastidious feeder. Rubbish like mud and dirt are automatically strained through its beak, while what gets ingested are choice morsels: fat grubs and insects. The Balinese don't, by and large, have problems with eating beef. |
| Kalra recommended a restaurant in the village of Ubud called Padi Prada to sample duck, Balinese style. Just about everybody else swore by a far better-known competitor, Dirty Duck or Bebek Bengil. |
| To be on the safe side, I tried both. Like most other things in Bali, I discovered that what is well-known is not necessarily intrinsically better. Padi Prada won hands down. |
| The meal is served thali style. It consists of a soup that is based on duck stock, a salad comprising sprouted moong, another salad cum onion chutney that glistened with pure coconut oil, Balinese-style satay made from minced seafood, unlike the usual cubes of chicken or lamb, and a portion of crisply fried duck. |
| At the Nusa Dua Beach Hotel and Spa, Balinese cooking has been taken to new heights: a specialty restaurant serves a selection of Balinese, as opposed to Indonesian, food. |
| Though Rajah's concentrates on the food of the royal family of Bali, the piece de resistance here too is duck. This version is baked in a banana leaf and served whole at the table. Rajah's doesn't pretend to use the local bird: their ducks are imported from Canada. |
| The meal I had featured the same stir-fried green bean with minced chicken, salad and chutney that the other places serve, but the duck was in another category altogether. Marinated with sixteen spices, I thought I could identify cinnamon, onions, galangal, ginger, candlenut and turmeric, but the chef was poker-faced about his recipe. |
| On the other side of the scale, farmers and fishermen "" which is what the people of Bali were, before tourism took over "" eat boiled rice, tiny salted fish fried with chillies, tempeh "" rice and soya coarsely pounded together and then fried, and green vegetables like tapioca leaf or morning glory cooked in a thin coconut gravy. |
| Fortunately for Vikram Kalra, tourists nibble at the local food and then turn to good old desi khanna for variety. |
Top Section
Explore Business Standard