Restaurant Review – Warung Mami, Jimbaran

Seafood lovers, you will definitely love the food here…

This place is not for those who expects to enjoy their seafood meal with beautiful sunset beach view or any beautiful view, really. The place itself is rather small and equipped with very basic table and plastic chairs. It is located right on Jalan Uluwatu II , you may pass by it without even noticing – nothing really stand out of the place. Unless you really set out to get there, I doubt you will notice the sign and stop by to eat in here. So, do expect a small restaurant without air conditioner, but it is very clean and airy, so you can still enjoy your meal comfortably.

Just like many other hidden gems – the plain boring look may deceive you. We read a lot of review of this place and how people talk really high about the freshness of their seafood on top of how affordable they are. So, last year when we went to Bali, we tried to come, but unfortunately they were closed due for some Balinese ceremonies. And of course when we went back to Bali again in September, we had our fingers crossed that it will be open, and yes it did!!!

From what I read, this place is owned by Putu Kuaci, a chef who used to work for one of those beach side restaurants in Jimbaran, who then set up his own restaurant. Warung Mami is highly recommended by Bondan Winarno, who is a journalist specialised in restaurants reviews in Indonesia (kind of like a food critic, I guess). Apparently Warung Mami will only open if they have fresh seafood because the owner is adamant to only serve his customers good fresh seafood. So, make sure you call up their number to check before coming here and if you know what you are going to have here, you could also them to prepare ahead. We called before came here but we did not ordered ahead because we were not sure about the serving portion.

Note that there was no physical menu in this place and do notice that they only have grilled fish (they had a few different types of fish to choose from), grilled prawn, grilled mussels and white rice. We ordered everything! It took a while for the food to be cooked, even when we were the only customer, hence the advice to pre-order, especially if you come here during holiday season and peak hours. We enjoyed the wait and yes the food totally worth the wait!

Here are what we ordered (1 grilled fish, 2 grilled prawns, 1 grilled mussels, 2 rice, and 2 bottled iced tea) and the various free condiments they came with! All this super tasty food for less than AU$ 30, what else can you ask? The basting sauce is a tiny bit spicy, so if you have kids or can’t eat spicy food, just let them know when ordering.

I am drooling as I typing this blog, reminded myself of how good the food was. The seafood was so fresh that you can still taste the sweetness in them, the spicy and tasty basting sauce, the coconut husk-smoked smell, all the various hot sambals, the kangkung side dish and fresh crisp pickled cucumber salad I would be willing to wait even longer to get this food and on top of it, at very good price!! At the same time, I am also tossing between posting this little gem or keep this secret 😛

Warung Mami
Jalan Uluwatu II/30 X,
Reservation 0812-3620051 (Pak Putu Kuaci)