We found a new jewel in tropical paradise – Nook!

We had been told by our tour guide of the new excitement among the local foodies: a quaint location serving traditional Indonesian cuisine. This was confirmed by friends from back home we bumped into, early one morning on the beach (small world). Our moment had come! We waited till the sun had just waved us all farewell, and off we went, riding in the dim light of the early evening, down the all familiar road to the coast, and turned at the tiny sign, hardly visible, that we passed so many times, all it reads is: Nook. The instant we took the turn, we found ourselves on a magical, windy, single lane road, elevated over lush green rice paddies either side of us, and a cluster of lights in the distance, our destination! We arrived at the entrance of this little building, in the midst of vivid green rice plants. No walls to lock us out of these magical surroundings, no cars suffocating us with their exhaust fumes, only open windows allowing us to take advantage of the cleverly positioned flood lights cutting the darkness to reveal the serenity of the rice paddies. We chose to sit at a corner bench, on the edge of the building; it felt as if we were right in the fields themselves (luckily we had covered ourselves in plenty of mosquito repellent). The menu did present a couple of amusing surprises: Zurich Geschnetzeltes, Austrian Schmarren and a few other central European oddities. Don’t ask us who these dishes found their way here!? We chose the appropriate dishes: Nasi Kampur (selection of meats and veggie dishes with rice) and Ayam Betutu (Indonesian spiced chicken). Nothing short of amazing. After enjoying this feast we just had to order deserts, as darkness settled in in the distance, with only the lights from our magical castle giving some colour over the fields, crickets and frogs providing the right background music. We had Dadar Gulung, Indonesia’s favourite desert, which is warm pandan flavoured crepe, filled with fresh shredded coconut, sweetened with palm sugar syrup: decadent! This is a must for anyone who is on an Indonesian food safari, as these two lads are! We left with full bellies, departing the magical island and returning to the hustle of the main street, as if it all were a dream. We know we’ll find our way back again!