Seafood Archives - BURNESSIE TRAVELS

BEACHOUSE Ibiza

If you’re not eating dinner by the ocean, are you even on holiday? I was lucky to spend a week on Ibiza recently, five years after my first holiday there and let me tell you, it is NOT all clubbing and rolling in at 7am from Pacha. Who knew? It turns out – many people clocked onto this long ago, I was just left in the dark. You can do Ibiza so many different ways, and one of them is spending a fair whack at some of the island’s renowned restaurants among beautiful settings; so that is what I did.

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Australia Food From Travels Sydney

The Boathouse

Once upon a time, an English girl met an Aussie girl in the jungle of Northern Sulawesi in Indonesia. They were surrounded by tall trees, volcanoes and the sea; cockroaches and snakes; gibbons and crocodiles and a couple of sun bears too. The evenings were dull. Nothing really happens in the jungle at night for humans. The never ending boredom in the middle of nowhere was dispelled drinking beer and sharing stories, even if they were the only two people in the vicinity to partake. In the middle of nowhere this potty mouthed Londoner and this wild haired veterinary Sydneysider became fast friends.

This friendship was born out of large Bintangs and late night cheese toasties, and has continued through the years with food as a constant thread between us, even when I once accidentally made my friend sit through a BBQ full of every type of meat going with my family, not realising she had gone veggie since the last time I’d seen her and she was too polite to tell my dad after he raved about the meat his mate the butcher had provided for the occasion.

Jess comes from a beautiful part of the world, the Northern beaches of Sydney, and as much as I love Sydney city, I really love escaping up the coast a little and staying with my friend. Not least because I love my friend made in the most unlikely of places, but because going to Avalon means a trip to one of my favourite restaurants in Australia that she introduced me to – The Boathouse.

The Boathouse originated in Palm Beach, otherwise known as home to Home and Away, but luckily for Sydneysiders, they have new outposts edged around the city, at Balmoral in Mosman and Shelley Beach in Manly. The whole dining experience here is everything it should be in Australia – al fresco, by the water, fresh food (plenty of it healthy) and good, cold wine. It just feels Australian.

There is plenty of seafood, and I can personally vouch for the high standard of battered fish and thick cut chips they serve up here, as well as a beautiful fish pie. In fact the chips are amazing and deserve a proper mention; seriously crispy but fluffy on the inside, and plenty of them. Salads are colourful and plentiful, scarlet beads of pomegranate seeds adding a brilliant crunch; the bucket of prawns a popular choice and the burgers not amiss either. The wine list isn’t overwhelming in size, but all expertly picked and naturally, predominantly Australian.

Whilst I haven’t had the pleasure of a Boathouse breakfast, the menu includes all the usual suspects, with avo on toast with poached eggs, bacon and egg rolls, french toast, bircher muesli and the very Australian healthy breakfast of a veggie bowl with eggs, avo, smoked salmon, brown rice, chilli and greens. The coffee is very good too, cappuccinos and the like beautifully presented with a smattering of chocolate shaped in their signature anchor logo. There’s also a deli of delicious fresh produce, and there are rustic tin vases of beautiful blooms you can purchase too.

There are many restaurants in Australia that make me wish I could pop over for a weekend, just eat and drink and catch up with the many friends who have made the move, but The Boathouse is up there among the ones I miss most.

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Asia Food From Travels Gili Islands Indonesia Lombok

Scallywags

The first time I ever went to Scallywags I had to take myself off to bed at 9.30pm after having eaten myself into such an uncomfortable state that I couldn’t do anything other than lie horizontal and rub my tummy. And I mean that in the best possible way: I couldn’t get enough of the food. Never tell a hungry backpacker that a buffet is All You Can Eat.

Along with my friends Hannah and Adam, I had spied Scallywags on Gili T due to its beautiful décor – all rustic wood features, blackboard menus and candle lit lanterns overlooking the sea. Heading back from beers over on the Sunset side one evening, we were further lured in by the piles of fresh fish and meat set up for the evening’s BBQ. We’re already picking what we want, but it’s out of our price range and we know it. I say ‘out of our price range’ – it’s literally around £6 for a meal with a beer, but when you’re backpacking your relativities change. Sometimes you just have to treat yourself though, so in we go, and I haven’t looked back since. Scallywags is one of my favourite restaurants in the world, and I always go back without fail when on the Gilis.

The quality of food here is excellent, and really, the value for money is great too, even if it’s not quite backpacker budget. The staff are friendly and efficient, the menu is large, the setting is idyllic and as a result, Scallywags is busy every night. Should you choose the BBQ, you simply choose your fare (the steak is excellent, as is the tuna – and they know how to cook to specification here – my tuna steak is always as rare as I like it) and grab a plate to pile high with the salad buffet that comes included in the price, plus a jacket potato or rice. Learn from my mistakes and mind not to over eat though – you don’t want to miss the fun Gili T is famous for later in the night.

The a la carte menu is just as delicious (I’m told the butterfish is off the charts), and the tapas dishes they offer are perfect for lunchtime. The menu ranges from salads and sandwiches to pies, lamb shanks, steak, local Indonesian specialities and of course – fresh fish dishes. Scallywags has an extensive range of international wines starting from 350,000 IDR for a bottle (or 80,000 – 95,000 IDR per glass), as well as being one of the only places on the island that serve pints of Guinness.

My last visit to Scallywags was for a boozy lunch on my birthday this year, where my friend and I shared a huge sharing platter (140,000 IDR) which included their excellent salt and pepper calamari and chorizo with aioli dip, as well as the seared tuna tataki and rocket salad with ginger, soy and wasabi dressing (85,000 IDR) and a side of creamy mash potato, because it was my birthday and mash potato is probably my favourite food in the world. Once again defeated on stomach space, I’ve never made it to dessert, but the blueberry ice cream (20,000 IDR per scoop) I used to get from the Scallywags outpost on Gili Air holds a special place in my heart.

Scallywags has long been my number one recommendation for dinner on Gili Trawangan, and even with serious competition cropping up all the time as the island develops, it’s still my favourite place for fresh seafood BBQ. Oh also, if you’ve got a bit of money to spend, you can even stay at Scallywags, both on Gili T and Gili Air. But don’t tell me if you do as I’ll be eternally jealous, okay?

Scallywags Resort, South Beach, Gili Trawangan, Nusa Tenggara Bar. 83352, Indonesia
+62 370 6145301

Also at: Scallywags Beach Club, Gili Air