Whilst the line up for Glastonbury is the most anticipated music festival reveal of the calendar year, any Glasto veteran will tell you it isn’t just about the headliners. On top of all that great music you’ve got loads of other entertainment, from circus acts to silent discos, but there’s also the food. Long gone …
Kafe and The Garden Kafe alike are a part of the extremely successful and pretty famous Yoga Barn in Ubud. Offering a wide range of different yoga classes every day from early until late in this sleepy town, The Yoga Barn has many loyal customers and as a result their café outposts get pretty busy. Kafe is further toward the centre of Ubud on Jalan Hanoman, whilst The Garden Kafe overlooks The Yoga Barn studios within grounds of tall banana trees and even taller coconut palms in a mass of green. Set far back off the road, the latter is a peaceful place, away from the sound of scooters hooting. The staff are friendly and attentive, and as you may have guessed by now, the food is seriously healthy. Mostly vegetarian with an extensive vegan and raw menu, Kafe caters excellently to the health conscious yogi crowd.
Whilst you couldn’t pay me to turn vegan, the few times I did grab food here during my time in Ubud left me impressed with the quality and freshness of ingredients, and I enjoyed knowing I was eating something truly healthy to go with my side of yoga class. And frankly it made me feel like I’d really earnt my evening Bintangs.
The wide range of different meals on the menu is impressive for a mostly vegetarian and vegan café, as well as inventive. There are a huge amount of breakfasts and mains to choose from, not to mention a large list of salads and raw desserts. The grilled veggie and feta salad I had at Garden Kafe one day was delicious and pretty sizeable at that. Kafe and the smaller outpost at The Yoga Barn do have slightly different menus, and the former is slightly more expensive. Kafe serves dinner in the evening whilst Garden Kafe closes at 6pm.
The juice menu is extensive and there’s no alcohol served, so forget it if you’re after a cold Bintang with your lunch. Kafe’s juices (18,000 – 30,000 IDR) are highly popular of course (because this is Ubud); each juice designed to help your body in some way by aiding digestion, energizing, detoxifying – I could go on. My personal favourite was the Energy Drink: pineapple, apple, ginger and cucumber blended together, and I actually liked it so much I would go to Kafe simply for it, which I’d consider a pretty strong accolade from a staunchly non vegetarian patron. These two hangouts are the perfect healthy option to help you immerse yourself in all things Ubud.
Salivating. That’s the first thing that happens when my avocado and feta on ciabatta is placed in front of me. Two slices of thick ciabatta toasted perfectly and piled precariously high with chopped up ripe avocado and big chunks of crumbly feta. The kind of bruschetta that falls apart as soon as you prod it with your cutlery – messy, but excellent, because you have so much to cram into your mouth whilst carrying out a balancing act on your fork. A tomato sambal was served on the side, which added depth to the avocado and feta, though for me could have done with being a bit spicier. But then, I am a girl who will sprinkle a whole chilli on her smashed avocado for breakfast, so I’m perhaps not exactly what one would usually cater for.
The cafe has a distinctly chilled atmosphere – a hippy vibe, if you will – with plenty of backpackers and yogi expats using the free wifi and whiling away the day on rattan mats and cushions. The quality of ingredients used is clear, the standard high and the service friendly, if a little slow at times. But hey, this is Asia and you’re on Bali time.
Everything that comes out of this kitchen you wish you’d ordered. BLTs (53,000 IDR) made on freshly baked ciabatta bread from the bakery down the road. Plentiful gado gado accompanied with a big bowl of extra peanut sauce that saves you the embarrassment from having to ask for more. I suspect they got fed up of having to go back into the kitchen, hence why it is now standard. Chicken satay sprinkled with fresh chillies (45,000 IDR). Bite sized fish cakes with lime and tomato sambal. A vegan Balinese curry (57,000 IDR) that was so brilliantly balanced in flavour that I barely missed the meat, let alone realise it was (whispers)…vegan.
And THEN they do this thing were they offer you melted Belgian chocolate to be poured over what is commonly recognised as Ubud’s best gelato (shout out to the panna cotta flavour) and you say yes and then you’re fighting to fit as much of the thick chocolate with ice cream in your mouth at once and before you know it, it’s disappeared. So get at least two scoops.
Atman is a great option for a healthy breakfast, lunch or a quiet dinner and a firm favourite and frequent haunt of mine whenever I’m in Ubud, ideally situated across the street from my usual homestay. Highly recommend. And seriously – do get the chocolate smothered ice cream.
Jl. Hanoman no 38, Ubud, Bali 80571, Indonesia
+62 361 8620505