I remember when on trips, sometimes it can be difficult deciding what to eat. The thing is if you were to visit a museum or a beach or a volcano and it happen to be around lunch or dinner time then you’re going to need to find food somewhere around that area which could be as alien as it can gets.

In such situations I would normally play it safe and go for the kind of food that I’m familiar with like Mcdonalds or KFC or Pizza Hut. Put the I-can-eat-this-in-Singapore theory aside, at least you know what you’re expecting.

But the thing is sometimes there can be nothing familiar within your sight so what do you do? I remember eating a Tom Yum Chicken soup somewhere in a small lane in Phuket while driving to the mountains and that was to be the most delicious Tom Yum I ever eaten. I also remember eating a Burger in a cafe beside the subway station called Hamburger Hill in Perth one night which turned out to be the best Hamburger I ever eaten. I also remember eating many delicious Middle Eastern food in London that was operated from little corners of little lanes and was some of the best Middle Eastern food I had.

Those experiences tell me that at times it pays to pay attention to food outlets that are off the high street. The thing is some famous food are simply overrated for reasons like because they’re in a good location blah blah blah. Then you have others that were used to be good but suffer the ’standard dropped’ effect after they have built up a good customer base.

Anyway one of my way of sourcing for good food on the go is to see whether staffs in a restaurant are being kept busy. Usually if they are, it is for good reasons.

So when we came across this kopitiam close to lunch time which were seemingly extraordinary busy on a Thursday afternoon somewhere between Kuta Beach and Jimbaran, we can’t wait to park our car and head straight in to find out what’s the fuss all about. As we were to find out later, the reasons were all for this thing called Ayam Betutu.

If after looking at the photo you still don’t know what it is, then let me tell you that when I stepped into the shop and after seeing a plate of it on every table there, I also can’t figure out what it is. On one hand it looked like steamed chicken in some kind of herbal sauces, on another hand it looked like some kind of chicken cooked in some mild curry gravy.

Ayam Betutu: 7/10  

Ayam Betutu is infact chicken cooked in some Balinese spice mixture which consist of tumeric, ginger, kencur, onion, garlic, chilies etc. All in all, the chicken is nothing that I like how my chicken to be cooked – grilled(bakar) or fried(goreng) therefore I were looking at some other things like their Ayam Bakar instead while my partner went for a set of the Ayam Betutu meal.

Ayam Bakar: 7/10  

Our food came and what surprised me is that my half portion of Ayam Bakar is smaller than my partner’s quarter portion of the Ayam Betutu. Ok the Ayam Betutu looked more like the Singapore’s version of chicken while my Ayam Bakar is the Indonesian kampong version. It’s hardly enough for me and I had to order another half portion and after eating 1 whole chicken, it just only managed to satisfy me. Their kampong chicken really need meals that are more nutritionional.

Ayam Betutu here came with pre-fried chilli vegetables(pelecing kangkung) which tasted awful for me but otherwise delicious for my partner. Also accompanying the setwas some peanuts and some sauces.

This place is very very near to the airport, infact just 1 junction away if my memory didn’t fail me. So if you’re going to Bali and got a rented car and it’s about lunch time when you’re about to go out from the airport, then I recommend this Ayam Betutu Khas Gilimanuk place at Jalan Raya Kuta to kickstart your Bali makan adventure.

Price: SGD$2-3 for half a chicken

Recommendation: Ayam Betutu(that’s what it’s famous for)

Conclusion: The crowd is amazingly huge at lunch time. Every table there has a plate of Ayam Betutu but it didn’t excited me unfortunately. The Ayam Bakar was good though not exactly fantastic.

Likes: Food is fresh, looked like they cook it after you ordered unlike other similar eating place.

Dislikes: Food not warm enough.

Address		Overall Rating
Ayam Betutu Khas Gilimanuk 203 Jalan Raya Kuta, Bali		Food: 7/10   Value: 8/10   Service: 7/10   Ambience: 6/10   Cleanliness: 6/10   Overall: 6.75/10