Bumbu Bali Restaurant & Cooking School - Culinary Adventures on the Road
Restaurant Review by Ken Stewart, The Guam Food Guy
April 2004

"Bumbu" translated means "spice blend" and is an apt description for the fascinating culinary experience we recently enjoyed on our Continental-sponsored media tour to exotic Bali, "Island of the Gods." The Bumbu Bali Cooking School is owned and operated by renowned Swiss chef Heinz von Holzen, author of the acclaimed book, "The Food Of Bali", which features authentic Balinese recipes. Heinz has lived in Bali since 1990, when he was Executive Chef at the Grand Hyatt Bali. He was also the Executive Chef of Bali's Ritz Carlton Hotel. Heinz and his beautiful Balinese wife, Puji, opened Bumbu Bali Restaurant in 1998. They also opened Rumah Bali, a fabulous resort patterned after a traditional Balinese village, with luxurious villas, temples, gardens, and courtyards. The "Paon" is the Balinese kitchen they built to accommodate up to 12 participants for their cooking classes. Bumbu Bali and Rumah Bali are conveniently located in Tanjung Benoa, with is just 5 minutes away from the Nusa Dua resort enclave.

The Bumbu Bali Cooking Class is organized on a strict schedule with participants departing at 6am from their hotels to arrive at the Vegetable Markets by 6:15am. Here, Heinz leads the group through the market, picking up ingredients that will be used for the day's cooking. Among these are Lemon Basil, Chilies, Cardamom, Candlenut, Laos (galangal, which is a member of the ginger family), Lemongrass, Peanuts, Pepper Corns, Turmeric, Shrimp Paste, Tamarind, Shallots, Ginger, Kencur (a.k.a., the lesser galangal, that has a camphor-like taste), Coconut, Onions, Garlic (Balinese garlic is softer than Western garlic), and Palm Sugar, which is made by extracting juice from the coconut flower, boiled, then packed into caramel-tasting, block-shaped molds. After touring the vegetable market, the group is lead through the adjoining meat market, where raw beef, pork, and poultry are displayed for sale. This is an open air market without refrigeration, which is a far cry from your local grocery meat department.

At 7am, the group leaves for the Fish Market, about 10 minutes away. The Fish Market is both on and off the beach, with hundreds of fishing boats tethered along the shoreline after bringing in the morning's catch. The fishermen are Javanese, since the Balinese typically do not fish due to their superstitious belief that the seas are haunted by evil spirits. Heinz walks the group through stalls filled with a diverse variety of seafood, including red snapper, mahimahi, mackerel, yellow fin tuna, crabs, lobsters, eels, mussels, clams, butter fish, trigger fish, squid, octopus and marlin. Heinz shows the group how to select and choose the freshest seafood, based on odor, texture, and looking at the eyes. There is not much refrigeration nor ice available, so the seafood quality deteriorates rapidly. This explains why the more inland you travel you find that seafood is not a large part of the Balinese diet.

Arriving at the cooking class, you enjoy a delicious, refreshing breakfast made of fresh fruits and rice cakes. Rice is considered "soul food", and "nasi" (the word for cooked rice), means "meal", and is the staple food for Balinese. Since black, white, red and yellow are sacred colors in Bali, with each symbolizing a specific manifestation of God, reddish-brown and black sticky rice are grown along with the dominant white rice. By adding Turmeric to white rice, yellow rice is served during ceremonies and special occasions. Dewi Sri is the Rice Goddess and personifies the "life force", so she is the most worshipped of the Balinese gods.

The cooking class menu contains 26 entrees, which is an overwhelming number of foods for all but the most enthusiastic "foodies" to tackle in a single 5-hour session. The key to making so many dishes is to first create the spice pastes from the raw spices, herbs, roots, and vegetables gathered at the market. These are ground into a mortar with a pestle and are made into a "Base be Pasih" (Spice Paste for Seafood), a "Base Be Sampi" (Spice Paste for Beef), and a "Base be Siap" (Spice Paste for Chicken). The Bumbu Bali kitchen has both an outdoor cooking area with modern ranges as well as an indoor kitchen complete with commercial refrigeration and cooking equipment. Everything is ultra-clean and well-maintained.

Once the pastes are made, the entrees are prepared and cooked, with most of them using the appropriate spice paste. The entrees include Chicken, Beef, and Fish Satays, Braised Beef In Coconut Milk, Grilled Fish in Banana Leaf, Tuna Fish Salad, Shredded Chicken Salad with Jackfruit, Gado Gado, and other dishes. The cooking class is a fun, hands-on adventure with everyone pitching in to assist from stirring the pot to finding, measuring and adding ingredients to the mixture. When the cooking's done, the participants are treated to an elaborate feast of all the cooked foods spread out on a banquet table.

During the cooking class, we were given a preview of Heinz' 2nd book, "Bali Unveiled", which was a proof copy. This book contains fantastic photos taken by Heinz, as well as more Balinese recipes, and is chockfull of intriguing information about authentic Balinese cuisine. Heinz tells us that this book is written based on his own personal experience, whereas his first book was based on what people were telling him. It is a book written from the heart and soul of a man who has embraced Bali as his home and who has committed his life to identifying and promoting authentic Balinese cuisine. It is an honor and a privilege to associate with a culinary advocate and champion the likes of Heinz Von Holzen, who has put Bali on the global culinary map. Heinz will be visiting Guam later in August for a Balinese food promotion to be held at the Outrigger.

For more information about the food of Bali and the Bumbu Bali Restaurant and Cooking School, visit their website at BaliFoods.com.

Salamat!

Adventures in Bali Part II

Adventures in Bali Part III

Adventures in Bali Part IV

Adventures in Bali Part V

Adventures in Bali Part VI

Adventures in Bali Part VII