Lunch at Casa Luna restaurant in Ubud Bali

Ubud has an ever growing list of good places to eat and on of the ones to put on your list is Casa Luna located on Jl. Raya Ubud about 30 meters past Arys Warung on the same side.

At the front of Casa Luna is their bakery counter, Honeymoon Bakery and just behind there is the restaurant. Ika asked me if you have to be on your honeymoon to sit in the Honeymoon Bakery. It is a nice location and the restaurant feels Balinese with hardwood floors, traditional roof and staff in sarongs.

Ika and I ordered a watermelon juice each and then looked at the menu. I had the Healthy Salad along with a fish tostada ( a Mexican dish where ingredients are piled up on a flat tortilla). Ika is still getting used to some of the tricky things westerners put on their menu and asked for ikan bakar (baked fish). The male waiter told her to go to Jimbaran for that. She settled for a tuna, squid, prawn,clam concoction with nasi kuning (yellow rice) that she said tasted lovely. She liked the fact that it was not too spicy or salty and the portion size was just right.

My salad had many different types of greens, tomato, green beans, mint, avocado, feta cheese and a nice Italian type dressing. The tostada was just the ticket too with grilled fish, hummus and plenty of nice salad topping.

While we were there I noticed other tables of people from Europe, Australia and Asia of all ages. This place is kids friendly too and Ika pointed out 2 young kids who were playing at their table.

I finished off with a very nice arak madu. Our bill was 170,000rp. I live on nasi campur most of the time so this was a nice departure.

I reckon for an expat living here with time to kill Casa Luna could be a very pleasant place to stop in the afternoon.

Casa Luna also has branches in Seminyak on Jl. Dhyana Pura next to Warung 96 (there is one in Seminyak!).

Part of the Ubud writers festival involves Casa Luna too and its sister restaurant Indus up near the Neka Museum.

For people wanting a nice little cruise after lunch in Ubud go to Jl. Raya Ubud just to the right of the main temple and turn left. This roads winds through some very scenic rice paddies and has cool little turns, Ika really liked it. We turned off to the right after a couple of miles which took us though another rice paddy area and into the outskirts of the village of Petulu where men and women were busy all along the street making the carvings that you see in the shops in downtown Ubud. I saw one older woman whacking a chisel with a mallet, skillfully carving a stool in the shape of a giant hand. I also saw men with chain saws getting into some of the large road side trees. That is a shame. This road terminated at the north-south Tegalalang road so we took it back towards Denpasar and home. Ika told me that where she is from in Java you do not see large areas of rice paddies and its is nice to see that here. She spotted large patches of kangkung, the spinach-like vegetable all the warungs serve with nasi campur. Kangkung grows wildly and quickly and in Java you can get a bunch for 200rp.

I know that Bali is getting developed but viewed from above most of the development in in a tight little block in the Kuta-Legian-Seminyak area and outside of that its ribbon development along the roads. Do take the opportunity to take an unmarked side street when outside of the Kuta area and most likely you will have good experiences, see more traditional things ( Ika and I saw a group of small boys bathing in the creek adjacent to the roads, splashing around and laughing just like a hundred years ago). You will definitely meet curious and friendly people.