A Jamaican in Paradise

Wandering through Ubud, you come across interesting people and places. Michele owns JamBali, an authentic Jamaican restaurant. Originally from Kingston, Jamaica, she moved to Washington, DC in 1992. She eventually wound up as an executive chef for the Ritz-Carlton. After 8 years there, she searched the world and her soul, trying to find what else there was to keep her in the states. After one of her many trips to Bali, an opportunity for a restaurant in the town of Penestanan, not far from our current little domicile. We had passed by there many times, intrigued as to how a Jamaican restaurant does in Bali. One night after Laura and I watched a Balinese dance, we stopped in for some jerked goodness. Michele was at the front door welcoming us in. We had chatted with her a week earlier and she remembered us. We started with a welcome "amuse bouche" of a deep fried rice ball with a horseradish sauce (yummy deep fried goodness), and the best crab cakes this side of....anywhere! They were divine! I am not a big fan of crab cakes, but I could eat these all day. Their texture and flavour was perfect. For our main course, Laura opted for a vegetarian dish comprising of breaded tofu and pineapple chutney on a bed of Jamaican dirty rice. As a side, there was sweet potato mash and pickled vegetables. I had jerked chicken on white rice with sweet potato and pickled vegetables as well. We opted for homemade ginger limeys for our beverages because, sadly, there were no Red Stripe beers available on the Island. The good news is Michele has sourced a Red Stripe distributor through Australia, so hopefully by the time you come to visit her, you can have the full Jamacian experience (minus the ganga of course!). The main courses were a tad on the higher priced side of food in Bali, at 8.5k IDR (or 8.50 CAD) per entree, but well worth it when your palate is tired of Indonesian flavours.

We finished it off with an Icey (shaved ice with flavour) to cool the palate from the fantastic home made scotch bonnet hot sauce Michele makes in the back.

All in all a fantastic meal and the only real Jamaican restaurant you can find in Ubud!