THE Uma Bali has been around since 2009, and each time I have eaten there since has been memorable. Recently I was drawn to its Facebook post about its takeaway meals.

Each “paket” meal, from A to F, is for four servings and includes three main meat dishes, four side dishes and four portions of rice.

Paket F is pork-free, with Pesan Be Pasih or baked seabass, kambing mekuah or Balinese lamb curry and Be Siap Mepanggang or Balinese grilled chicken as its three main courses.

Any one of its set meals is a feast, going by its pictures posted on Facebook. When we opened up our “Paket A” lunch, there were grilled pork ribs, fish and pork satay, grilled chicken and a large portion of Balinese lamb curry.

The side dishes were pork sausage, eggs with sambal, spiced potato fries, fried cabbage and spinach with bean sprouts and grated coconut.

Three sambals came with it: kicap manis with shallots and chilli, dried chilli sambal and one a tart chilli one with lime juice.

For the rice we had a choice of plain white rice, saur – which is white rice mixed with grated coconut and black-eyed peas – or turmeric nasi lemak. Naturally, we chose the last two.

We didn’t know where to start looking at the variety of food on the table. The grilled pork ribs, marinated with cekur, galangal and kicap manis, were caramelised, juicy and tender. They were superb. I had them with the fragrant and lemak yellow rice.

It is rice I could eat on its own, being lightly salted. The saur rice was made for the yummy Balinese lamb curry comprising boneless lamb cubes slowly stewed in traditional Balinese spices and coconut milk.

We couldn’t get enough of the pork satay – grilled skewered pork belly marinated with tamarind, palm sugar and Balinese spices. They were oozing with flavour, moist and so good eaten on their own without any dipping sauce.

Fish satay on a lemongrass “skewer” is made of minced Spanish mackerel with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and other Balinese herbs. Its texture can’t match that of pork, but every bite releases the scent of lemongrass and other herbs.

The grilled chicken, while well-seasoned and spiced, turned out a little dry. Of the appetisers, my favourite was the Balinese pork sausage. It was peppery and burst with the aroma of the spices and herbs with which the minced meat had been marinated.

The spiced potato fries were thin and crispy and eating them was akin to repeatedly dipping your hand into a bag of popcorn at the cinema. They were that addictive.

The “paket” meals are RM130 each. If you pick up your own takeaway, there is a 20% discount on the menu price. So, our “paket” meal (RM130) that we picked up ourselves cost us just RM104.

There’s a free delivery promo for orders above RM100, covering Petaling Jaya, Damansara, Desa Park City, Kepong, Mont Kiara, Bangsar and Sungai Buloh. The Uma Bali menu can be viewed here.

You can also order from its a la carte menu, dishes such as udang kesuna cekuh (RM37), Balinese grilled pork ribs (RM30), Bebek betutu or steamed duck (RM27) Balinese pork sausage (RM15).

There are individual meals such as Bebek megoreng or crispy fried duck (RM30) or babi kecap manis (RM28), among others.

The Uma Bali has been around for 12 years. The owner, Ho Yau Chan, studied finance in Australia, worked for 10 years in Indonesia and learned Balinese cooking while he was there.

“Balinese food is not sweet like Javanese food,” he said.

“It uses a lot of galangal, cekur, garlic, ginger and turmeric. Dry spices used include coriander, nutmeg and fenugreek. Bebek betutu (steamed duck) is the signature flavour of Balinese cooking.”

The Uma Bali is at 7 Jalan PJU 5/21, The Strand, Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya. Call 018-363-5135, from 11am to 7pm daily. – June 26, 2021.

* Eu Hooi-Khaw has been writing about food for the longest time, covering all aspects, from restaurant reviews to cooking and recipes, as well as the healthy side of it. She has written for major newspapers and magazines, published the cookbook Fresh Ingredients, and also writes for her website hooikhawandsu.com.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.