The Lowdown
Restaurant Name: Ibu Oka
Cuisine: Balinese
Average Price per Person: Rp. 40,000 to RP. 100,000 or $4 to $10 USD
Location: Ubud, Bali (please refer to the map below for details)
Recommendations: Nasi + Babi Guling Pisah and Nasi + Babi Guling Spesial – these mixed plates have a little bit of everything so you don’t really need to order anything else.Ratings (out of 5)
Taste: 3.5
Creativity/Authenticity: 5
Atmosphere: 3
Service: 2
Bang for Buck: 5
Crayscale !!!
Bali is notorious for its Babi Guling, a Balinese style whole roasted suckling pig! The entire pig is stuffed with a combination of typical spices used in Indonesian cooking including turmeric, coriander seeds, lemon grass and more. Babi Guling is unique to the island and #veryrare in other parts of Indonesia as the country is a predominately Muslim (consumption of pork is prohibited), whereas the majority of the population in Bali is Hindu.
The hottest Babi Guling spot for both locals and tourists is up in Ubud at a restaurant called Ibu Oka. This joint is pretty legendary and has a reputation of being Bali’s Babi Guling specialist. The restaurant is located in the midst of Ubud’s tourist district right by the Ubud Market. Ibu Oka occupies a huge open space filled with large tables giving off a casual, no-frills kinda vibe. The menu is super simple with a selection of pork, pork, pork and more pork. We ordered one of everything on the menu, because that’s how we roll.
Among the combos were the Pisah and Spesial plates which are mixed plates that combine a little bit of everything (see below for pics). Overall, I wasn’t feelin’ Ibu Oka as much as I thought I would. Don’t get me wrong, the pork was mad flavorful, tender and tasty, but I think I’m just not all that into Balinese suckling pig (Chinese suckling pig FTW!). The pork skin or Kulit was chewy and pretty tough to eat. I normally tend to go for that skin, but I found that the pork meat or Daging was tastier in this instance. The Gorengan or fried mystery meat was actually one of my favorite items on the mixed plates. It was well seasoned, flavorful and had a nice crunchy texture.
Pisah (Rp. 60,000 or $6 USD). The Pisah is a mixed plate consisting Babi Guling skin and meat with a side of rice served with soup.
Spesial (Rp. 40,000 or $4 USD). This plates comes with Babi Guling skin, pork roll, fried meat, sausage, vegetables and rice.
Gorengan (Rp.40,000 or $4 USD). Gorengan are essentially fried pork fritters made with an amalgamation of mystery pig parts and flour. This was surprisingly one of my favorites and reminded me a little bit of popcorn chicken.
Sosis Dipanggang (Rp. 40,000 or $4 USD). I’m not exactly sure what type of sausage this was, but it had a similar taste and texture to blood and liver sausage. My friends weren’t really diggin’ it and thought it was too spicy. I didn’t hate it, but I won’t be missing it either.
Sop Babi (Rp. 10,000 pr $1 USD). I’m assuming this soup was made using pork bones considering it was super flavorful yet light and delicious.
Sayur Labu (Rp. 15,000 or $1.50 USD). Mmm the squash was tender and sweet which tasted delicious with the saltiness of the Babi Guling.
Young coconut!
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Jalan Suweta/Tegal Sari No. 2, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
Having just returned from a relaxing trip to Bali on 1 September. To ensure that all your readers do not be misled further on the horrible taste of the Warung Babi Guling at Ibu Oka, I would strong suggest that you taste the Babi Guling at Ibu Oka yourself before making more comments. The roasted crust of the Babi Guling is so hard that it may even break your mother’s tooth if you chew hard and the rice and meat are so cold. If you think I am not serious, I would be pleased to send you a photo of the set Babi Guling (IDR50,000) and crispy Babi Guling (IDR60,000) with my family before we began eating these very poor quality dishes. Responsible reporting is appreciated for social travellers like me.
Hey Billy, sorry you had a bad experience there! When we went, we had a good meal and certainly one worthy of a TFC write-up. This was a meal paid for wholly by us and our particular positive experience influenced our decision to feature it.
hi billy….. i have been to bali 3 times now and i will also say that the food quality has gone down each year i have been back…. 2012 was grate and i when there 6 times in 5 days 3 times was for tack away as we travled for surfing…but then the next trip …. 2014…. not so good…. 2015…. i will not be going back there… there is a lot of” wow “about this place but there are 1000’s of stalls in bali…. and this place is only for tourists to try….. try and go to the small stalls that are out of town… if you see a small crowed of locles thats the place you whant 🙂