Bali Nights Menu

Bali Nights brings the flavours of Indonesia’s best known island to the top of Williamson Avenue, just off Ponsonby Road, and it does so with plenty of colour. The team frames the menu around memories of home: nasi goreng eaten by the poolside, seafood grilled by the beach and nasi campur picked up in the markets. The room glows with neon, the food is spicy and smoky, and the sambal flows freely all day. Bali Nights is halal friendly and Muslim owned, and it shares a team and a love of Indonesian street food with its sister restaurant, Java, on Karangahape Road.

Skewers are a good place to begin, with chicken satay in peanut sauce, lamb skewers and Balinese grilled butterflied prawns. Beef rendang croquettes and Balinese popcorn chicken suit sharing, while corn and vegetable fritters, garlic crackers and balado fries with spicy mayo fill out the table. The larger dishes travel the archipelago: ayam geprek, a crispy smashed fried chicken under fiery sambal geprek, a West Sumatran chicken curry, Balinese fried duck with sayur urap and green sambal ijo, rich beef rendang and grilled beef short ribs. For a centrepiece, ikan bakar Jimbaran is a whole market fish grilled and served with sweet, spicy sambal kecap.

Vegetarians and vegans have real choice, since the menu is dairy free unless marked and clearly labels its vegan and no added gluten dishes. Orek tempe is stir fried tempe and tofu in garlic and sweet soy, sayur urap is a Balinese salad with coconut dressing, sayur pecel is a Javanese salad with peanut dressing, and the vegan rendang is a curry of jackfruit and potato. A diner eating alone can order nasi campur, a plate of jasmine rice surrounded by small portions such as a chicken skewer, sambal chicken, chilli egg, corn fritters and sayur urap, and nasi goreng and mie goreng come in chicken or vegan versions. Groups can share the rijsttafel, the Indo Dutch rice table that feeds two or three.

Four fresh sambals let everyone set their own heat, from mild Javanese balado and green sambal ijo to sweet, spicy kecap and the fiery geprek. Dessert might be martabak manis, an Indonesian pancake with melted chocolate and condensed milk, or pisang goreng, fried banana with ripe jackfruit, coconut flakes and coconut ice cream. It is a BYO restaurant, so guests can bring wine, beer, soju or premixed drinks to enjoy with a main, or try es soda gembira with coco pandan syrup, kopi tubruk with condensed milk, lychee iced tea or Teh Botol, Indonesia’s favourite bottled jasmine tea. A long table seats up to 25, and catering is offered for events, including the celebratory Indonesian tumpeng.

Address: 4 Williamson Avenue, Ponsonby, Auckland 1021

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