CHAI’BA | INDIA MEETS BALI
Kahala Castillo
Every once in a blue moon, you come across a dining experience that just leaves you speechless. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does.. it’s a moment to savor. Chai’Ba Street Kitchen and Bar was one of those experiences. We weren’t anticipating eating the best Indian food of our lives on a small island in Indonesia, and it caught us off guard. For a restaurant that just opened 9 months ago, they’re getting a lot of well deserved attention.
Chai’Ba brings authentic Indian street food and fusion dishes together to please a wide range of palettes. The extensive menu of North and South Asian dishes are prepared simply, with olive oil, organic sea salt and fresh spices. The Thali’s are different every single day, because every morning around 2AM, the kitchen staff heads to the market to see what fresh ingredients are available for the day. Everything is made from scratch and infused with love. They even make their own paneer in house.
We had so many vegetarian and vegan dishes to choose from, we didn’t know where to begin! But we ended up starting with one of their fresh smoothies called The Pump, a creamy coconut concoction, and the Pumpkin Zoodle salad that was a very unique dish made with zucchini noodles, fresh and delicious. We also ordered the Samosas, which is one my favorite Indian classics and it blew us away!
Onto our main dishes. Truthfully, it was hard to narrow it down, but having too many vegetarian and vegan dishes to choose from at a restaurant is a welcome change. We knew we had to try the Vegetarian Thali, a dish I’ve tried many times at Indian restaurants, but this was one for the books. There were dishes on the Thali I had never tried before in my life. The natural smokiness on the Vegetable Skewers from their clay oven was unbelievable. The flavors of the Aloo Gobi and Baigan Barta were perfection. The flavor of the food just speaks for itself here, it’s something you have to experience for yourself to really understand.
We want to thank the chef, Kuldeep Singh, for creating an unforgettable meal for us, and to the owner for having us over to experience the magic of Chai’Ba. We can’t wait to come back to Bali and see the great things that are to come for this business.
Much love,
Patrick & Kahala