n Bo & Bun Restaurant, Seminyak, Bali
Not wandering too far from the villa we chose a restaurant for our Christmas dinner. How did we choose it? We walked past it, it looked cool, we looked on TripAdvisor and it rated good. BUT there was no room at the Inn (yes it’s Christmas), according to Chope. So I researched further and booked us in to Bo & Bun Restaurant, Seminyak, Bali. Funny though as we walked past the other, it was empty and they were trying to drag people in off the street. After our dinner seven people all concurred that we were so happy the other place was ‘full’ because our Christmas dinner will be up there with the best dinners ever.
I kid you not, Bo & Bun Restaurant, Seminyak, Bali, is up there as one of the best restaurants ever visited by family Kennett. The food is of this world, as you will see from the photos below. The staff are absolutely wonderful, albeit a little forgetful when it gets busy, the ambience is incredible, the decor is stunning, but the Christmas music could do with some work AKA a few more songs in the tape loop please. But all in all this place would be give an easy 9 out of 10. It is quality and should be a MUST visit for anyone in Seminyak/Bali. You simply have to.
TripAdvisor rate this as #41 of 473 restaurants in Seminyak. OK, OK I hav not eaten at #1-40, but I would definitely have this placed higher up the leader board. It is seriously some of the very best Vietnamese food I have eaten, both in and out of Vietnam. The presentation was exquisite (I hope my photos do it proud). And the value for money $$ was exceptional. This restaurant is one of three under the Group called Eat Company. Next door is Prin-ci-ple, and they also have Lantern pumping out Indian fare. Stealing from their website now – I LOVE this kind of thing… It’s food passion, and this belief surely came out in what we ate tonight…
“Established in 2014, EAT COMPANY started as a humble idea to create and collaborate personal hospitality and honest food. It is our passion and purpose to consistently harness the two together and create something everyone loves and enjoy”
The act of eating is an intimate, pleasurable, and emotional experience which we aspire to communicate to each of our customers.
When it comes to EATING and HOSPITALITY, we believe in creating a unique and exciting experiences for all our guests. We want to build brands that people will recognized and associated with quality and originality. With this idea in mind, EAT GROUP is continuously finding new way, using the latest technologies and modern techniques, to build and deliver fresh and eclectic concepts to you!
Without further ado, let’s get in to it shall we…
How happy we are and a VERY Happy Christmas to all our family and friends wherever you are across this big wide world. Bring on the food garcon!!!
Another thing just to call out here is that there is no plastic at Bo & Bun Restaurant, Seminyak, Bali, and again I am loving that. Bamboos straws, wooden stirring spoons in the drinks etc. In fact I heard later that it is a massive push across the whole of Bali. Something that stood out again when Mary and I shopped in Ubud. Lady asked me if I would like a bag, I said no let’s save the trees shall we. She then offered me what I thought was a plastic bag, and of course I said that’s even worse to offer me plastic. Imagine my surprise when she said they are not plastic, they are made from Cassava. Amazing. A little digging and I found this MUST watch TED talk from 2 Balinese teenagers – Melati and Isabel Wijsen, on their campaign to remove plastic from Bali. Amaze-balls!!! Humbling!!!
See what I mean. We are sat behind that planter front left. Watching the Seminyak world pass us by this Christmas night. Luckily we did end up booking a table because this place was rammed in 30 minutes of us sitting down. Get on Chope guys if you don’t want to disappoint, believe me you don’t want to miss out on eating here…
Amy and I had the original (this one), and Ollie had the lemon grass version. This is Bo & Bun’s 12 hour Pho. This is without doubt one of the very best ever Pho’s I have eaten. It is quality. Everything is fresh, super fresh. The broth is fragrant on steroids, and the meats are melt in the mouth. That 12 hours surely is a big part of this dish. It is truly the best – if I could bath in it I would have. If we come back, sorry when we come back, this is 1000% on my repeat order list. Bo & Bun – best EVER!!!
But wait there is more. Ollie and I cannot resist a share dish. Here is Bob & Bun’s 18 hour Banh Mi Thit. Yes EIGHTEEN hours. The pork belly in this literally does melt in your mouth, slow roasting for 18 hours will do that to you ha ha. This was off the charts good. A stunner of a Banh Mi, just a stunner. I would eat this again and again and again if I could. Stellar!!! It’s complex too made up of Vietnamese baguette, pork belly slices, pickled carrots & jicama, cucumber, pate, mayo, whole coriander; sliced chili & fried wonton skins. BRING IT ON BO & BUN….
Oh my gosh here comes some ‘kids’ choice dish. Doesn’t look like kid’s food to me. This is their Korean fried chicken wings. Double fried no less, sesame seeds, fresh coriander and some spicy Korean dipping sauce. Whoop Whoop.
Fresh Vietnamese rice paper rolls stuffed with prawn, coriander, mint, cucumber, pickled carrot, lettuce and all served with a hoisin peanut dipping sauce. Oh yes!
Mary gets stuck in to this beauty. Vietnamese pork chop and jasmine rice. I had some of this and believe me folks, this is some of the very best grilled pork I have ever eaten. I love Joe’s Indonesian grilled pork over here in Katong, Singapore, but I tell you this is up there. Quality dish. Look at that charring, OMG heavenly. The pork chop is slow marinated in lemon grass and then grilled to perfection, served with pickled carrots & jicama, fried egg, cucumber, and Nouc Cham dipping sauce.
Shit picture sorry, but BeBe gets deep in to their Thai green curry. Apparently this was also killer. This is packed full of flavours as you’d expect with coconut milk and green chili thick unctuous broth, chicken breast, vegetables, Thai basil, kaffir lime leaves & steamed rice. Kaboom!!!
You know me by now. Desserts are not my gig. BUT here they became my gig. I BS you not, we ordered THREE for sharing. It was something we just had too – and you would/will too. Read on. This one is on steroids; Dark chocolate Marquise with sea salt. Yep those last two words in the same sentence with dark chocolate had me at hello. This chocolate was HIGH % coco so bitter sweet, and then crunch and you get sea salt and then a salt hit on the back of your tongue. Holy shit this is GOOD GOOD GOOD. Then try the strawberry sauce, a little of the ice cream and this biscuit ‘dust’ = double holy shit. We all got stuck in to this one. Interstellar good. OMG!!!
Ollie gets stuck in to Banh Flan, a Vietnamese-French crème caramel of smooth vanilla custard, dark caramel, Vietnamese coffee and crushed ice. You sort of mix it all together DIY-like. Oh yes indeed!!!
Goodness gracious me. Toasted Coconut & Pandan Crème Brulée was a must, come on you know me and creme brulee as my must have dessert if it is on the menu. French baked custard, infused with coconut and pandan leaves, and a double crusted brulée with this biscuit crunch. Holy cow. Amaze-balls. This is seriously a top of the shop creme brulee, no doubt at all in my mind of that. Sorry to nudge in to a Bo & Bun review, but the KING of creme brulee’s is yet to come when we visit a restaurant in Ubud – see blog for Spice. But back to this one, it it surely up there easily with the best of the best. An absolute cracker of a dessert!!!
And the final dessert. Vietnamese coffee Affogato. Coconut ice cream, pour over the Vietnamese drip coffee and dip with the oatmeal cookies. Sweet and savoury all in one hit, what could be better. Looks stunning and tastes the same. Great work Bo & Bun.
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