Romeo’s Bar & Grillery

Fronting onto busy Padma Utara, Romeo’s is a rustic lounge-style café where you’ll feel right at home thanks to the comfy furnishings and tasty fare.
Open bright and early for the breakfast shift from 7-11am, and going right on through lunch to dinner and beyond with nightly live music from 7pm (except Sunday and Monday), Romeo’s Bar & Grillery suits the mood at any time of the day. Textured wood with industrial exposed metal, thrift-shop ornaments and framed vintage liquor posters create a stylish interior all the way from the tables out back to the high stools at the bar and front terrace. On the food front, a refined menu featuring Western favourites like pasta and pizzas also has space for a few Indonesian classics, but the main drawcard is the grill section, which offers up a hearty selection of meat and fish for the carnivorously inclined.
Keeping things old-fashioned, we start with a starter – in this case a plate of the sublime Cured Tasmanian Salmon (70k++), drizzled with yuzu dressing, crunchy apple bits, and for a bit of a local touch, a few kemangi leaves. Next up for the mains, we opt for a couple of the Romeo’s Bar & Grillery house specials – namely the Pork Ribs (125k++), and the Barramundi (135k++). Grilled to perfection and served on a creamy mash and a raisin & pine nut sauce, the tender white fish is only just pipped to the post by the 300g of meaty ribs, slathered in tangy whiskey peppercorn sauce and literally falling off the bone. We wind things up with another signature – this time the classic Chocolate Soufflé (55k++), its gooey warm fondant centre mingling with the soft vanilla ice-cream making sure we leave on a sweet note.
Anyone who fancies learning a few kitchen tips can sign up for their full-day cooking class, where you get to check out Denpasar’s busiest traditional market, before returning to whip up an ever changing selection of traditional Indonesian dishes under the expert tutelage of the Balinese chef. If sports are more your thing, then you can either watch on one of the three big screens, or join in Romeo’s regular Beer Pong nights. As if you’d need any further enticing here, Romeo’s knocks out a pretty awesome lunch special between 12-5pm, with a huge 15% off lunch menu items like steak sandwiches and burritos. Hot on its heels comes a happy hour between 5-7pm, where SabaBay wine, Bintang beer and selected cocktails are all buy-one-get-one-free.
So if you’re after fine, stylish dining in a casual café restaurant with great value, you’re bound to fall for Romeo’s. Dan Ashcroft


ROMEO’S BAR & GRILLERY
Jl. Padma Utara, Legian
T. 755 225 | www.romeosbali.com