A lot of friends told me, if you haven’t tried the Babi Guling Ibu Oka and Bebek Bengil Dirty Duck, you’ve never been to Bali. Therefore, I presume our trip will not be complete without these 2 famous Balinese dishes, although everyone seem to tell me a different stories on the taste.

Apparently, Ibu Oka is the most famous outlet for Babi Guling (roast pork) in Bali. I saw 2 Ibu Oka during our trip. We had our lunch in the outlet in Ubud, which is very much like normal budget food stalls whilst there’s another branch (expensive) we pass by somewhere between Ubud and airport.

We’re already at Babi Guling Ibu Oka branch near Ubud market at 11 am to avoid the crowd, and mostly to avoid dissappointment in case they were sold out. Thanks to that, we are able to choose seats and opt to sit on the floor, under the sheds and eat like a Balinese.

We ordered 2 Special Suckling Pig set consist of a piece of suckling pig, pig skin, a piece of deep fried pork, vegetable and something like pork sausage but with deeper colour that looks like our liver lap cheong.

As most of the people usually order special set, the stall owner have already prepare the sets earlier and once order came, they’ll just pour sauces on them. Pros? Our meal was served very fast almost like no waiting at all. Cons? The meal were pretty cold when served. We, chinese just likes to eat hot/warm food.

Here’s the debate. Do they taste good? I’m afraid the answers is ‘no’ for me. I have always prefer warm food, or specifically warm meat and rice. Unless it’s salad, cold food tends to put me off. The meat was overcooked but still enjoyable thanks to the nice flavorful sauce. The pig skins were extremely chewy, that I gave up on it. The fried pork was so ‘super-fried’ that I could not taste anything except the taste of the batter. As for the stuff that looks like pork sausage, I could not make out whether I like it or not, but I do know it’s very spicy and texture was mushy.

I guess I don’t have to tell you how much was our meal since the first picture says it all. However, Ibu Oka do charge a 10 percent tax.