Chandi Restaurant Review

Chandi Restaurant Review

The Walking Critic | Seminyak, Bali | April 2024

There’s a cluster of restaurants that dominate the left-hand side of the road as you walk from Seminyak Square towards Bintang Market. And Chandi restaurant is one. With so many options lining the pavement, you could blink and keep on

There’s a cluster of restaurants that dominate the left-hand side of the road as you walk from Seminyak Square towards Bintang Market. And Chandi restaurant is one. With so many options lining the pavement, you could blink and keep on walking without so much as a cursory glance sideways. Such was the case with me and not just on this one unplanned trip, but on so many other occasions over the years.

And thus it was, one early afternoon of aimless wandering, that I drew a line in the sand and said to myself, “Enough is enough.” I dug my heels in and walked in for a late lunch.

Chandi was empty and pristine when I walked up the steps. No one was there at 2pm. When I breached the gap between the bar top stools, to my left and right, a solitary row of empty tables exuded a feeling of haute cuisine, with their white linen cloths. Yet once inside, there was no such grandeur. Rows of naked four-top tables were clothless and exposed, more in keeping with a modern café than fine dining. A huge bar dominated the right-hand wall, with rows of glasses and bottles. A massive wooden wall carving loomed above.

With the sun beating down outside and not a customer in sight, I sought the cooler confines of the airconditioned interior and ordered a customary cold Bintang beer.

The Chandi lunch menu offers a wonderful slice of Pan Asian cuisine with an obvious Indonesian bias. A great range of starters lead with the Crisp Curry Coconut and Black Pepper Pork Dumplings. Or may be Thai food is your bent. Try the Chicken Green Coconut Soup. 

For me, the Seared Sesame Tuna Noodles with asparagus, egg noodles, cilantro black seasame and fresh chives was filled with flavour and a total winner. I wolfed it down, wishing (like with many Balinese restaurants) that the portion was bigger. I could have eaten twice that size! Mind you, at IDR 110,000 a bowl (approximately AUD $11 a an order) beggards can't be choosers.

Chandi offers a lot of great menu items and now I am kicking myself for not coming here before. May be out of laziness or habit, I had sidestepped this joint in favour of other restaurants very close by. But now, with authority, I can honestly say that Chandi is better than its neighbours. I will not forget and as Arnold once said, "I'll be back!"