As I mentioned in my article about Nusantara Restaurant, there are gobs of restaurants to choose from in Ubud. This village has turned into a massive tourist destination with so many options for restaurants, shopping, wellness, activities, and places to stay. It’s tough to choose just one or two places to check out here, but I chose Hujan Locale due to its focus on Indonesian food, and tapas-style menu, so that you can try a whole bunch of things. Turns out, this restaurant ended up one of Noah’s favorites on the trip!

The restaurant itself is on two levels, and the main dining area is upstairs. Downstairs has more of a bar-like atmosphere, but the decor is cool and comfy. The upstairs dining area is basically open air, but they have lots of fans so there’s good air movement up here. Ubud can get a bit stifling in the evenings, so the air circulation is super important!

Service here was pretty good, and quite attentive – which it needed to be when you’re ordering only a few plates at a time. We were here for a few hours, and only had to wait once or twice for someone to assist – which is pretty impressive considering how busy the restaurant got as the evening wore on. The drinks here were cute and super refreshing as well as innovative. I do love the dehydrated citrus that everyone is putting in drinks as a garnish these days – they are a good vehicle for a bit of spice and aroma, and look pretty too.

I ordered so. many. things. at this restaurant. We wanted to try a wide range of stuff, and we were all hungry after touring all day and shopping in Ubud in the afternoon. First, I ordered a bunch of dumplings. The fried chicken & pork, which were like crab rangoons, only better. We also had lobster dumplings! Yum!

Next up, I thought it was important to have some veggies, so I ordered Jagung Bakar, which was this amazingly flavorful grilled corn dish, sort of like elote, as well as Oseng Oseng, which was smoked fish with papaya flower, ferntip and banana blossom. Brian and Noah also wanted the scallop ceviche with coconut which was served in shell – I love it when they do that!

Next up was Chicken Martabak, which was this incredibly tender chicken, kind of minced up with a bunch of spices and fried in a very thin, light shell. So yummy, and incredibly filling. This may have been my favorite dish of the night, but it is tough to choose just one favorite at a place like this!

Finally, for the rest of the meats, I ordered Slow Cooked Beef Rendang as well as Cumi Cumi Kalio which is shrimp stuffed calamari as well as an order of Balinese rice. These dishes didn’t look super pretty but definitely packed a flavorful punch!

As if this wasn’t enough, we also wanted to try the desserts, which all sounded so incredibly good. We ordered Salted Caramel Popcorn Ice Cream and Ginger Lemongrass Creme Brulee. Both were plated beautifully with a lot of attention to detail (as were all of the dishes here), and were so flavorful and delicious. I thought the Creme Brulee was particularly good and even palate cleansing for a custard. Ginger and lemongrass are extremely widely used ingredients here in Bali, and it was cool to see them featured in a dessert.

There were probably about 20 or so other dishes on this menu that we didn’t try – this menu is extremely diverse and you can really go nuts here with a large group. The dishes that we did try were definitely not as spicy as what we had at Nusantara, though there was still plenty of heat and flavor. We loved Hujan Locale, and it’s right in the heart of Ubud, so definitely give it a try!