In Bali's south eastern coast, the town of Nusa Dua is
filled with exotic hotels and resorts with expensive 5* restaurants. There is
however a street of market stalls and cheaper restaurants that serve up some
decent grub for a fraction of the price. We'd decided that this night was going
to be a seafood feast seeing as we were by the coast! Walking up the street, we
heard live music coming out of this restaurant. Peeking in, the tables were
filled, with the diners looking pretty happy, so we decided that this would be
the place. The Prada restaurant on Jl Pantai Mengiat.
Looking at the menu, things got rather confusing! It was a
fairly large menu with lots of options, and if your eyes are bigger than your
stomach (like in my case), then you can see the problem! Finally decided, the
calamari for starters, crab in chilli sauce and seafood in black pepper sauce
for the mains.
The calamari was delicious. Perfectly coated with
breadcrumbs, and fried golden brown. Cooked well enough to ensure the meat
didn't go stringy. The tartar sauce which accompanied it was spot on. Good,
easy little starter that. (There was meant to be a picture of the calamari, but before I could get my camera out, the calamari had been attacked by my girlfriend's claws!)
When we ordered the crab, we assumed we were going to get
one crab in chilli sauce. Instead, there was 3 of them tasty little guys
sitting on the plate! The sauce was nice and spicy and the crab was sweet and
fresh. It was a bit of hard work getting the meat out of the crab, but that's
the beauty of it. It was totally worth the effort!
The seafood dish looked like a bit a sizzler of mixed
seafood. That was not the case. In fact, it was stir fried mix of seafood
(prawns, squid, fish etc) in a perfectly balance black pepper sauce. The sauce
was the kicker of this dish. It was sweet, yet spicy at the same time. The
black pepper was prominent, but not overpowering. The seafood was tender and
well cooked. It was absolutely delicious!
With a bottle of beer, a glass of wine and some decent live
acoustic music, this place was a bit of a gem. Adding to it, when we danced to
one of the songs, the waiter came over with a complimentary jug of Arak
(a type of local vodka) and proceeded to get us happier!
And all in, the evening cost us US$35! Goes to show, in
a place with high end restaurants and resorts, it's not too difficult to find
good eats that won't cost an arm and a leg!
