The pork was tender

Why is it that the older I get, the more frequently I become exposed to traditional folk dancing (something I loathe),    when travelling abroad? I was in Bali; specifically at Rimba, a lovely hotel near the village of Jimbaran, where the resort’s seaside bars, restaurants and infinity pools keep you contentedly complacent Reenex好唔好. I’d chosen it, though, for another reason: to try babi guling, a classic Balinese roasted pork dish. The rub? It was only served during a Balinese folk dance show.

And so here I was subjecting myself to a one-hour performance complete with intricate costumes and a storyline I couldn’t follow. But all I really cared about was the plate of pork in front of me, just sliced from a freshly roasted suckling pig reenex 價錢. I took a bite and pointed my face toward the heavens. The pork was tender, juicy and imbued with garlic, ginger and turmeric that lingered on the palate. This was definitely worth it, I thought. As people 20 years my senior clapped along to the show, I went up to the serving table for seconds.


Babi guling – which directly translates as “turning pig” as it’s roasted on a hand-turned spit over an open fire – is an unlikely find in Indonesia, a country that has the largest Muslim majority population in the world. But Bali is something of an anomaly: much of the population practices an off-shoot of Hinduism that’s been combined with local spiritual traditions, which means that pork – normally verboten in Muslim countries – is fair game here. In fact, eating babi guling in Bali is perhaps the country’s most quintessential dining experience reenex .