Ayam Betutu Gilimanuk (Balinese Spicy Braised Chicken)

This was the meal which conquered us. We surrendered and bowed to the king of spicyness....while wiping our sweat and showering our mouth with glasses upon glasses of sweet iced tea.

We totally didn't see it coming. We've been told that Balinese dishes are ssssspicy. However, the tailor-made-for-tourists-watered-down versions we've tried were everything but spicy. So, we were kinda cocky and deemed Balinese food not spicy at all.

We couldn't be more wrong.

Ayam Betutu Gilimanuk (Balinese Spicy Braised Chicken)

We wanted to order the duck, but it wasn't available, so we settled with the chicken. This famous chicken was downright delicious. It was mild at first, the meat was ridiculously tender from the long braising, and the sauce...perfect poured over rice. It involves so many ingredients (shallot, garlic, ginger, turmeric, galangal, lemongrass, pepper, shrimp paste, small green chilli, kaffir lime leaves, salam leaves) which married together so well.

I started to feel the heat half way through my rice. I didn't know that the heat was coming from the chicken, as it looked innocently yellow. I suspected the red chilli paste served on the vegetable, and stopped eating it. I eventually discovered that the culprit was the chicken, but could we stop eating it? Nonono, we continue to get down until the last piece of meat was gone. Yay to us! Even our local Balinese driver, Mr. Made, who recommended this place to us, gave up half way and dashed out for a smoke. That's how hot it was.


The Ares Kuwir (Spicy soup) was great too, but it was kind of shadowed by the greatness of the chicken.


The lawar kuwir (shredded chicken) and gorengan (fried chicken gizzards), gave the meal more texture. I kinda love a bit of oiliness from this dish. Again, perfect with rice.


The intimidating plecing kangkung with sambal terasi (water spinach salad with shrimp paste chilli paste) and sambal matah (I saw shallot, chilli, and garlic in there) turned out just perfect, not too spicy for my tamed tongue...and even if you hate veggie, add all these tasty concoctions, and you'll be converted.


What stopped us from ordering everything from the menu? Ehm, most of them, including the sate lilit which I was dying to try were SOLD OUT!


Watch out for this sign at Jl.Merdeka, Renon, Denpasar and stop by some great cheap (fixed priced, yeehaw! no haggling necessary) souvenir shops after your meal.


The remnants of our hot hot HOT adventure....when we couldn't handle it any longer...