Trying to stick to a Keto diet in Bali or any South East Asian country can be pretty difficult! We all know rice and noodles are the staples and make up the majority of local dishes.
If you’re travelling to Bali soon and want to try to stick to Keto or get back on track, I’ve got some great Keto restaurants, cafes and tips for you.
On a recent trip to escape Melbourne’s cold and rainy winter, I spent the first two weeks eating my way through all the carbs, with daily non-keto favourites being Mie Goreng and Nasi Goreng. Photo warning, not Keto!
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We all know that feeling from eating too many carbs though – bloat, lethargy, water retention, foggy brain! But it was losing 5 days of my holiday to food poisoning that tipped me over the edge, and it was time to go Keto in Bali.
My final destination of the trip was Canggu so the reviews below are focused on Canggu. This town is definitely the ‘it’ place to be in Bali at time of writing and has a great healthy focus, so it was relatively easy to find Keto options.
It did mean sticking mostly with Western foods though!
If you’ve been to Bali or Canggu and have some Keto options to add, comment below to help others or email me and I can include them in this Keto Bali list!
In my review of Eating Keto in Bali, below you’ll find:
- Bali Keto restaurant and Keto Cafe reviews and what I ate
- General tips for eating Keto in Bali
- Balinese dishes that can be adjusted to Keto
So let’s get into it!
Bali Keto restaurant and Keto Cafe reviews
Bali Keto Cafe Option – Ecosfera
Delicious and fresh Western Breakfasts & great coffee
I went to Ecosfera for a yoga class (stunning by the way, great instructor) and popped down to their cafe, for breakfast. It was a pretty standard western breakfast cafe menu. I had the vegetarian omelette and iced long black.
The omelette was delicious, with a zesty and creamy sauce around the edges and big pile of greens on top. It was one of the better omelettes I’ve had in a long time, and I went back the next day!
I tried the meat omelette the next day – I preferred the veg though.
Bali Keto Restaurant – Low Cal Cheatery
Creative dishes, macros listed and helping the community!
My favourite Keto restaurant in Canggu! They had quite a few different Keto options and also Paleo and low calorie, plus all the macros were listed for each dish.
Win! I had the zucchini lasagna after a lovely beach day, and it was just what I needed. It was in a creamy sauce, a little watery of course because of the zucchini but YUM. Great flavours throughout.
It also came with a side salad with a tasty avocado lime dressing. The restaurant supports locals who are deaf, and you can learn a few signs to learn to communicate with some of the deaf staff.
If you go definitely do this as you can see they really appreciate it!
Bali Keto Restaurant Option: Smoke Grill Master & Barbeque
Delicious American style BBQ, smoked meats and build your own platters
On the more expensive end as far as Bali restaurants go, this Western style BBQ restaurant offered some delicious options and was easy to make Keto if you dodged the sugary BBQ sauce.
It has a great atmosphere with outdoor bench seating and lounges and a fire pit, and you can watch the meat getting smoked.
I came here twice – first night I had the ‘make your own’ meat platter with pork, brisket, Asian slaw and pickles. It came with sourdough and a sweet bbq sauce which I set aside to keep in Ketosis.
The meat was DELICIOUS, best brisket I’ve ever had. I ordered pork belly and got pulled pork but it was still delicious and beautifully cooked
On the second night, I had been craving some pork (which usually happens when I get back into Ketosis after a break!) So I ordered the pork chop, served with cauliflower purée and confit fennel.
It was surrounded in a paprika oil. YUM, very filling. As always eating Keto at a restaurant can be a little tricky as you don’ know what’s loaded with sugar, but everything tasted pretty safe.
(Check out my Melbourne Keto Cafe and restaurants list here if you’re from Melbourne!)
Bali Keto Restaurant Option: Keto & Ko
Keto PASTA, quick service and tasty sauces!
A little far from my accommodation (20 mins walk, or 5 minutes by scooter or taxi), but this Bali Keto restaurant was worth the hike.
With a menu of delicious sounding pastas, and just a few dollars extra to make them Keto, I had to make the trip.
I was sad to see no entrees available (I love entrees…), even some garlic prawns or something similar would’ve been great. I thought I’d have a salad, but only Greek salad was available which I’m a bit tired of.
The redeeming quality of the lack of options on the Keto menu was their wine special, which was 2 glasses for 120k (about $12AUD)
I ordered the bolognese with keto pasta. It was a small serve, but once I got started I realised that was a good thing, because Keto pasta is heavy and you don’t need a lot of it! The pasta texture was brittle and quite dense, almost like a dry gnocchi dough but lacked much flavour or seasoning.
I think it’s a dry fat head dough they’re using and cutting into strips to make the pasta. The bolognese sauce was beautiful and full of flavour, but the blandness of the Keto pasta took over – probably some salt in the dough and a little more oil/ fat would’ve brought it together.
They also do free delivery throughout Canggu but I’m skeptical how well the Keto pasta would travel.
Keto Bali Cafe Option: Motion cafe
This place looks amazing – meal plans, macros, nutritionists etc etc! Perfect for a true Bali health retreat, but not Bali prices for sure.
I ordered from this Keto cafe for delivery which was easily done through Whatsapp and arrived in 30 minutes. I stocked up on a few Keto essentials that lasted me the next few days. Here’s what I ordered
- Keto Ham & zucchini muffin – delicious! Came with a chimichurri oil and avocado tomato salsa. Moist and flavoursome, kept well out of the fridge. I did wonder if maybe it was my Keto Ham and Zucchini Muffin recipe with some tweaks? It sure tasted like it!
- Keto Choco waffle – nice but very dense and dry, heavy on the coconut floor taste and texture. The pears and cream cheese frosting were nice, but the sweetener after taste was a little strong (this is why I used Xylitol for baking!)
- Vegan Keto Bar – delicious, dense, nutty. Not too strong in any particular flavour. I had it for a beach lunch one day and it was perfect, big enough that it got me through until dinner!
- Keto Bounty Ball – yummy, very coco nutty and generous portion size
- Vegan Keto Bar – delicious, dense, nutty. Not too strong in any particular flavour. I had it for a beach lunch one day and it was perfect, big enough that it got me through until dinner! (photo 9)
- Keto Bounty Ball – yummy, very coco nutty and generous portion size (photo 10)
Overall, good quality, well presented and packaged. On the expensive side for Bali Keto options (all of the above was about $28AUD), but worth it to have Keto goods on hand.
General tips for eating Keto in Bali
It can be tricky to eat Keto in Bali, below are a few general tips I found helpful during my Keto Bali health kick!
Most importantly though – remember you’re on holiday! I spent two weeks off Keto, bloated and tired from enjoying all the Balinese foods, then went back onto keto for the final leg of my trip.
I got home no heavier or lighter than when I left, but with a big smile on my face and lots of happy memories – that’s more important than 2 weeks of stressing about carb counts.
- Samadi supermarket in Canggu were stocking a keto bread. Ingredients were the same as my Keto Seed Bread, but it cost ~$21AUD 😯
- Most convenience stores stock roasted almonds but they are expensive, around $3-$4AUD for a small serve. If you see them cheaper grab a big bag and take little servings with you when out for walks, tours or down the beach.
- Don’t sweat a few extra calories or carbs here or there. If you’re really determined to stick to Keto, just do your best but don’t beat yourself up if something tastes a bit sweeter than you expected. If you keep active, even walking and swimming, you’ll likely burn the extra carbs anyway!
- I found many traditional Balinese restaurants were less willing to adjust meals to suit you, whereas Western style restaurants were more accommodating to food tolerances and preferences.
- Generally the more western an area, the easier it was to eat Keto. I spent a few days on Gili Trawangan, a remote island with limited shops and restaurants. Much harder to eat Keto here, but breakfast was always Western so I could load up on eggs, bacon and coffee and generally be fine until dinner!
- In my last week, eating Keto in Bali was actually really helpful because I needed less food – often a big breakfast would carry me through to dinner. It meant one less meal to think about and instead I could be out adventuring with a bottle of water and some almonds and feel fine!
- Black coffee is my best friend in Bali – you can get it pretty much anywhere, its transportable in a thermos and can close a gap of hunger when all you have is rice around you.
Balinese dishes that can be adjusted to Keto
Make sure you enjoy some Balinese food too, don’t just eat Western meals! After eating western meals for two days in a row, I was craving some of the delicious flavours famous to Indonesian food.
Here’s a few Balinese meals I found easy enough to be Keto:
- Gado Gado – a big plate of veggies covered in peanut satay sauce and topped with boiled eggs. Usually some sugar in the sauce, but it’s still well balanced with all the vegetables and eggs. Often can be served with tempeh or tofu as well, which are great sources of low carb Keto protein.
- Babi Guling – the famous roast pork belly, hold the rice and go light on the sauce. Best eaten earlier in the day when it’s freshest, as they cook it in the morning then it sits there all day. Go to highly reviewed/trafficed shop fronts if you want to avoid Bali Belly!
- Ayam Sate – Satay chicken! Some sauces are going to be higher in sugar, but I found most of them weren’t too sweet. I’d just scrape some of the sauce off if it tasted too sweet.
- Any roast or stir fry chicken, pork or beef is usually pretty safe! Serve with a side of whatever sauteed veg they have on offer
- Seafood 😀
I also found this article How to manage a Ketogenic Diet when you live in Indonesia quite helpful!
If you head to Bali and eat Keto, let me know how you go!
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Not sure how to start Keto?
Here’s some resources to help you!
- What is Keto?
- What Can I eat on Keto?
- How Much Should I Eat on Keto?
- What To Expect On Keto
- Ketogenic 21 Day Meal Plans
- Preparing for the Ketogenic Diet EBook
- Understanding Net Carbs and Total Carbs
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Monday 22nd of May 2023
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