I find it very easy in South East Asia to find good, local food – even a small street stall will often serve tastier food than a restaurant serving those dishes in the US or Europe. But finding good food from abroad is much harder. So we were delighted to find an excellent French-inspired restaurant in Ubud for a romantic evening out. The “Kebun Bistro” was our favorite meal of the trip!

The Kebun Bistro is located at Jalan Hanoman 44, on one of the main roads forming the downtown circle. It has lots of greenery at the street, shading it from the street and offers indoor and outdoor seating. It was a pleasant evening and we selected one of the streetside tables. While there is a lot of traffic during the day, it quiets down at night and was no issue during our meal.
The service was friendly and attentive (which you’ll find at many local restaurants) and also very professional and knowledgeable of the food and wine list – a degree of training you won’t find everywhere!
The dinner menu goes from a number of soups (including a gazpacho and French onion soup) to mains as well as pasta and pizza. We had the proscuitto and spicy rocket salad with mandarin oranges to start – it was fresh and nicely balanced between salty, spicy and fruity! We went on to the duck confit (which was delicious) and the “Really Good Burger” (which was really good!). The Kebun has a long and well put together list of red & white wine and champagne. While they are expensive due to local taxes and duties, if you enjoy wine with your meal, the Kebun is a great place in Ubud to go! We finished the meal with a dessert of raspberry mille-feuille (which was as good as it sounds).
The Kebun Bistro has an equally long cocktail and tapas menu, as well as menus for brunch and lunch – you can check all of them out here. If you are looking for a wonderful evening meal as part of your romantic getaway, Kebun Bistro is a good place to go!