Ubud is a town on the Indonesian island of Bali. The town is located amongst rice paddies and steep ravines in the island’s central foothills in the Gianyar regency. One of Bali’s major arts and culture centres, it has developed a large tourism industry. The specialty in Ubud is the nasi babi guling (roast suckling pig), which can be found all over the island. This dish is an all-in-one platter of rice with pork meat, fried pork skin, pig intestines, gizzet, and vegetables and apparently the best place to get it is Warung’s Ibu Oka.
Babi Guling at Ibu Oku is considered a Balinese delicacy for locals and tourists. The food stall has stood there for the past 20 years, serving up what many say is some of the best pork in the world. Half a dozen live pigs are housed at the back of the compound, snuffling, eating, sleeping and generally enjoying life before the pre-dawn kill that will have them cleaned, gutted, stuffed and spitted by 4 a.m., ready for the Warung’s 11 a.m. opening.
For those of you who are curious to what Babi Guling actually is, it is a roast suckling pig packed full of Balinese herbs and spices, such as shallots, garlic, chili, ginger, galangal, turmeric and bay leaves, then roasted over an open fire for at least five hours while continulously being lathered with coconut milk. This is five hours of hot, heavy work for the cooks who rotate, non-stop, the wooden spit by hand, regularly dousing the flames with water to maintain the perfect cooking temperature. Getting the temperature right is an art that has been handed down from generation to generation, the suckling pigs slowly developing that warm golden sheen that makes for the best crackling, the inner meat cooking slowly until it is utterly succulent. Prominent chefs like Jamie Oliver and Anthony Bourdain say this is the best pork in the world.
Ibu Oka learned this art — along with the business — from her parents-in-law 25 years ago. She adds that her in-laws had been preparing Babi Guling for 33 years before she took on the business.
“The family has been making Babi Guling for almost 60 years. Two generations of us. Originally, the business started at the market. I ran it there for the first five years after my parents-in-law died, and then moved the warung to Jl. Suweta 20 years ago,” she said of the business that now involves her whole family.
For pork eaters, this is the mother of all pork dishes. The pork meat is nicely marinated and very tender. The fried pork skin is very crispy and delicious. The atmosphere is very casual, everyone sits on the floor, sharing a long low table while Ibu Oka, the owner of the stall I presume, shaves the tender juicy meat off the pig hanging on the kitchen. Ibu Oka is highly recommended just for the experience of a local food stall, and also for the lovely pork dish.
