Ibu Oka | Babi Guling Special Request | Bali, Indonesia
A pig is slowly roasted on a pyre of coffee branches for approximately 5 hours early in the morning after being bathed in coconut oil + stuffed with shallots, garlic, galangal, lemongrass, and chiles. The result is a platter of babi guling spesial (approximately $2.50 USD): various pig parts (moist rib + shoulder meat, freshly prepared blood sausage, crispy pieces of skin + fried offal) topped with a liver sauce + leftover stuffings and accompanied by a side of greens + white rice.
So does this joint live up to the hype? Sure, the dish was delicious. The pork is tender, juicy, succulent. The skin has the just the right amount of fat lining. The blood sausage + fried offal were eh, but nice added texture. The liver sauce was perhaps a bit too sweet, but fine if you get it on the side to dip at your preference.
Oh, but this post isn’t about that famous dish. There are only three other items on the menu: babi guling different (essentially babi guling spesial with double the amount for approximately $4 USD), daging babi guling (extra pork for approximately $3 USD), and kulit babi guling (extra skin for approximately $3 USD). I have no problem with simple menus. But as a Pilipina-American who grew up loving lechon + sisig, I was shocked that one of the most renowned places in the world to eat pork had no menu item using the pig head. Come on, the head is the best part of the whole pig! So I decide to ask.
Me: Hello do you sell the head meat?
Waitress: (blank stare) What?
Me: The cheeks, the nose, the ears, the brains, the eyeballs?
Waitress: (blank stare) You want to eat the eyeballs?
Me: Well he does (points to the boyfriend), but I want to eat the other stuff.
Waitress: (blank stare) Let me ask.
She returns in a few minutes, beckons for me to follow her, and leads me to the kitchen station where a new roasted pig with the head still attached has been brought. The butcher chops the head off, begins piecing out the parts I asked about, and eventually hands me my special request of pig face parts. The butcher also throws in bonus clumps of fat lining + face skin (oh yes). Arguably a better deal at $5 USD, this platter came with more skin + meat than if you ordered a regular platter with extra dishes of skin + meat.
We were very happy to eat our special request. As predicted, the cheeks were my favorite part and the eyeballs were Vinh’s favorite part. So much so, that we came back the next day to eat it again before we left Ubud. I will bet that this special request will be on the menu by the end of this year.
-Noreylee
