This September, Beachwalk Kuta, the upmarket shopping mall here in Bali is holding an event called Gourmet Safari. As the title suggested, the event is all about food, food, food, and food. Apparently they have cooking demos, cooking competitions, drink tasting (coffee and wines), and also food bazaar. Too bad I only found about this event last weekend, but somehow I feel lucky because by the time I knew about this event, the most interesting thing (for me) was not even done yet!

Yup, it was the food bazaar that caught my immediate attention from the ads I saw in Beachwalk’s website.

Who doesn’t love bazaar? I personally LOVE bazaar. And this time, it was all about food. This was my first time doing this in Bali so I was very excited, especially because I expected there would be so many  varieties I could find.
I went there around 1pm, the traffic was bad because it was Sunday and that’s what I hate so much about Beachwalk. But well, anything for the food bazaar. LOL
This sign near the entrance: we were on the right track!
When we got into the first level of the mall, we could see the crowds and lines of stalls/booths around. The first thing that attracted my attention was this stall serving Italian cuisines. Why is that? Because they displayed a basket full of mouth-watering fresh breads and they just looked so tempting. 
Great looking breads
This stall is from BENE, Italian restaurant from Sheraton Bali Kuta Resort, which is located just beside Beachwalk. I saw some of the menus written on the blackboard behind the chefs, and the prices were not that expensive (starting from IDR 45.000), but again, this was presented in a bazaar so all the prices were cheaper than actual ones. I didn’t try anything from this stall, because my eyes were already gone to the opposite way, which served cremino.
The Original Italian Cremino

The gigantic log-alike chocolate caught my attention completely!

So what is cremino, actually? After struggling to find a decent information about it in Google, I finally found that a cremino is actually a thin soft hazelnut and almond layer “sandwiched” between two layers of milk chocolate. And they don’t usually come in that log-alike shape, but only small ones like regular mouth-sized chocolate candies.

Classic Cremino

In this stall, they served the cremino inside a crepe, and called it Choko Kebab. I was thinking how they were gonna take the cremino and put into my crepe, that was when one of the waitresses started “carving” the cremino log with a peeler! I was so surprised although I have to admit I was kinda disgusted, a bit. Don’t ask me why.

Choko Kebab – the cremino crepe – IDR 20.000
It didn’t take long to prepare, and my first bite… I LOVED IT!! The chocolate was very rich in taste, combined with the hints of hazelnut, it was very yummy. I didn’t really get the almond taste, though. It tasted somewhat like one of my favorite chocolate spreads from Nutella, so I definitely loved it.
Next stall was from Le Meridien Jimbaran Hotel, which I missed because I didn’t see anything interesting beside a table of poor presentation (too many things going on). Mr. K managed to snap some photos, though. In the second thought, it would have been better if I tried something from that stall…

We then stopped by the Massimo Gelato, and I bought Pink Bubble. For people in Bali, maybe this is no new thing, as Massimo gelato has been claimed by many as the best gelato you can find in Bali. All their gelato are homemade, and extremely cheap too (only IDR 20.000 for original gelato, who can resist that?!). I have yet to try their Italian cuisine in the restaurant, but definitely will do in near future.
Fresh Homemade Gelato only by Massimo

Pink Bubble, sweet and satisfying! – IDR 20.000
There were also some (already) famous names like Tony Roma’s, Burger King, Nanny’s Pavillon, Domino’s Pizza, Luna Negra and Kitchenette; which also had stalls. I admit I skipped all those stalls because the purpose going to this bazaar for me was to explore new stuffs. I was aware that throughout this Gourmet Safari event, the Beachwalk also has special promotion for the cafes and restaurants there.
There was also a stall called Paradice Ice Cream Sandwich, which, of course, sells ice cream sandwiches. I decided to try the durian one because I and Mr. K are just simply durian maniacs, LOL
Paradice stall – we were so glad we found you!
Durian Ice Cream Sandwich – IDR 15.000
The sandwich are actually thin wafers, which were so nice and crispy, and the durian ice cream was fantabulously delicious! I loved it to death. And Bali is so hot that an ice cream always seems like a necessity in your life, haha!
We also tried the meatballs from the stall BUKA BAJU (means “take clothes off” in English), which is actually abbreviations of Gubuk Makan Bakso Keju; literally translated as Cheese Meatballs Food Stall. 

Basket of cooked cheese meatballs ready to serve.

One word: YUM! – IDR 15.000 (5 balls)
I ordered this just out of curiosity, but BOY, I was surprised of how good it was! I chose the pack of 5, and we could also have it mixed – chicken and beef. The meatballs were fresh, the cheese melted perfectly and tasted so good. I couldn’t try the fried ones because they were out of stock already. I could see many curious faces around the stall and I also saw some people actually came back and made another order. Yep, it was THAT good.

The last stall that we were interested in was a Chinese & Thai cuisine stall: Bho Bho Thai. I was particularly interested on the Thai Milk Tea (Cha Nom Yen) and the Green Tea with Milk that they put in the advertisement on the table. It just hit me that time that not many stalls provided drinks so many customers actually stopped by this stall only for drinks. Smart move.

When I saw the mango salads on display, I asked whether they also had som tum (papaya salad), and in fact, they also had it. As I was really craving for some, I ordered one portion and it was only IDR 12.000! I saw the mango salads though and hoped that my papaya salad wouldn’t be that little in portion..
Mango Salad

Thai Ice Milk Tea – IDR 10.000

Green Tea with Milk – IDR 10.000
The drinks were okay, but since I’ve been making Thai tea myself at home, my expectation already becomes so high, right? Those were acceptable, though, especially because they were so refreshing for that kind of hot day.
After a while, my som tum was ready, and it looked so appetizing! I requested mine to be very spicy, and it was indeed, very spicy. I ate until I had tears in my eyes, literally. It was good, but a bit too salty for me. Mr. K said that when he saw the owner making it, it seems like she put more fish sauce into it, that was what made it saltier than regular som tum. Nevertheless, it was still very nice to be able to eat this again!
Thai Som Tum (Green Papaya Salad) – IDR 12.000
The bazaar was held only for one day, that makes you kind of curious, doesn’t it? I really had no idea whatsoever about what I would experience there, but honestly, in the end I wasn’t really impressed. Yes, I was satisfied because I got to try many nice stuffs with such cheap prices, but still. If I imagine “bazaar”, I expect something more colorful than this event. There were only 16 tenants in the bazaar, and almost half of them have their stores in Beachwalk, I kinda felt cheated, was this a hidden promotion or what?
Well, anyway.
When we went to the upper level, we found this cute little churros stall which looks like Indonesian bajaj.
La Fonda Churros stall

This is where they prepare the churros 

Neat!

Yummy pack of freshly-fried churros!
The churros came in pack – 10 sticks for IDR 20.000, a very reasonable price. The churros were thin and crispy, yet soft when you bite, rolled in white or brown sugar (up to your choice), a total heaven. I enjoyed them while sitting in the foyer outside, looking across the lovely views of the nearby hotel. Such a wonderful afternoon. With additional IDR 5.000, you can choose any dipping sauce, from dark/white chocolate, strawberry, blueberry and many others. I chose dark chocolate and completely loved it.
This was not part of the food bazaar and I think you can still enjoy these churros when you visit Beachwalk after September, so don’t miss it!