Potato Head, Bali

The exterior of Potato Head (as you approach from the road) is really quite amazing (once I got over the shock of having our taxi checked for bombs that is).  The HUGE curved wall completely covered in reclaimed shutters is an impressive sight.  Based on all these wooden shutters I thought the interior would be quite "colonial" in its style (you know, like Raffles in Singapore) but it really is a beach club straight out of The O.C with just a hint of Raffles thrown in for good measure.

Whilst I was enjoying our Warung eating adventures in Bali immensely I thought it might be fun to venture a bit further from our hotel and hit the tourist traps.  Enter Potato Head - a trendy "beach club" full of bikini clad bodies, tanned (and sunburnt) tourists, young people, old people, parents with screaming kids running riot, and people that shouldn't be wearing bikinis...or speedos!  Unlike the beach clubs that the Kardashians probably frequent - everyone seems welcome here.

Now, I certainly do not have a bikini body - my body is more Burka friendly.  To be honest I really felt like a bit of fatty-boom-bah here. That said I wasn't the only flabby, aging Westerner here - I had to The Boy with me (bahahaha)...and we kept our clothes on, stayed away from the pool and got down to the business of lunch.

The first thing we noticed about the menu at this place was that it had NO Indonesian or Balinese food which was a tad (ok very) disappointing for us.  Potato Head also seems to be only frequented by tourists so it doesn't have that "local feel" when you dine at a Warung with an open frontage to the street. And of course the food is more expensive that your Warung meals, but still cheap by Aussie standards - but then isn't everything?  I think all of our food + drinks cost around $50.

We kicked things off with a Bintang (beer) for The Boy and a fancy cocktail for me + a mineral water (cos Bali is HOT).  Because we are boring (fat) farts we ended up both ordering the same (delicious) fish + chips (about $9) that came with a great garlic aolio. Our lovely waiter noticed I'd polished off my aolio in about 2 minutes and offered me a top up.  We finish things off with a scrummy apple crumble (I later tried to explain apple crumble to our maid back at the hotel - she had NO idea what I was talking about. It's obviously not a Balinese delicacy).

All in all our lunch at Potato Head was fun. The food was lovely, service really friendly, decor fun + quirky and the view of the beach of was a nice way to spend an afternoon.  It wasn't the true-blue Bali experience I was expecting (plus too many screaming kids), but it was a fun opportunity to see how "the other half" (you know, rich people) might live, but in an affordable Bali way.

Potato Head is at Jalan Seminyak, Seminyak, Bali. Pack your bikini or your burka. Your choice.