I had busy weeks lately. Plenty of events and some other side jobs simply forced me to pamper myself. I did need a weekend escape and tadaaaa 2 nights stay at the Pandawa All Suite Hotel was the answer for me. As I finished my task on Friday afternoon, I asked Michelle to join me to Pandawa All Suite Hotel.
As we arrived at the hotel, smiley face of the reception guy warmly welcomed us. The fresh welcome drink healed our thirsty throat. Our room was located on the 3rd floor. From our room, we can enjoy the view of local’s rice field with the cows chewing grass and the hotel pool. The room is mezzanine designed; in the first floor is for living room and kitchen, and the 2nd floor is the bedroom. I easily fell in love with the room.
Since we checked in at 7pm, we only drop our carriers in the bedroom and directly went to the hotel restaurant to have dinner. Having Calamari Salad as the appetizer was superb. It’s made from Grill Calamari with watercress lettuce and combined with balsamic dressing. It’s sour and sweet; totally fresh to start the dinner. Michelle and I only need less than 10 minutes to finish our appetizer and yes! We were craving for the main course.
Tenderloin Shallot Gravy Potato Grain was served as our main course. It’s one of the chef signature dishes. The combination between the medium grilled Australian beef tenderloin steak and potato gratin glazed by gravy sauce was pampering our tongue and belly. The steak was very tender and super-duper yummy. The gratin potato was also quickly melted once it touched the tongue. Again, we did enjoy it so much. In the end of our dinner, the chef served us Strawberry Panna cotta for a sweet treated. The bartender also served good cocktails. What a blissful night!
We went back to our room to clean up and get some rest. We have list of activities that should be done tomorrow! zzZZzzzZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzZ
Cycling and Planting Rice
Located in the heart of Umalas-Bali, Pandawa All Suite Hotel offers the affordable luxury experience. This hotel has so many activities to be experienced. On our second day, right after we had a quick breakfast we were enjoying cycling in Umalas area. We passed through the local houses, rice fields and river. When passing the rice fields, we were allowed to plant the rice with local farmer named Mr Agung. He taught us how to plant like a pro. Both of us were excited and realized that we just had a priceless and remarkable moment. We then continued to wash our muddy hands and feet at the nearest river. Arrived at the river, we were faced by the other surprise. The beautiful river with mini waterfall with beautiful trees surrounding became our second stop for the cycling tour. The sound of water flows made me feel peace and calm. It’s a perfect place to do yoga, meditation or just simply relax and chatting with friends and families.
The next route of our cycling tour was the traditional market. We were shown the place where we can get fresh fruits, vegetables and any other daily needs. Unfortunately the activities on the market were not so busy since we arrived late. The busy hour at the market is around 5 AM to 7 AM. We then continued cycling back to the hotel with several of surprises along the road :)
Balinese Cooking Class
Back in the hotel, a wooden table has been set up with Balinese ingredients and cooking tools next to the pool. The Chef was about to teaching us to cook like a Balinese. “Today we are going to cook sayur urap, sate lilit, tum ayam and dadar gulung” said Chef. Sounds yummy and Bali! We were asking to get some spices direct from the herb garden. It’s kind of mini harvest time for us; we took turmeric, ginger, onion, lemongrass and garlic. In the table we already had coconut, spinach, bean sprouts, beans, chili and terasi (shrimp paste). The first thing we did was to make “Bumbu Kuning” – Yellow Condiment. Bumbu Kuning is the famous basic condiment for most of Balinese cuisine. We chopped all spices we took from the garden and mashed them into a soft condiment; a yellow condiment. For Sayur Urap (salad made of boiled veggies mixed with spiced coconut grated), the yellow condiment is mixed with baked coconut grater as a dressing for the boiled veggies.
The second dish we made was sate lilit (sate=satay). This satay is made from minced tuna with coconut grated and yellow condiment. The mixed ingredient then wound around lemon grass stick and grilled on charcoal. While we grilled the satay, we made the third menu – Tum Ayam (minced chicken in banana leaf). Also with the yellow condiment, we mixed the minced chicken and put in the banana leaf and steam it. It’s cool how the same condiment could turn into three different dishes. As the three dishes were done, the main course was ready, yey!
For dessert, we were taught to make Dadar Gulung. We had rice flour, palm sugar, coconut grated and natural food dyes made from Suji Leaf. We mixed rice flour, palm sugar, food dyes with coconut milk until it became a thin green liquid. We heat the pan and pour the green liquid and spread the liquid like the way we made crepes. It will turn into soft crepes which will be filled with paste made from roast coconut grated and palm sugar. It smells tasty and I had my self-drooling during the cooking class.
The reward for our cooking class was having sayur urap, sate lilit, tum ayam and dadar gulung as our lunch J served with nasi sela; rice mixed with sweet potato, our lunch was just perfect!
Chef Signature Dinner
The rest of the days were spent in our room until the dinner was calling. In our second night we will enjoy another chef signature dishes. We have green garden salad with champagne dressing as appetizer; so crunchy and fresh. I felt so freshen up to enjoy the whole dinner. The main course was Pork tenderloin
terrine served with red cabbage ragout and gravy sauce. No word actually could describe how much I enjoyed and like the dishes. But I bet you to try this once you visit Bali. Hot chocolate volcano cake served with vanilla ice cream and strawberry cocktail become our last today’s treasure because it’s too sweet to be forgotten!
Jamu Demo
On our 3rd day Pandawa All Suite Hotel conducted Jamu Demo class. Jamu is Indonesian traditional herbal drink. As Indonesia is famous with its herb and spices plants, Jamu has become one of famous drink for Indonesian. There are so many kind of Jamu. It depends on the benefit we would like to get from Jamu. Our instructor, Mrs Peni told us that we were going to made Jamu Kunyit Asam and Jamu Energizer. Jamu Kunyit Asam is made from Turmeric and lemon water. We rasped the turmeric and take the essence by mix it with water then we added lemon water to the essence. FYI, you may add tamarind to replace the lemon water if you want to. Honey could be perfect also to sweeten the taste. Jamu Kunyit Asam is widely used by Indonesian women to maintain the period time :)
The next jamu was energizer jamu. It’s made from galangal, ginger, aromatic ginger, pepper, nutmeg and cloves. All ingredients were mashed until it became soft condiment. We poured warm water into the soft condiment and strain it to get the essence and voila! Our energizer drink is ready to be enjoyed. The taste is quite strong and hot. You can feel it when it hits the throat. The benefit of Jamu Energizer is to jack up the energy. It’s highly recommended for the honeymoon couple! For honeymooners, you have one big reason to stay in this hotel :)
Detoxification Spa & Boreh
As our 3rd day will be the last day for us in The Pandawa All Suite Hotel, we wanted to enjoy the detoxification spa which will be lead us to gain positive vibes and energy for both Michelle and I. Starting our treatment with the fresh drink as the welcome drink, we then introduced to our therapists. We had our foot washed and directed to the treatment room. The detoxification massage is focus on some points in our body to release the tension and toxic. I enjoy the magic hand of my therapist and I feel like it was the best 2 hours spent. At the end of our treatment we have our body covered by herbs grates we made this morning; Balinese people called it Boreh. It keeps your body warm and relaxed. After all this magic treatment I have my body rejuvenated and so ready and excited for welcoming new week.
All this fancy weekend finally came to an end. We had to leave Pandawa All Suite Hotel and get ready for our daily routine. Huge thank to Pandawa All Suite Hotel for the superb treats. For all wanderers out there please visit http://www.pandawasuite.com/ for more information about this hotel. Pandawa All Suite Hotel could answers all in one adventures you’ve been dreaming of :)
Keep Wandering!
Guteri