Candi Dasa, in the East of Bali is also gifted with a number of world class hotels. Rama Candidasa Resort & Spa, Alila Manggis Bali are among the luxury hotels in Bali. And Puri Bagus Candidasa and Puri Bagus Manggis are the noted mid-range accommodations. You expect to receive comfort in the form of elegant rooms, arrangement of dining and wining and endless list of facilities.

By far my least favorite aspect of Amankila is the food -- indeed the only aspect that I am never more than minimally satisfied with. I think that Amankila is very accommodating, and they will indeed prepare anything you might want, so its not really a lack of variety that is the issue -- though you will notice a regular routine if you order from the menu (if its Tuesday it must be Lamb Gulai Java). The problem for me rather is that they aim for a very safe, "middle of the road" food program, which is intended to be neither offensive nor exciting for anybody. Personally, while I love the atmosphere of the restaurant as well as most any place on earth, the food is anything but exciting, or even interesting. Amankila is in no way like a regular hotel, except that they serve regular hotel food, in a locale where the cuisine and ingredients call for something much more exciting. The buffet barbecues and such are particularly poor I think, resembling to me ordinary mass catering.

And they aren't aiming for exciting either, and not looking to take advantage of the wealth of excellent products offered in Bali. I recall a conversation with a now departed chef about how he wasn't able to prepare us a whole fish, as the only fish they generally served were fillets, as they needed to procure the fish all the way from Jimbaran, and only fillets could make the long trip without spoiling. Local fish suppliers he said, were not suitably reliable, and besides, the guests don't want to eat a whole fish with a head on it anyway. I was surprised by this attitude, as I know that -- particularly in a place where the seafood is so excellent -- I absolutely want a fish with a head on it, and not antiseptic filets like I could get in Indianapolis or Eindhoven. Moreover, I would have hoped that over the years they would have made more of an effort to source things locally, or to figure out how to transport produce better so as to increase the quality of the food. In any case, the food at Amankila has little sense of place in my opinion, and there is no local version of Pak Parno nearby like they have at Amanjiwo (where I am happy to eat every night). So for me its not an issue of variety, but rather an issue of Amankila -- and Aman generally -- having a food program that is just not as ambitious or sophisticated as the rest of the hotel.

You are absolutely right in criticizing Amankila for it's not-very-special food! The same counts not only for some other Amanresorts, but for a lot of Four Seasons, Mandarin Orientals etc as well - whilst some Amans like Summer Palace or Amantaka and some FS like Hongkong or Bosphorus are really special and brillant indeed.

With your remarks, you inspired me to open a new thread about food quality and food originality in luxury resorts - it would be great if all of you could share your personal food rankings with us here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxur...ry-hotels.html

2 months at amanpulo ?? !! ....you were rehearsing for a role in the next robinson crusoe movie ?........bills c/o universal pictures ?:-:

At Candi Dasa I would be checking out Bayshore. The owner is a chef the food is awesome

No own experience with that one...:

http://www.siddhartha-bali.de/index_en.php

but maybe a reasonable mid-range property to try.

Go down the road to the Spa Village Tembok.