If you ask a random person on the street about their favourite foreign food, there’s a good chance they will mention French, Spanish or Italian fare. But they are unlikely to mention Argentine cuisine, which combines all three of the above with Latin American flair and emphasis on grilled meats, heavy wines and rich desserts. Following the closure of El Asador Grill during the COVID-19 pandemic, there are no dedicated Argentinean restaurants in Perth — but there are half a dozen in Bali.
On my last trip to the island, I asked around about the best one, and one name kept popping up over and over: Don Fernando, a small, casual restaurant in Canggu, Bali’s dining and nightlife hipster haven.
“They have this great finisher called ‘Mum’s signature caramel flan’,” one switched-on local said.
“The texture is soft, but it has this caramel thingy (dulce de leche) on the side. When you combine them, it’s heaven. Sometimes, I go there just for dessert.”
And with that, I was sold. In contrast to the generic whitewashed and tropical decor most restaurants in Bali run with, Don Fernando looks like an old-world bistro in Buenos Aires or France, with Nana-chic features like textured wallpapers, a leather kickboard on the bar, replica antique chandeliers, and roses in vases highlighting crisp white tablecloths.
Behind the bar is an open-plan kitchen where chefs cook big slabs of meat on a custom-made Argentine grill: a big, heavy, cast-iron, coal-fired contraption with gears and spinning wheels to adjust interlocking shelves. The service is also old-school, with Silvano, Don Fernando’s animated restaurant manager, greeting everyone at the door and offering complimentary shots of limoncello to guests dining alone. He brought us a complimentary bowl of potato skin crisps that went down a treat with a couple of glasses of Malbec, Argentina’s most popular red varietal. “My grandmother taught me never to waste any food in the kitchen,” Silvano said. The entrees were varied and interesting: creamy burrata with smoked tomato salad, a couple of house-made chorizo sausages served on a wooden block with chimichurri dipping sauce, empanadas, and a Peruvian-style ceviche — raw fish marinated in lime and coconut milk.
We ordered more wine and then came the meat: a 220g skirt steak grilled to perfection with generous lashings of volcanic salt and served with triple-cooked potatoes on the side. One serving was enough for two people. That was followed by more wine and then the famous caramel flan dessert for me and a single-origin chocolate fondant. Every dish was handsomely plated and bursting with flavour.
Argentine food may not be the healthiest cuisine in the world. I dozed off into a food coma in the taxi on the way back to our hotel. It’s honest-to-goodness soul food, and I for one am looking forward to trying it again next time I go to Bali.
https://thewest.com.au/travel/crying-out-for-argentina-in-bali-c-19447380
