So maybe it’s just me, and I’ve become used to the very low prices of the local, neighborhood food sellers here in Denpasar, Bali, and the vast array of choices of foods to buy, all even in the same radius of just a few small blocks with narrow streets, where the prices are unbeatable anywhere that I’ve ever been in the world, for enough food to easily fill you up for a given breakfast, lunch or dinner, because the prices at the KFC here in Bali (and other world recognized food chains for that matter,) is outrageously high by comparison.
Which is why I will first take this written blog about our night ride to KFC in a positive direction (and I think there was some kind of pun in there.) I had setup a scooter rental for just a couple of days, basically as a trial run as to that being the preferred method to get around while living in Bali. On a side note, if you intend to rent a scooter or motorcycle while you are here, do your research online first, as I found there to be only two or three reputable, reliable and fully insured companies that do this. Avoid smaller, lesser known shops that will rent you a bike, as there are risks involved and scams to be fallen victim of. The company that I used was balibikerental.com, and they deliver your scooter to your hotel or residence and also pick it up for free, along with providing you with complete insurance, two helmets and a first-aid kit. The entire experience that I had with this company was spot on professional and recommended. I had rented a Honda Vario with an automatic transmission and a 125cc, water cooled engine. The seat on this scooter was easily big enough for Mama and myself and her two small girls to all fit on it at the same time. Now that we had the bike to play with for a couple of days, we were ready to put it to use, so a family trip to KFC that night was our first “everyone aboard” adventure. By the way, oh, how goofy I look and feel with a helmet on.
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Arriving at KFC, the first and immediate observation that I made is that it was most certainly a busy restaurant. There was a parking lot attendant, and as with most larger businesses here in Bali that operate on the bigger artery streets, there was a parking fee of 1000 to 2000 rupiah, which is paid when you leave the restaurant. For those who haven’t yet experienced this parking fee, that is common here in Bali, so be prepared for it. Also, the parking attendant will help you get back onto the road if your happen to need to get across to the other side of traffic, depending on the direction in which you intend to leave, which when the streets are very busy, can be an extremely tricky maneuver, with or without help. I also noticed that this was a two story building, which was interesting for a KFC.
After getting inside the restaurant and having a long look over the menu, I was fascinated at just how different it was from any KFC back home in The United States, both in a good and bad way. For starters, the prices were seemingly very high, considering how far you can stretch your money in rupiah here in Indonesia. This was a big turn-off for me, knowing that for a mere 10,000 rupiah, I could otherwise just go to my favorite local food cart and get the best nasi goreng (Indonesian fried rice) in town, that would fill me up for the night, and then some. I was also disappointed that there were no mashed potatoes and gravy offered, which is a signature KFC product back in the states, but instead, there was little, paper wrapped bundles of plain, white rice, shaped like a small hamburger would be. Seeing as how just about every family and even poor household in Indonesia has a rice cooker and often has rice ready around the clock at their homes anyway, then who in their right mind would pay KFC for plain white rice? Well, apparently everyone who comes in there and orders pretty much any one of their combo meals. That made little sense to me, but to each their own, right? The actual fried chicken, while tasty, was quite pricey, and there seemed to be a huge push of just dark meat (thighs and legs) in just about every pictured meal on the menu. When it comes to fried chicken, I am a wing lover, and for a bucket of just seven wings, they wanted close to 90,000 rupiah. I should note however that despite these gripes that I had with these particular menu offerings and their over-inflated prices, I noticed that people, mostly the locals, were absolutely loving it. It was as though for them, KFC was a fine dining experience that they loved everything about. There were even a few noticeable couples on a date. It’s also worth noting that there weren’t as many tourists or “bules” as they call them, that I had observed at this KFC.
On the more positive end of the menu, I enjoyed that the had a fish fillet sandwich available for just over 16,000 rupiah, which was small, but quite delicious. Also, what I thought to be about the greatest idea to come out of a KFC in the twenty-first century thus far, was the chicken cream soup, which was just about 9,000 rupiah for a hot cup of that, and very enjoyable. There were a few other chicken sandwiches available for around the 20,000 rupiah range that weren’t half bad, as well. I should also point out the small and surprisingly affordable little cups of soft serve ice cream that the kids loved (and even scarfed down before their actual dinner.)
On another side note, I’ve noticed here that regardless of the food chain, the average size of the soft drinks are far smaller than back home in America. In fact, most places “medium,” was often smaller than a “small” back home, and the option of some sort of “large” is nonexistent at all. It’s no wonder that America is getting so fat. After living and eating in Indonesia for a couple of months already, it’s not hard to make the observation that we are so over fed with high calorie, junk food in The United States. Just to point out another example here in Bali, there is a Domino’s Pizza, and their “medium” would barely be considered a “small” in The United States. However, I don’t want to get off on a tangent about pizza, as here in Indonesia it seems that there is no pork to be had in the pepperoni or the sausage on the pizza, which makes it taste half-assed at best, but back the topic of KFC.
Our total price for that evening, even ordering just the lower price, value items, came out to about 150,000 rupiah, and for that amount, we could feed all four of us for the next day or two, just from the local, neighborhood food sellers. However, it was the experience that we were paying for, and the kids absolutely loved it. Those little girls would jump at the chance on any given night that we offered to take them to KFC, or even Mcdonalds here in Denpasar. The little one, seven years old, had a blast playing in the kids play area inside the KFC, as Mama, myself and the older one, eleven, were finishing up our food. Either the power of mind control in advertising has begun to spill over here to Indonesia, or the food is just that tasty to them. (Of course we all know it’s the former.) Here are the girls finishing up their Pepsi after we got back to the apartment.
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Leaving the KFC and getting back on the Honda Vario for a night ride through the streets of Denpasar, back to our apartment, was immensely enjoyable to me. I love riding around, especially at night when it’s a few degrees cooler than the daytime, with the tropical breeze hitting your face, cooling you off after the heat of the day. I was even so very happy that Mama needed to stop at the market, because that only meant more time out of the apartment, enjoying the Bali night for me.
My ultimate advice to those of you who are going to come to Bali, either as a tourist with deep pockets, or someone who is looking for a new place in the world to live for awhile, is that chain restaurants like KFC and Mcdonalds are just not worth it, except just to get the experience at least one time while you are here. Chances are that no matter where you came to Bali from, you will be in an entirely different world when you are here, so embrace that, and live and experience everything that you can about it. It is this difference from my home back in the United States that has thus far changed my life for the better.
Hmmmm nasi goreng all the way
There should be KFC-like restaurants/warung no? They have plenty in Yogyakarta at least. I don't remember Bali much, been years
It's funny see another restaurant called "JFC" with a picture that looks like the Indonesian version of Colonel Sanders. Although I didn't like JFC. I ordered something on the menu called "double cheeseburger," and what I received was something that looked like a piece of bologna on a hamburger bun with terrible sauce.
Oh yes, Indonesians tend to make burgers with bologna blegh, I forgot that 😂
In Balikpapan tho since there are many Americans, the burgers are ground beef patties
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