Where to eat

The joy of traveling is discovering those magical places where we feel we are truly experiencing where we are or where we get to live a moment that we know we will remember forever. We know we are tourists but we don’t want to fall into uninspired tourist traps. We instead hope to get to places that are worth our precious few holiday moments.

The challenge is to find those little gems in a world where the amount of information is overwhelming, where a quick research on google takes you to dark corners of knowledge totally unrelated to your original quest. It is funny how with all of today’s technology we still end up depending on friends' recommendations or old fashion guide books that never seem to let us down.

That is why we are so proud and excited to be featured in well-respected guides that are as trusted as good friends pointing you to the goodness that awaits in those holiday destinations. And the most amazing thing is that we only find out Cuca has made it when we see you walking confidently through the door holding that little bible, wherever you are coming from,
and proudly proclaiming “I was told I need to eat here” and then it’s up to us to prove how right your little friend was.

A new Cuca

After more than five years of feeding those traveling through Bali, a lot in Cuca has changed. Every single day we understand more and more what our customers are looking for and we are constantly finding new ways to get better. Little things make a big difference and caring about everything goes a long way!

The food since we opened has changed dramatically (for the best, we want to think!) and with a bigger team, more work can go into every dish and every drink. Our service has gone from simply getting you what you ordered with a smile, to providing a real personal experience where we know what you want before you have to ask. But our dining room and garden lounge are still exactly the same and just like everything else and all of us, they must get better. So, after months of contemplating how to keep all of what people love about Cuca but stay one step ahead of an ever-changing culinary scene, we have started to add some spectacular new touches.

Rather than giving everything away and ruining the movie, let’s just say that a new private room for 40 people is already completed for smaller groups to celebrate in style, a new reception now welcomes and farewells you with lots of handcrafted souvenirs to take with you, our entire garden lounge will soon become a destination with more people choosing to dine and chill outside...

There will be heaps of changes so stay tuned and we look forward to welcoming you with the same smiling faces to a new and very improved Cuca!!! 

Cuca's brand new private dining room

Our version of Christmas

It’s hard to believe, but yes indeed, it’s that time of the year again. With Christmas just around the corner, Bali is getting ready to explode with people flooding-in to enjoy the untraditional sunny version of the festive season. Sunshine and sand will replace, for many, a cold wet winter, and it is Cuca’s job to then replace the infamous turkey. For those who claim it just isn’t Christmas without the dry overcooked bird, lovingly burnt sweet potatoes, canned cranberry glue, mom’s latest version of how to make Brussels sprouts not suck and a vomiting uncle, well… we beg to differ.

Each year we try to create our version of what Christmas is and each year we learn something new from what “went wrong” the year before. With that said, get ready boys and girls for our latest greatest edition of Cuca’s Christmas, which promises to be the best version yet.

Looking back at all we have done well and all we haven’t, there is one lesson we will never forget. Let me explain our very first Christmas, which to be honest, was a total delicious disaster:

Without snow, it was easy to overcompensate. We didn’t go as far as to dress our team as elves, but we did and always do have Santa who, by the way, was not the problem. The problem was our decorations were not kid-friendly but very kid-accessible and ended up very kid-broken; our festive Christmas music quickly became nauseating; our ornamental fireplace made from red bricks and filled with logs became a death trap for those who decided to sit on top for selfies, with people until today still bearing the scars. Our red fuzzy hats had our team sweating, overheating and damn near passing out during dinner service. Our special drink was not well articulated with its alcoholic content and rapidly had unassuming guests drunk and far too celebratory. Even our Christmas menu, which took months and was our version of the classics, was unwelcomed as no one wanted it. People came to eat the food of Cuca, the dishes their friends recommended, the items they waited all year to have again, and rather than happy, jolly, cheerful guests, we had angry, annoyed, and aggressive ones.

So, if we don’t do easily accessible glass balls, repetitive annoying music, a widow-making fireplace, insulating sauna hats, easily accessible booze or a set menu, what do we do? Come and see for yourself from Dec 20^th until Jan 2^nd. A Christmas you will not forget.