Located within the extraordinary venue of Taman Bhagawan, Paon Restaruant, Bar and Beach Club, serves a blend of traditional and Balinese fusion cuisine. Paon is a Balinese term for kitchen, and the attractive restaurant occupies a beautiful joglo with 180 degeree views of the Nusa Dua region. Seating options include the two storey interior, and an outdoor area with white furniture, stone flooring and a multitude of different plants brought from all over Indonesia. The joglo itself is 180 years old and fitted out with period furniture to match.
We start with a Pomelo Salad made with sweet, red Balinese orange blended with greens, bean sprouts and a sweet and spicy sauce, opt for shredded chicken, or choose the vegetarian version with tempe or fried bean curd. The Beef Salad provides a good example of a mix between Thai inspiration and Paon kitchen style, with beansprouts, cucumber, mixed greens, grilled beef, and oriental sauce.
Arriving at the main course there is Iga Bakar, grilled pork ribs served with Balinese bbq sauce and steamed rice. Followed by Ikan Bakar Sambal Matah another traditional Balinese meal, grilled snapper with Balinese style chilli condiments on top, water spinach salad on the side and a portion of warm steamed rice. The Pizza Sambal Matah is pure fusion, a thin crust pizza with traditional sambal matah ingredients like shallots, chillies and lemongrass, mixed with grilled, shredded chicken and of course mozarella cheese. The Balinese dessert served here is Dadar Gulung Unti, crepes with grated coconut and caramelized palm sugar sauce. The crepes gets their leafy green color from the natural colouring agent in suji leaves and are infused with pandan leaves for additional flavour.
Sipping rich cocktails is a good way to spend an afternoon, try the Royal Passion made of passion fruit, Triple sec, Bacardi topped with ginger ale. Since its opening in April 2011, Paon has catered for a number of word class events and concerts held within the resort grounds, including the yearly Jazz Market by The Sea, Bali's premiere jazz festival, feautring great music and delicious food from market style foodstalls. \MA
