Desa Dusun Restaurant: Denpasar, Bali

In the middle of Denpasar, a recently opened restaurant is offering diners tasty food and a rural atmosphere. Located in East Denpasar, facing the Ayung River, Desa Dusun serves homemade food that tastes delicious and is reasonably priced too.

“We want our guests to feel completely at home,” said the restaurant’s owner, Nungki Yahya.

She deliberately designed the restaurant to be a meeting place for family and friends. Diners can choose to sit in the dining room, on the terrace where there is a dramatic view of the river or in the gazebo.

“This is our home and our business place. But we didn’t want to alter the homey atmosphere just because we opened the restaurant,” added Nungki.

The house is beautifully designed and constructed on a slope by the river. There are few places like this in Denpasar, which is Bali’s most densely populated city.

Denpasar is not known as a city that offers top-notch restaurants like those of Ubud, Kuta, Seminyak, Nusa Dua, Jimbaran and Sanur.

“This is like eating in a restaurant in Ubud,” said Daniel, a visitor from North Sumatra.

The concept of Desa Dusun is to provide diners with a respite among the busy inner-city of Denpasar.

“The architecture and landscape design of the restaurant are sympathetic both to people and the natural surroundings,” Nungki said.

The menu includes everything from steak and roast chicken to nasi goreng (fried rice). But you cannot have lunch here during the working week as the restaurant only opens from 4.30 p.m.-10 p.m from Monday to Friday. It opens from 12 noon to 10 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

Anton Muhadjir