The one thing that makes it taste Balinese

Almost every savoury dish here starts from base gede (also basa gede or base genep) — a pounded "complete spice paste" of shallots, garlic, chilli, ginger, galangal, turmeric, candlenut, shrimp paste and more, fried down slowly until it's dark and fragrant. It's why Balinese food tastes different from Javanese or Thai: earthier, more herbal, and often genuinely hot. If a "Balinese" dish tastes bland and sweet, it was probably tuned for tourists.

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What to actually order

• Babi guling — spit-roasted suckling pig, the belly stuffed with spice paste and cassava leaf, served with crackling skin, blood sausage, and rice. The island's signature feast dish. (Muslim travellers, note it's pork — not halal.)
• Bebek / ayam betutu — duck or chicken packed with paste, wrapped and steamed then roasted for hours until it falls apart. The Gilimanuk-style version is fierce with chilli; order it if you like heat.
• Sate lilit — minced fish (or pork) blended with paste and coconut, moulded onto lemongrass or bamboo skewers and grilled. Bali's own satay, and far better than the generic peanut-sauce kind.
• Lawar — a ceremonial mix of chopped vegetables, grated coconut, spices and minced meat. Lawar merah ("red lawar") is traditionally bound with fresh raw blood — ask if you'd rather not, as most warungs also do a blood-free version.
• Nasi campur — the everyday hero: a scoop of rice ringed with small portions of whatever's cooked that day. Point at what you want. This is the single best way to taste ten things for very little money.

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Warung, not restaurant

The honest rule: the best Balinese food is in warungs — small family-run eateries — and the food-court-looking ones with a hot display are often the best of all, because the turnover is high and everything's cooked that morning. A tourist-strip restaurant with a laminated menu of "Balinese specialities" is usually pricier, milder, and less fresh. Follow the crowd of locals eating lunch and you'll rarely go wrong.

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The famous names are worth understanding rather than chasing. Ibu Oka in Ubud is the babi guling everyone's heard of — genuinely historic, but now a tour-bus institution where you can wait in a queue and pay a premium for a plate that locals get better and cheaper elsewhere. Have it if you want the story; don't treat it as the only option. For duck, Bebek Bengil (the "Dirty Duck") is the equivalent tourist landmark.

Seafood, and the Jimbaran question

Grilled seafood on the beach at Jimbaran is a classic Bali evening, and it can be wonderful — but it's also where the priced-by-weight bill trap lives. Fish is sold per 100g, and unscrupulous places quietly upsell or weigh generously. Always confirm the price per 100g and the weight of your actual fish before it hits the grill, and get the total agreed up front. Do that and it's a lovely meal; skip it and the bill can quadruple your estimate.

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Eating vegetarian (easier than you'd fear)

Bali is one of the better places in Indonesia to eat meat-free. Tempeh and tahu (tofu) are everywhere, often fried in sweet-spicy sambal. Gado-gado (vegetables with peanut sauce), urab/urap (vegetables with spiced grated coconut), and jukut vegetable dishes are staples. Two cautions, though: lawar and many sambals contain shrimp paste (terasi), and "vegetable" nasi campur is often dressed with a fish or meat stock — worth asking if you're strict.

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The two things that actually cause trouble

A quick map of the plate

Point at the busiest warung, start with nasi campur, and let one skewer stand for the whole idea — Bali's own satay.

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Balinese food is inseparable from Balinese religion — much of it begins as an offering, and the big feast dishes appear because a ceremony called for a pig or a duck. If that thread interests you, the belief behind the offerings is a good next read; if you'd rather just eat well, point at the busiest warung and start with nasi campur.