Gili Air Food

Gili Air was the first of the Gili’s we hit after coming north from Kuta in Lombok. The island is just incredible and well worth the visit if you’re coming this way on your travels. A little bit busier than Gili Meno but a million times quieter and better than Gili T. This island has a great mix for a relaxed stay.

There are quite a few little restaurants dotted around the island, but i’ve decided to feature and recommend these specific 3 for anyone heading in this direction.

Classico Italiano, what an incredible restaurant. The only one where I have seen western style service (well trained staff), lead by an Italian maitre d. The whole dining experience was lovely, the pizza was incredible. I went for the Diavolo, my “go to” pizza option and I have to say it ticked all boxes. The home made chilli oil added the extra spice it needed to send it to the next level. Just a word of warning, arrive early in the evening! We were very lucky and got one of the last tables when we turned up at 19:30. It is number 1 on TripAdvisor so attracts a lot of business. For two pizzas and two drinks you will be looking at around IDR250-300,000.

Warung Sunny is a local cooking school come restaurant. It is top of the “cheap eats” category, a well known restaurant decider for travellers on a budget. The menu is quite different from other “local” restaurants as it offers a burrito section. But instead of Mexican influenced burritos, the fillings are Indonesian influenced, which I thought was an amazing touch. I went for the Lombok burrito, it was filled with a spicy pulled chicken curry along with greens and a pineapple salsa. Some veggies on the side with rice filled up the plate for only IDR50,000! This is a must if you’re on Gili Air, just trust me on this one.

Their cooking school classes start from IDR250,000pp, we watched one as we ate and it looked like a great evening. Wish we could have participated but we moved onto Gili Meno the next day.

For the healthy bunch who read my blogs and think “this guy must be fat as shit”, well sometimes we eat healthy…

My last pick is Good Earth Cafe, a place where yoga and smoothie bowls come first. I can honestly say yoga isn’t my thing and you won’t see me partaking in a class unless I’m getting paid (drop me a message if you want to pay me to stretch), but eating… that I can do. Georgi had been craving a smoothie bowl since we arrived on Gili Air so we popped along to the cafe for a late breakfast.

Their menu is all vegan/veggie friendly etc and made with the freshest ingredients. I was still being a bit stubborn about the whole healthy thing, so picked the chocolate bowl! Georgi had the strawberry bowl. Both topped with homemade granola and fresh fruits. They were reasonably priced (IDR45k -65k) which is less than I thought people would pay solely for the Instagram picture. I will put my hands up and say I enjoyed the experience, the taste was nice and clean… a bit sickly after a while but it was a massive portion. Georgi thoroughly enjoyed hers and I’m sure we’ll have more in the future. The setting was really nice, small huts surrounding a swimming pool with the cafe on one side of the pool, worth a visit for a healthy breakfast/ lunch.