Uluwatu’s Best Cafés and Restaurants
A Short Distance from Kima Uluwatu
Surfing and nourishing food go hand in hand.
You’re on a surf trip in Uluwatu, chasing a sunrise barrel at Padang Padang and an afternoon cruisy session on one of Balangan’s lefts or you’re enjoying learning on the whitewater waves of Thomas Beach. Surfing all day works up quite the appetite. Now where can you refuel?
The good news? Uluwatu is home to some of the best cafés and restaurants in Bali, and it has some sought-after finer dining places as well. Something for everyone, and every appetite.
Staying at Kima Surf Uluwatu puts you at the heart of all of the best cafés and restaurants the area has to offer, and all within walking distance. Here are our favourite spots.
Cafés
What makes a great café?
Before we get into all of our recommendations, here is how we define a good and sought-after café in Uluwatu.
Serving good coffee is simply no longer enough.
What separates a great café from a mediocre one is understanding the audience. Uluwatu is known for its surfers, digital nomads, wellness travellers, and adventurers. Here is how we handpicked these cafés for you:
- Coffee quality: Great coffee cannot be faked. The best cafés source their beans from specialty roasters and have well-trained baristas.
- Healthy food options: Cafés should use fresh, high-quality ingredients in their meals. After all, surfers need food that fuels their bodies rather than leaving them feeling heavy.
- Atmosphere = experience: Authentic surf culture and a strong sense of community can make a surf trip unforgettable. The best cafés offer more than just food and drinks—they bring together like-minded travellers.
- The practical details: Reliable Wi-Fi, comfortable seating, and easy parking are all essential.
A great café excels in all of these aspects, not just one or two. So, when planning your surf trip to Bali, be sure to check out our top picks.
1. Drifter café
Drifter café is for great coffee, healthy breakfasts and a post-surf hang. It is well-known and integrated into Bali’s legendary surf scene. Enjoy their iconic surf store in the front and walk to the back and enjoy your morning in their tropical garden. You will find surfers here after their morning surf, enjoying coffee and chatting about the waves they scored earlier.
Extra tip, come on Saturday evenings and enjoy a movie night or live band!
Drifter café is where surf culture and great coffee meet.
What to order:
- Smoothie bowls
- Smashed avocado toast
- Coffee
- Fresh juices
Drifter café lives and breathes the surfing lifestyle, rather than being a tourist trap. The staff surf, the gear in their shop is legit and they are connected to all the surf spots in Uluwatu and have been there for a long time.
2. Suka Espresso
This is your BRUNCH go-to!
Suka Espresso is known for generous portion sizes, quality coffee and great breakfast specials. The truffle scramble is a must try and their coffee beans are sourced from other islands in Indonesia as well as South America.
What to order:
- Big breakfast
- Eggs Benedict
- Burgers
- Flat white
Their avocado toast comes loaded with perfectly ripe avocado, their smoothie bowls are decorated with fresh fruit and crunchy granola. The fresh pastries are flaky, buttery, and clearly made with care.
3. Analog
This café truly offers a retro 70s surf vibe, with inspiration from Japanese listening bars. Analog takes you back in time whilst keeping the coffee quality on par with modern day standards.
You can enjoy some of the best coffee in the neighborhood here, with house-made milks, a special matcha selection, and mushroom coffee with ingredients like chaga or lion’s mane. For food, they offer Scandinavian-style breakfasts, healthy smoothies, and salads with Buddha bowls. In the evening, it turns into a casual bistro and bar with happy hour from 6 to 9 PM.
What to order:
- House matcha
- Mushroom coffee
- Buddha bowl
- Scandinavian breakfast plate
4. The Cashew Tree
This is your spot if you are looking for healthy and revitalising food. This café creates a space where wellness, great food and genuine connection all come together naturally. Wholesome and organic ingredients are used in all their dishes and the chef knows that healthy food doesn’t need to be tasteless.
- Acai bowls
- Buddha bowls
- Fresh juices
Restaurants
What makes a great restaurant?
Uluwatu has become one of Bali's top dining destinations. With so many restaurants to choose from, we looked beyond the menu to find the venues that truly stand out. Here is how we handpicked these restaurants for you:
- Outstanding food: The best restaurants use fresh, high-quality ingredients, with many embracing a farm-to-table approach that lets local produce shine.
- Location and views: Uluwatu is famous for its dramatic cliffs and spectacular coastline, and the best restaurants make the most of these incredible settings.
- Atmosphere = experience: Great restaurants create more than just a meal. Whether it's sunset dining, live music, or a unique concept, the overall experience is just as memorable as the food.
- The finishing touches: Friendly service, comfortable seating, thoughtful design, and convenient parking all make a difference.
1. The Cave at the Edge
Here you will have a once in a lifetime dining experience. This restaurant is inside a natural limestone cave, suspended 70m above the Indian Ocean. The restaurant is candle-lit and echoes with the waves crashing in the stone chamber.
The chef Ryan Clift owns the Cave and offers one of the most dramatic restaurant experiences in all of Bali. This restaurant has a multi-course tasting menu that changes seasonally but consistently showcases innovative techniques and premium ingredients. Each dish arrives as a work of art, beautifully plated and thoughtfully explained by attentive staff who guide you through the flavors and stories behind every course.
Remember to book in advance and dress smart casual!
What to order:
- The Seasonal Tasting Menu
- Wine Pairing Menu
- Chef's Signature Courses
2. Ulu Cliffhouse
This is the spot where the dining scene and party spirit come together. Here you will find a full service restaurant, an infinity pool and world-class music and DJs! The restaurant effortlessly combines music and atmosphere.
What to order at Ulu Cliffhouse:
- Wood-fired pizza
- Thai-infused curries
- Perfectly grilled fish
- Hearty burgers and enjoy some creative cocktails alongside an epic sunset.
3. Mana Uluwatu
This restaurant captures the essence of surf culture dining. It is trendy, laid-back, set on the cliffs with an ocean view, and has food cooked over a real fire. The wood-fired cooking techniques create a smoky flavour to everything from fresh seafood to premium steaks. You can watch the surfers from the cliffside while the chefs cook out in the open over the crackling fire.
What to order at Mana Uluwatu:
- Grilled snapper
- Ribeye steak
- Mana pizza topped with prosciutto!
4. La Baracca
You don’t always need ocean views for a good dining experience, when the food at La Baracca talks for itself.
This is a rustic Italian Trattoria, where you can enjoy hand-made pasta, made fresh daily. Wood-fired pizzas, and great antipasti! The atmosphere is rustic with exposed brick, warm lighting, and an open kitchen where you can watch the chefs in action!
The menu reads like a traditional Italian grandmother’s recipe book, executed with skill and quality ingredients.
Kima Surf Uluwatu
The best part? You don’t need to spend half of your surf trip commuting from surf spot, to cafe to restaurant because…
Kima Surf Uluwatu is located in the heart of Pecatu, placing you within walking distance of some of Uluwatu's best cafés, restaurants, surf shops and wellness spaces. Start the day with a morning coffee at Drifter, grab lunch at Analog after a surf session, and finish with dinner at the Cave — all located close to the camp.
If you don’t feel like leaving the camp and would like a good, nourishing meal right on your doorstep, our on-site restaurant has you covered, with everything from smoothie bowls, to salads, pastas, fresh seafood, poke bowls and local feeds.
Alongside daily surf guiding, social activities, yoga, video analysis and a Kima surf community, you'll have easy access to everything that makes life on the Bukit so special.
Because a great surf trip isn't just about the waves. It's about everything around them too.
Want to go deeper?
Our Kima Women’s Surf Retreats kicks off this August in Uluwatu, Bali with this as our first destination within this curated series. From the 18th-28th of August 2026, you can experience everything the Bukit is known for with a group of like-minded women!
Hosted by pro surfer, Giada Legati this retreat will combine expert female surf guiding daily, to Uluwatu’s best surf spots, wellness experiences, luxury accommodation in Villa Moso, local experiences and lots of time trying Bali’s best cafes and restaurants.
Uluwatu is only the beginning.
Join the Kima mailing list to be the first to hear about upcoming Women's Surf Retreats
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