Gili Trawangan

Eat and meet

Gili Trawangan

Of the three islands, Gili Trawangan has by far the widest range of eateries and a bunch of bars. Something for everyone.

Made's Waroeng

Best on the island

Attached to the Balikana Resort on the north coast of Gili Trawangan, Made's Waroeng has the best Indonesian food on the island. Made's does only Indonesian fare — a refreshing change from the prevalent tendency among Gili T restaurants to offer every cuisine on the planet. And they do it ... read more
Night Market

Good spot for a cheap dinner

This boasts the only warung -- in the all of Indonesia -- where we've found a 315,000 rupiah bottle of wine on the menu, but the food is good. It's a very foreigner-friendly market, with lots of menus in English, and most vendors will have at least enough English to put a plate of satay in front of ... read more
The Little Mermaid

A good spot

This was one of our favourites for simple Indonesian and traveller fare in a beachside setting. Just north of the turtle hatchery, The Little Mermaid has a couple of streetside salas along with beach furniture -- grab a sala if you can. Food is reasonable and the Indonesian fare is a step above ... read more
Fortuna Cafe

Free WiFi and free shade

A popular little well-shaded cafe/restaurant with streetside and beachside eating — with the bonus of free WiFi. With a menu stretching from Cambodian to Cajun, we were a little dubious so opted for Indonesian, but it was good! Very popular through the afternoon when the plentiful trees ... read more
Tir Ta Nog and Ryoshi

Irish meets Japanese

Tir Ta Nog is the Irish Pub on Gili Trawangan. With both seaside and off the beach bars, this is one of the most popular spots on the island. It gets hectic come the evening and is popular especially among Bali expats and mid-range tourists who are not put off by higher prices than what you may pay ... read more
Black Penny

Huge menu, free WiFi

This Western-style pub sits in the heart of Gili Trawangan's party district, with seaside seating and cold drinks. Not nearly as popular as nearby Tir Ta Nog, Black Penny has an exhaustive (and quite expensive) menu covering everything from rendang to French fries and makes for a good alternative ... read more
Warung Indonesia

Cheap and good

For cheap Indonesian grub, this was our favourite spot on the island. Cheap(ish), simple and they have WiFi! t's stock standard local fare -- nasi campur, mie goreng, nasi goreng and so on are served in a comfortable setting (though with Indonesian TV at high volume) in the back blocks of Gili ... read more
Scallywags

A Gili institution

Scallywags emphasise on various signs around the restaurant how important fresh, high quality food is to them. Their menu is Western focused, with delicious sandwiches and other Western classics featured, and the coffee is excellent. Alas, the service here is very hit and miss. Don't come here ... read more
Amandulu

Shack of shacks

Kismet heralds from Lombok and had thrown together this shack, and it is a shack, a mere week before we wandered through in July 2011. The shack was built from the wreckage of a boat that ran onto the reef a year or so back (the beach is still littered with lumber that Kismet said was from the ... read more
Karma Kayak Tapas Bar

Great sunsets

Karma makes a big deal of its tapas and sangria, and while we didn't try the latter, we found the sunset more impressive than the former. This is a terrific vantage point for Trawangan's trademark glorious sunset and Karma Kayak does its best to make the most of it, putting out low slung tables and ... read more
Coral Beach 1

Go for a sundowner

This is one of the best situated cheap eateries on the entire island, with salas out over the water (high tide only), but the service is oh so slow. The upside of them serving the food at a pace to rival a glacier is that you get all the more time to enjoy both the view and the feeling of being ... read more
Blue Star

Beachside snacking

The beachside salas here are anvil under the sun material in the middle of the day, but the simple traveller food here is affordable and the drinks cold. There's some quite good high-tide snorkelling offshore from here, with a drop-off and plenty of fish, so go for a snorkel after you order as ... read more
Cafe Gili

Unrealised potential

This is related to Cafe Bali and does a similar shabby chic whitewash theme very well, with interior seating and beachside offerings. Menu is similar to the Bali original but we found the food, and especially the coffee, to be very variable -- the latter swinging from excellent to undrinkable in a ... read more
Gili Deli

Fails to deliver

Gili Deli promises so much, but pretty much abjectly fails to deliver on pretty much every front, save the coffee. You'll see the grand sign up top lauding their food, warmth and interior design, though not surprisingly you won't see training nor service mentioned. Orders repeatedly mixed up, ... read more