In the 'hood

There is a 'bar' close by the apartment, called Rendezvous, which I can hear right now despite fairly effective soundproofing. It's a place with billiard tables, thumping music, and ladies of the night on offer. It is advertised primarily by a black dog that is nightly dressed in glowing devil horns. We call him 'Devil Dog'. Its a strange occupation for a dog, but he seems pretty contented.

The area we are staying in, Legian, is wedged between Kuta and Seminyak.

Kuta is the uber-touristy part of Bali where the surfers flock, with a pretty white sandy beach and the majority of chain stores (both real and fake), the less classy nightclubs and where the Sari Club and Paddy's Bar stood before the bombs. Nowadays the Bounty is probably the skeeziest club around - it and many others are where you can buy cocktails by the half-litre.

Seminyak, on the other hand, I think of as little Port Melbourne or South Yarra. A lot of blondes, a lot of fake tans. A lot of muscly men in tight t-shirts and loud sunglasses. A place filled with trendy bars and restaurants that are THE places to be seen... That is if you could care less about being seen in the right places. Ku de Ta is one of the trendier bars that is right on the beach and has a lovely view of the sunset (of course it is the same view of the sunset you can get anywhere along the beach). It serves pricey cocktails and food and gets right into the party scene. It's a people-watching paradise! The last time I ventured in, they were having a 'white' party complete with staff dressed as giant manga-style robots roaming around.

Seminyak is also home to many of the best boutiques (clothing, jewellery, accessories), some great spas and does have some fantastic cafes and restaurants, including the unexpected such as the Vienna cafe that serves kaiserschmarrn (an awesome concoction of pancakes, applesauce and whipped cream and/ or icecream that really shouldn't be found outside of Germany or Austria).

And our area? Well, Legian is in the middle, literally and figuratively. It has it's upmarket and not-so-upmarket places. There are some spots, like Rendezvous, that are pretty unclassy. There are a few too many restaurants whose advertising is a chalkboard with the words "Bloody good tucker mate" scrawled on in caps.

This place has the most bizarre slogan I have ever seen:




"We've got what you feel like when you've had enough of what everyone else has got".

Huh?? These places seem to attract plenty of punters though.

There are also other great local restaurants and shops, hundreds of spas (no exaggeration) and a pretty relaxed vibe, which I like. Plus the less than 300m walk to the beach makes our location a big winner for me.

Last night we finally tried Poco Loco - the Mexican restaurant directly across the road - for the first time.

Our apartment is sort of hidden behind a big wall and many taxi drivers don't know where it is. So for the last five years when staying here, we give the address as "Jalan Padma Utara, di depan Poco Loco"; which means Padma Utara street, opposite Poco Loco.

For some reason EVERY SINGLE taxi driver in south Bali knows exactly where Poco Loco is. The reaction is always, "ahhh, Poco Loco" and off you go. I've probably said the name 100 times or more, but until last night it has just been a direction, a convenient landmark. Although a slightly mysterious one because there never seemed to be anyone there.

The restaurant itself is set quite far back from the road and it is a tad hard to see the tables from the street, but I always had the impression that the place was pretty empty every night... At one point, my dad had a theory that it was run by the mob (Indonesian mob, I presume???), who ran it as a cover... but it is possible that he was just messing with me.

Anyway, Phil and I decided at the start of the trip that we had to try Poco Loco - it's 10m away from our door, after all. Then for me, it somehow edged its way onto the bucket list - you know, we have to go just in case we die on our next side-trip... plus it's Murphy's law that you always discover the best restaurant on the last night of your holidays, so better to try things out now.

I was somewhat put off by poor reviews on trip advisor, one of which said:

"Worst Mexican ever. Service was so incredibly bad. Food was awful".

So armed with the knowledge that it possibly wasn't going to be the greatest meal, but with a will of iron to get this one crossed off the bucket list, we braved the 10 metre walk in the driving rain and thunder and sampled the Tex Mex delights of Poco Loco.

There was definitely a vibe about the place. One group of eight twenty-somethings wandered in drenched from the rain, virtually chanting "San-gria jugs, San-gria jugs". There is one staff member (a tiny woman) who walks around dressed as a gunslinger with a bottle of tequila in a gun holster offering shots.

But, it was actually really good - the veggie burrito was especially awesome.

I'm guessing from the number of people there last night and the amount of margaritas, daiquiris and sangria jugs consumed by those around us, this place doesn't need mob connections to survive.

Long live holiday excesses and long live Poco Loco.

- Posted using a little pinch of poco and a dash of loco