The Cafe Lotus feels a like a portal to Ubud of old, when travel was slower paced and travellers would just sit and marvel at the wonder of it all.
Streetside, the Cafe Lotus really doesn't have much to distinguish it from Ubud's myriad other cafes, with its thatched roof and straggly footpath garden, except, no matter the time of day, it's invariably busy. Step inside and at least one of the reasons become clear. The cafe overlooks the twin lotus pools of Pura Saraswati, an elaborately carved temple built in the 1950s to honour Dewi Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge, creativity and music.
One of Ubud's originals, the Lotus has been around for 40 years and feels like the sort of place backpackers in the 1980s would have hung out in to write postcards home or discuss travel plans with fellow hostellers. Today, influencers take selfies in front of the lichen-covered facade, brides pose for their wedding photos at the carved golden temple doors, and tourists stroll the path bisecting the ponds lined with mythological Hindu creatures, all keenly observed by Lotus patrons sipping sweating glasses of Bintang.
Prime tables are those closest to the temple, particularly in the evenings when the cafe offers free ringside seats to a show of traditional dance and music performed in elaborate costumes against the evocative temple backdrop. More limber diners can choose to sit cross-legged at low tables on bamboo mats in the wooden beamed Bale Patok pavilion. The menu at Cafe Lotus has changed little over the years and, while the majority of diners are tourists, the food is both authentic and reasonably priced; from bebek betutu - Balinese spiced duck - to nasi and mee goreng, and the cafe's most popular offering, rijsttafel. Originating from the Dutch for "rice table" it's a literal feast for two of attractively presented traditional dishes, from soup to sweets, three or four different types of meat, rice and vegetables.
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Despite a refresh or two across the decades, the Cafe Lotus feels a like a portal to Ubud of old, when travel was slower paced and travellers would just sit and marvel at the wonder of it all.
