Foods You Have to Try in Gili Air (And Where to Find the Best Ones)
I'll be honest with you, food wasn't the main reason I came to Gili Air. I came for the turtles, the clear water, the fact that there are zero motorbikes and the island moves at a pace that feels like someone finally pressed pause on the world. But somewhere between my second day and my third, I realised that the food here had quietly become one of my favorite things about the island.
That happens a lot on Gili Air. You arrive expecting a beach escape and leave talking about what you ate.
This is my honest guide to the foods and drinks you should not leave Gili Air without trying — with a special mention of the place I kept returning to every single time: The KOHO Air Cocktail Bar & Restaurant, which is open to everyone on the island, not just hotel guests.
Let's eat!
Local Sasak Dishes, Ayam Taliwang
If you're anywhere near Lombok or the Gili Islands and you leave without trying Ayam Taliwang, I genuinely feel bad for you. This is the dish that defines the region small, free-range chicken grilled over charcoal until the skin is slightly crisped, then drenched in a bright red sambal that's spicy enough to bring a tear to your eye, but complex enough to keep your spoon moving.
Ayam Taliwang offers a rich flavor profile with a blend of spiciness, savoriness, and sweetness. The spices deeply penetrate the chicken, creating a unique and characteristic taste. The key ingredient is kencur — sand ginger — which gives the marinade a pungent, aromatic depth you won't find in any other grilled chicken dish anywhere. You'll taste chili, garlic, shrimp paste, candlenut, tamarind, a bit of palm sugar — a flavor map of Indonesia, all on one glorious plate.
At KOHO Air's Bar & Restaurant, this classic Sasak dish is served the way it should be — smoky, bold, and genuinely satisfying. Pair it with steamed rice and you have a meal that tells you more about where you are than any guidebook ever could.
Spice tolerance note: Traditional Ayam Taliwang runs hot. Ask the team if you want yours dialled back — the kitchen is happy to adjust.
Indonesia's Legendary Slow-Cooked Curry, Rendang
Rendang is one of those dishes that has earned its reputation honestly. It's been named one of the most delicious foods in the world more times than I can count, and after eating it properly — really properly, slow-cooked until the sauce has reduced into the meat and the whole thing has this deep, caramelised intensity — I completely understand why.
This is beef (usually, though versions exist with chicken) that's been cooked low and slow in coconut milk and a complex spice paste of lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, ginger, garlic, and chilies, until the liquid has almost entirely evaporated and the meat has absorbed every bit of it. The result is rich, slightly dry at the surface but meltingly tender inside, and layered with flavour in a way that builds with every bite.
Rendang at KOHO Air's restaurant is the kind of version that reminds you what the dish is supposed to taste like when it's done right — not the watery, shortcut version you sometimes encounter on tourist menus. This one takes time, and you can taste it.
Sip Island Bliss — Coconut Water, Mocktails & Tropical Cocktails
There is a specific pleasure to drinking cold coconut water on a hot day on a tropical island that I don't think any other beverage has ever replicated for me. You've been in the ocean, the sun has done its thing, and someone hands you a coconut with a straw in it. That's it. That's the feeling.
KOHO Bar & Restaurant does this beautifully — fresh coconut water straight from the source, alongside a menu of tropical mocktails that are genuinely thought through rather than just fruit juice in a fancy glass. The juices are fresh, the combinations are creative, and they taste like what this island actually is.
For those who want something more elaborate, the tropical cocktail menu leans into the setting without being cheesy about it. Think flavours that make sense here — bright, citrus-forward, slightly sweet, perfectly cold. Whether you're after something boozy or not, this is the kind of drinks menu that makes you want to sit at the bar for longer than you planned.
Saturday BBQ Night at KOHO Air
Mark it in your calendar before you even board the boat: if you're on Gili Air on a Saturday, your dinner plans are sorted.
The KOHO Air Saturday BBQ Night is one of the island's most talked-about weekly events — a proper, generous spread of grilled meats, fresh sides, and good company in one of Gili Air's most beautiful outdoor settings. It's the kind of evening that starts with one drink and somehow becomes the best night of your trip.
The atmosphere here is what makes it. The KOHO Air grounds at night — lit up, the pool shimmering, the smell of the grill drifting through the tropical air — feel genuinely special in a way that doesn't need effort. You just show up and the island does the rest.
This is open to everyone, not just hotel guests. Come hungry, come early enough to get a good spot, and don't make plans for afterward.
Indulge in KOHO's Mediterranean-Inspired Mezze
This is the one that surprised me the most — and honestly became one of my favourite things to order at KOHO Air.
I wasn't expecting Mediterranean food on a small Indonesian island, and I especially wasn't expecting it to be this good. But here's the thing: mezze — that beautiful tradition of small shared plates, fresh dips, warm bread, olives, grilled vegetables — translates perfectly to tropical eating. The flavours are bright and clean. The portions are designed to be shared. You order a few things, put them in the middle of the table, and just graze slowly while the afternoon turns into evening.
At KOHO Bar & Restaurant, the Mediterranean-inspired mezze menu is a genuinely clever piece of hospitality thinking. It works for a light lunch, a slow sunset spread with drinks, or as a starter before something more substantial. The combination of familiar Mediterranean flavours with fresh, locally sourced ingredients gives it a quality that feels considered, not just thrown together.
If you're with a partner or a small group, this is the order. Get a few plates, get some drinks, and let the afternoon do what it wants.
Pizza with a Tropical Touch at KOHO Bar & Restaurant
There is a time and a place for pizza, and that time is: always, and that place is: anywhere a wood-fired or stone-baked oven exists on a tropical island.
KOHO Air's pizza offering is the kind that travel writers like me tend to describe as "surprisingly good" — which sounds like faint praise but is actually the highest compliment, because the bar for island pizza is usually low enough to trip over. This clears it easily. Proper dough, real toppings, and that combination of familiar comfort and tropical setting that makes you feel like you've figured something out.
It's the perfect option when you want something uncomplicated and satisfying — whether that's a lazy lunch by the pool, a post-beach dinner, or the thing you order when you've been adventurous with the local dishes all day and your stomach wants something it recognises.
Taste the Ocean — Fresh Grilled Seafood
The Gili Islands sit in some of the most fertile, biodiverse waters in all of Indonesia. The fishing boats you see pulling out from the beach in the morning are not decoration — they are genuinely supplying the island's restaurants with what comes out of those waters every day.
Fresh grilled seafood on Gili Air, eaten close to where it was caught, is one of those travel experiences that earns the cliché. Fish, prawns, squid — simply grilled, served with rice and fresh sambal, on a table with sand under your feet and the sound of the ocean close enough to hear. It doesn't need to be complicated to be extraordinary.
At KOHO Bar & Restaurant, the fresh seafood is handled with care — grilled properly, seasoned without overwhelming the natural flavour, and served in a setting that makes the most of the island around it. Worth ordering at least once during your stay, preferably at sunset.
Raise a Glass to Island Life — Cocktails, Wine & More
Let me tell you about the end of a Gili Air day. The sun starts doing something extraordinary with the sky around 5:30 PM. The temperature drops just enough to make sitting outside feel perfect. Everything slows down by about twenty percent. And the right thing to do — the only thing to do, really — is find a good bar, order a proper drink, and just be there for a while.
KOHO Bar & Restaurant is, in my opinion, the best place on the island to do exactly this. The cocktail menu is well-crafted — not gimmicky, not overpriced, just good drinks made properly by people who know what they're doing. There's wine too, which sounds like a small thing but on a small island it's actually a very appreciated detail. Cold whites, good reds, a drinks list that feels put together rather than grabbed off a generic template.
The setting does a lot of the work — the poolside bar, the tropical garden around it, the sound of the island at dusk — but the drinks hold up on their own. Whether you're a cocktail person, a wine person, or someone who just wants a cold beer and a view, this is where you want to be when the day winds down.
Gili Air isn't the kind of island that's famous for its food the way Ubud or Seminyak are. But that's part of what makes eating here such a pleasant surprise — you come for the ocean and the turtles, and you leave having had some of the most satisfying, well-considered meals of your trip.
The combination of genuine local Sasak cuisine, fresh ocean produce, and a restaurant like KOHO Air pulling together everything from Mediterranean mezze to tropical cocktails in one beautiful setting — it makes for a food scene that punches well above its weight for a small car-free island in the Lombok Strait.
Come hungry. Stay longer than you planned. You'll figure out why everyone keeps coming back. Find The KOHO Air Cocktail Bar & Restaurant at here
