La Bianca
Dinner at Sunset
Some restaurants have a good view. La Bianca has built an entire moment around one.
Created by Fanny and Morgan, with chef Nicolas Codani in the kitchen, La Bianca has become one of those addresses on Lembongan that feels slightly more international than the island around it, without losing the relaxed rhythm that makes you want to be there in the first place. Set directly on the waterfront at Jungut Batu, beneath the broad branches of old ketapang trees, the restaurant opens towards an extraordinary 180-degree horizon. Come at the right hour and the sea slowly changes colour in front of you while Bali and Mount Agung sit in the distance. This is not simply somewhere to eat beside the water. The sunset is part of the reservation.
There is something Mediterranean in the way Fanny and Morgan have imagined the place, and more specifically something Corsican. La Bianca itself has never been particularly shy about that identity. Their menus have included Corsican prisuttu alongside seafood, grilled meats, pizzas from the wood-fired oven, salads, tapas and an extensive wine list. Under Nicolas Codani, a chef whose earlier career in France was already built around fresh produce and uncomplicated cooking, the intention makes sense: good ingredients, a proper grill and enough restraint to let the food remain food rather than become another tropical performance.
What I particularly like about La Bianca is that it manages to be romantic without becoming ridiculous about it. There are sofas facing the sea, warm hanging lights beneath the trees and tables close enough to the water to make dinner feel connected to the island rather than sealed away from it. Couples naturally gravitate here at sunset, but the place works just as well for a long lunch, drinks with friends or the sort of dinner that begins with a bottle of wine and mysteriously takes possession of the rest of the evening. The restaurant serves throughout the day, but the hour before sunset is when everything falls into place.
La Bianca is not the cheapest table on Lembongan, and nor should it try to be. The pleasure is in the combination: the setting, the food, a glass of something decent, the breeze coming off the water and the feeling that someone actually considered how all of those elements should work together. Reviews regularly single out both the sunset and the cuisine, and the restaurant now attracts enough people that booking ahead for the evening is sensible rather than overly organised.
Lembongan has plenty of places where you can eat barefoot and spend very little. I love many of them. La Bianca serves another purpose. It is the table I would choose when I want the island to dress itself up a little, when dinner needs to become part of the memory rather than simply interrupt the day.
Arrive before sunset, order a drink, choose your table carefully and do not spend the entire golden hour looking through your phone.
The view has already done the editing for you.
The Address
La Bianca Bali
Gg. Nusa Indah No.222
Jungut Batu, Nusa Lembongan
Klungkung, Bali 80771
Indonesia
Instagram
@labiancabali
Price
$$$ · Upscale
Expect IDR 250K and above per person for a proper dinner with drinks, with the final bill naturally depending on seafood, wine and your enthusiasm for extending sunset into the evening.
Go for
A romantic sunset dinner, Mediterranean flavours, grilled seafood and meat, wood-fired pizza, cocktails and one of the island’s finest waterfront settings.
Order
Let the evening decide. Seafood from the grill is an obvious direction, but the menu ranges broadly enough for a mixed table. If you drink wine, this is also one of the Lembongan addresses where ordering a bottle makes considerably more sense than usual.
Recommendation
Reserve your table for sunset and arrive early enough to enjoy the changing light rather than rushing in once the sun is already disappearing. Ask for a table facing the water if one is available. La Bianca becomes increasingly busy at this hour, and the best version of the experience begins before dinner itself.
