We arrived at Ippolito Specialty Coffee expecting the place to be packed like so many other good coffee shops in Seminyak. But what we saw was a place so empty that we thought it was closed when we arrived.
It’s one of the enduring paradoxes of Indonesian cafes. You can be good, but you’re not necessarily going to be popular and I see that a lot in Bandung.
A range of food and drinks is served here as well as fantastic coffee. I tried a cappuccino which in my opinion is as good as just about anywhere in Seminyak.
Although we haven’t tried the food, it does come recommended and the menu does look quite tempting.
The building itself is very instagrammable. Lots of brick, wood, great furniture and walls filled with bottles of wine.
Outside you’ll find the pool area. THE POOL AREA! This area is free for customers of the cafe. So if you want somewhere to swim and eat, but don’t want to pay for a beach club, we think this is the next best thing.
The pool is a thing of beauty and if you don’t get a good instagram shot here, you’re not trying!
We really like this cafe. It does have a bit of a restaurant feel and that’s probably what puts most people off. But don’t be put off. It’s perfectly fine to come here, grab a coffee and set up your laptop. And besides, the wifi is fast!
Ippolito Specialty Coffee
Jalan Lebak Sari, Petitenget, Seminyak
Opening Hours: 07:00 – 23:00
Cappuccino: Rp39.000++
Swimming Pool: FREE
Coffee here is by Revolver, so you know it’s going to be good. And I can confirm that the coffee does indeed live up to expectations.
Wifi here is fast and I was consistently getting 20mbit up and down, so it’s a good place to come if you need to do some data intensive stuff.
I have to mention the seats. They are crap. Really crap. The concrete benches are too tall and your legs just dangle without any support.
Food is all cheap by Bali standards with the maximum price being Rp50.000. And it’s a good selection of food too with lots of muesli, bowls, toast and omelettes on the menu.
Additionally, the egg wash didn’t soak into the bread at all and this made the bread very dry on the inside. The French toast comes in different configurations and both I tried were ok, but I don’t need to try them again.
So what’s the verdict? Not bad, but not great either. If you can put up with some of the cheeky crowd and can manage to pick the right dish, you will probably like what’s on offer here.
Located not far from Jalan Double Six, it’s quite close to hotels such as The Haven which will be convenient for most people.
Coffee here has a good reputation and our friend had a cappuccino which he said was a good one. It certainly looked good!
The fitout of the cafe is quite modern and enjoyable to sit in while you surf the wifi. And the wifi is very fast at 25mbit both upload and download.
So what’s our overall view? An enjoyable place for breakfast lunch or dinner in a pleasant environment. Centrally located and fast wifi. Worth a try.
We recently ordered coffees juices and 4 big dishes. 3 of the dishes were top notch, one of the dishes was poor. So what’s going on?
The roast beef roll was a revelation coming with a pot of luscious gravy and a slathering of mild wasabi. Such a fantastic combination executed beautifully at Sisterfields.
French toast is often disappointing, but at Sisterfields you get one single slice of toast with an awesome quinelle of ice cream and lots of matcha custard. We love this dish!
The single dish we hated was the pancake. The pancake actually looks the best, but it was dry and stodgy with no moisture at all. Your mouth instantly becomes clammy and dry. Such an unpleasant experience. What’s more, there seemed to be a lack of sweetness throughout the dish despite a generous amount of berries. It’s almost as if a sauce or syrup was accidentally left off. What’s going on there?
Coffee at Sisterfields is top notch and one of our favourites in Bali. We especially love the texture of the cups the coffee served is in.
We love Sisterfields and it seems that everyone else does too. At peaks time you’ll wait 20 minutes for a seat in the cafe next door. A highly recommended cafe in Bali despite a few missteps.
With that in mind, come here before even more of the ricefield disappears.
We are super disappointed with their cold-pressed juices as they are bought from outside and not juiced in house. Why on earth would we come to a cafe and pay Rp50.000++ when they simply buy their juices from some other place? So so disappointing. For us, it’s enough for us to never come back.
And it’s this sort of disappointment that we fear may seep into other parts of the business. But we just can’t know unless we try everything.
Recommended for photos and the relaxing atmosphere.
The design of the of the cafe is modern and comes with a bunch of funky bikes hanging on the wall.
We ordered a few dishes and really like the smoothie bowl. Smoothie bowls can take some getting used to if you’re into super sweet breakfasts as often smoothie bowls lack sweetness.
And the smoothie bowl at Peloton is just fruit and grains with no added sugar. Ours was mainly filled with sweet fruits and the lack of added sugar was not a problem at all. It was a seriously tasty smoothie bowl.
Coffees here don’t come with milk. There is no milk in this cafe. Your only options are things like almond or soy in order to get your drink how you like it. But if you’re dairy intolerant, you will love the dairy free nature of this place.
Prices here are slightly lower than similar standard cafes in Bali and we love that.
If you’re not vegan, there are better cafes in the area.
In our view, the food and drinks at Sea Circus are as good as they always have been and remain one of our top picks in Seminyak.
Juices are fresh and sweet without the need for extra sugar.
Sea Circus remains one of our Bali favourites and we think it will be one of yours too. Top marks.
Additionally, the vibe was a lot more chaotic and not really that nice. If you love a chaotic vibe, maybe you’d love Pison when it’s busy.
The burger on a red velvet bun we had here was really really good. Generous meat patty, brioche-like bun and tasty cheese. It all sat together nicely so that you could pick it up and smash it.
The coffee here is also very good and up there with some of the best in Bali.
So while we think this is a very good cafe, we don’t really like it when it gets too busy.
So will we come again? Absolutely. It’s just one of those places that is nice to come with a coffee and your laptop.
We ordered a range of dishes and all were quite good. The red velvet pancakes came topped with cream and were tasty and moist.
The banana bread French toast was also moist, but some might think it’s too small. We like the size.
The corn fritters were awesome and the addition of the avocado purée was a good choice in order to keep the dish from being too dry.
We’re fans of this place and would be happy to come back here again for breakfast or lunch. A good solid cafe for those in need of sustenance in Seminyak and one of the better places around.