Remindful of a seaside in Portofino, Italy, this Trattoria Acqua perch above La Jolla Cove, is close enough to overlook the ocean breezes and crashing waves of Pacific at the Cove. This is practically an unrivalled location evenmore it is located in most prime real estate in the city. Entering through the covered patio you will see tiled multilevel terraces colligated by trumpet vines, ceramic tile walkways and strung lights. This courtyard’s lush greenery with rustic walls and outdoor seating shaded by flowering vines, vaguely evoking a real romantic Tuscan villa. The dining room’s rustic charm both a very tranquil atmosphere with a breath of old world charm. The tables occupied by couples or groups celebrating special occassions are quiet and very well-separated.

With views and surroundings like that, at any other restaurant you would forget the meal sitting in front of you - but not here at Trattoria Acqua. You will certainly get the very best San Diego banquets here.

The menu of Italian coastal cuisine accentuates fresh seafood prepared with Mediterranean flair, displays an admirable range of the diversity of undersea. Orata (Halibut), Branzino (Seabass), Marmora (Purple Snapper), Royal Scampi, Accuga (Sardines), and Rombo (Turbot) are only some of the sea-faring creatures that will grace your plate in delicious fashion. Lobster ravioli with tomatoes and basil is awesome. Baked jumbo shrimp with Parmesan bread crumbs and pastas is outstanding.

But not only fresh seafood, they also offers decadent pastas, meats, and game dishes. Baked greenlip mussels with bread crumbs, garlic, and fresh herbs have been a signature dish for years for good reason. Steak preparations — both fillet and New York strip — are divine entrees also.

From starters to entrees, the flavors are rich and Mediterranean. The award-winning cuisine is inventive and containing fresh ingredients and decadent selections. And of course, as in any fine Italian restaurant, wine is a requirement. At Trattoria Acqua perfect wine list adds to perfection just until it seems there could be nothing more to add.

If you love to visit or stay in Bali and a culinary traveller, you will find this information useful.

1. Babi Guling /Suckling pig
Babi guling is the most iconic and famous dish from Bali. You can find Babi Guling restaurants (or stalls) almost everywhere in Bali, just look for the sign of an impaled pig from rear end to mouth.
Babi  guling is made of a whole young pig stuffed with varius spices and roll roasted for 3-4 hours on top of a coconut husk fire. One serving of babi guling usually consists of the dry and crispy skins, diced babi guling meat and the spices from inside the babi guling.

2. Lawar
Lawar is Babi guling/s sidekick and is usually served during traditional bali ceremonies. The main ingredients is blood, thus resulting in the red color that lawar usually is. But that is the traditional way, these days you can find the off white colored lawar that is bloodless for those of you that are adventurous, but not quite ready to try a dish that consists or raw blood.
Ngelawar (the skill to make lawar) is carried out proudly because not many balinese  men can do it, because mixing the right ingredients is  a very difficult task.

3. Urutan
Now you might be wondering if suckling pig has its inside stuffed with spices and vegetables, whre do the insides go? Do they throw it away? Nah, they make urutan out of it.
Urutan is sausage ala Bali made of chopped pork encased within pog’s intestines. Coconut fiber is used ti fasten the ends of the intestines and then usually local Balinese would hang the urutan eight hours before frying and serving it. Rumor has it the drier it gets, the better it tastes.

4. Jukut Ares
Here in Bali we do eat trees, banana tree for example (even though we don’t eat the leafs). Jukut ares is made of young banana tree mixed with the various meats such as (again) pork meat. The young banana tree trunk is chopped and boiled in spicy water resulting in a soup like culinary experience.

5. Jukut nangka
Jukut nangka is young jackfruit soup with coconut milk. Unlike most Balinese food, jukut nangka is not a very spicy soup, in fact it’s mainly salty. The soup is boiled for may hours, causing the soup to be concentrated, i.e. very salty but also very tasty. The jukut nangka is served in medium size slices and with a lot of kuah (soup).

6. Sate Lilit
Sate lilit is made of seafood, minced to a paste like state before being put back together around the katik sate (satay stick) creating an interesting seafood taste. As most of Balinese food, sate lilit is also hot and spicy because its spices are made of birds-eye chilies. The sour taste comes from lime leaves and lime juice mixed in the spices.
A lot will agree if we say this is the best there is, perhaps the finest tasting satay in the world.

7. Rujak kuah pindang
Rujak is Balinese fruit salad, usually it consists of unripe mango, jilama, pneaplle, cucumber, ambarella and star fruit (it can be any unripe fruit really..) sliced to thin pieces. The special sauce for rujak is called bumbu rujak, this gives a sweet sour and spicy fruit taste.
The bumbu rujak consists of coconut sugar, tamarind (asem) shrimp paste (terasi), salt, small green and red chilis. Another type of rujak, that even most Indonesians outside of Bali don’t know if, is rujak kuah pindang. Pindang is a kind of fish, and the kuah pindang means the broth of the fish that comes from the boiled fish. So yeah, if you haven’t tried rujak kuah pindang before, you should be prepared to taste a mixture of many different tastes all at once.

8. Plecing kangkung
Kangkung is the Indonesian word for swamp cabbage, a very common vegetable consumed by locals. Swamp cabbages are hand picked and sliced to small pieces, then boiled. The plecing kangkung is served with very spicy and hot sauce made of chili, shrimp paste, peanuts and lime juice. The fact that most girls like plecing kangkung (and rujak) is still a mistery yet to be solved.

9. Tum
Tum is made of various meats minced to very very small pieces mixed with spices and encased with banana leaf then steamed for two hours. Tum is served to accompany nasi, we have to peel the banana leaf first before we can enjoy the spicy tum (of course lah, did you think you were going to actually eat the banana leaf).

10. Ayam Betutu
Ayam betutu is made of a whole chicken stuffed with spices and cassava leafs. Originally the method of roasting the chicken was to wrap it with banana and coconut leaves, put it inside a hole in the dirt and then fire is set on top of the hole for 6-7 hours. But if you go to a Balinese restaurant today, don’t expect to see them using this method. After all, its 2008.
There is also a different version : Bebek betutu. In this dish the chicken is replaced by duck.

11. Arak is wine of Bali, made form distilled Tuak. It’s the most common alcoholic beverage you can find in the villages of Bali. Arak is very strong, looks like clear water, smells like.. rubbing alcohol and it doesn’t taste good. Drinking pure arak is a challenge for people, but less of a challenged, people usually mix arak with other liquors such as brem (wine made of rice) and soft drinks. You’ll find that these days many restaurants and clubs use arak in their cocktails.
Tuak is a signature beverage from Bali made from the sap of flower buds of many kinds of palms. The taste depends on how long the tuak has been kept. Tuak manis (sweet tuak) is the kind of tuak that is fresh from the palm tree. It tastes sweet and has less alcohol. Drinking a lot of Tuak manis has been said to cause many stomach problems such as flatulence and diarrhea. The tuak wayah (old) because it’s kept for some time before its consumed, like wine, the longer you store it the better it tastes.