Darleen's Cafe & Resto

Darleen's is a large, timber-built café and restaurant in the centre of Sembalun, lit up with strings of lights after dark. It is one of the few places in the valley with a menu wide enough to please mixed groups, covering both Indonesian dishes and Western comfort food, and it handles big parties well if you call ahead.

Reviewers rate the soto daging, soto ayam and chicken satay, and the house herbal drink and kodrek, a traditional warm drink, are good choices on a chilly Sembalun night. Pizza gets good comments; some Western dishes are less consistent, and the kitchen can be slow at busy times, so allow plenty of time. Staff are friendly and attentive.

It opens from 13:00 until 22:00 (23:00 on Fridays and Saturdays), so it is a dinner rather than a breakfast stop. Prices are higher than local warungs but still moderate. It is a convenient place to eat before or after the Sembalun route up Rinjani.