Streets of seminyak ; Jalan Laksmana

Jalan Laksmana has to be the most mixed up street in history. It started as Oberoi Road, changed to Jalan Lesmana, then Laksmana and somewhere in between became Eats Street. Eats Street sounds so clichéd - we’ll just stick with Jalan Laksmana.

As everyone knows there are loads of restaurants down that popular road, but that’s not all, great shops are springing up all over the place and if you are looking for real estate, it’s a one stop shop. Come and join the beat for a trip to our old haunting grounds, Laksmana Street.

For the uninitiated - You can find all sorts of dining options on Jalan Laksmana. Italian, Moroccan, American, European, Mediterranean, Japanese, Korean, Greek, Indonesian - Healthy, Greasy, Light and Heavy, it’s all there and there’s no doubt about it, it just keeps on getting better.

I remember Cameron from La Zumba Café saying a few years ago, “I wish there were brand name shops down this street.” He got his wish – kinda. Paul Ropp’s boutique started the shift to designer clothing shops and the road hasn’t looked back. By The Sea, Lilly Jean, Morena, Zakz and many other local brand names have set up their retail outlets and have brought the level up a few large notches in recent times. There are also a few new home wares stores sprouting up.
From the café spots at the beginning of Jalan Laksmana the level rises slowly but surely till the beach end where the culinary and wallet factor starts to record massive heights on the F&B Richter Scale. By the time you’ve made it to the beach side, the style and cool of Seminyak can be found in all its glory. Once you’ve been to Kudeta, The Legian and on The Samaya’s Breeze restaurants, the ocean views and the haute cuisine would have successfully knocked your proverbial socks off.

If you haven’t had enough and it’s way past your bedtime the last snack can always be found back in the middle of it all – 24 hour dining at Soho and Circle K.

And just to make sure you have got somewhere to lay your head, there’s plenty of villa complexes right by the side of the road – from one end to the other…

Jalan Laksmana used to be rice field paddies not long ago. It was like the access road to the Oberoi Hotel for many years. How things are changing in this town..