8 of the Best Concept Restaurants on the Gili Islands
Tiki Grove, Gili Trawangan
The Gili Islands have come a long way from the days when eating out mostly meant choosing between nasi goreng, pizza and whatever happened to be grilling on the beach.
You can still get all of those things, of course. But the restaurant scene across Gili Trawangan and Gili Air in particular has become considerably more interesting.
Some of the best restaurants on the Gili Islands now build their entire identity around a particular type of food, style of cooking or dining experience. There are dedicated ramen bars, a tropical tiki restaurant and cocktail bar, authentic Spanish tapas, premium steakhouses, Japanese kitchens, global street food and tasting menus inspired by the ancient Spice Route.
These are not simply restaurants with enormous international menus trying to cater to everyone.
They have a concept. And that genuinely makes them more interesting.
If you're looking for the best restaurants on Gili Trawangan, the best restaurants on Gili Air, or simply somewhere memorable to eat during your Gili Islands trip, these eight GiliPass partners are worth knowing about.
Quick List: 8 Concept Restaurants on the Gili Islands
If you just want the names:
Tiki Grove — Gili Trawangan
Kame Ramen — Gili Trawangan
Limo Warung — Gili Trawangan
The Cutting Board — Gili Trawangan
Yanai — Gili Air
GiliTIK! Street Food — Gili Air
KIOSKO Spanish Tapas & Churros — Gili Air
KAI, The Spice Table — Gili Air
Between them, they cover everything from Indonesian comfort food and Japanese ramen to Spanish tapas, premium steak and spice-led degustation menus.
1. Tiki Grove — Gili Trawangan
Tiki Grove, Gili Trawangan
Tiki Grove is one of those places that could quite easily have been gimmicky.
Instead, it has become one of Gili Trawangan's most established and consistently popular restaurants.
Hidden away from the busiest part of the island on Kelapa Road, the whole place leans enthusiastically into its tropical tiki identity: colourful drinks, palms, atmospheric lighting, good music and a menu that suits the surroundings.
The food has a strong Mexican and Southwestern influence, and tacos are a particular favourite, but the concept goes beyond simply putting Mexican dishes on an island menu.
The cocktails, music, service, décor and food all feel like parts of the same experience.
That matters on Gili Trawangan, where plenty of restaurants can serve you a perfectly good dinner, but considerably fewer have a personality you remember afterwards.
Tiki Grove is equally easy to recommend for a relaxed dinner with friends or for drinks that accidentally become dinner.
It is also a useful option if you have spent a few evenings around Gili Trawangan's busy beachfront and fancy heading inland for something different.
GiliPass offer: 10% off regularly priced food and beverages. Nightly specials are excluded. Tiki Grove is open Tuesday to Sunday and closed on Mondays.
2. Kame Ramen — Gili Trawangan
Kame Ramen, Gili Trawangan
There is something particularly satisfying about finding a proper bowl of ramen on a tropical island.
Kame Ramen is built around exactly that idea.
Rather than being another general Asian restaurant with ramen appearing somewhere towards the bottom of a six-page menu, Kame focuses properly on Japanese ramen.
The noodles are paired with rich broths and classic Japanese flavours, with options including styles such as Shoyu ramen, all served in a small, relaxed ramen-bar setting.
It is a very different proposition from the beachfront seafood restaurants, pizza places and cafés that dominate much of the Gili Trawangan restaurant scene.
And that is precisely why it works.
After several weeks travelling Indonesia, there are certain days when another smoothie bowl, nasi goreng or plate of grilled fish simply isn't what you want.
Sometimes you want noodles and an enormous bowl of hot broth.
Kame fills that gap extremely well.
The restaurant is centrally located on Gili Trawangan and generally opens from the afternoon into the evening, making it an easy dinner stop before heading elsewhere on the island.
For Japanese food fans searching for something beyond sushi, this deserves a place on the list of the best restaurants on Gili Trawangan to try.
GiliPass offer: 10% off food and beverages. Valid for dine-in and cannot be combined with other promotions.
3. Limo Warung — Gili Trawangan
Limo Warung, Gili Trawangan
Not every good restaurant concept needs to reinvent dinner.
Sometimes doing traditional food properly is the concept.
Limo Warung is the Indonesian entry on this list, serving a menu centred around familiar local dishes and the kind of straightforward, comforting Indonesian cooking that visitors should eat at least several times during a trip through the country.
Expect classics such as nasi goreng alongside other Indonesian favourites and regional dishes.
It is also a useful reminder that finding the best restaurants on the Gili Islands should not mean only searching for imported international concepts.
Indonesian food is still one of the biggest pleasures of travelling here.
Warungs occupy a particular place in Indonesian food culture: casual, accessible and generally much less formal than conventional restaurants. Limo keeps that spirit while being an easy recommendation for visitors who want to explore local food without overcomplicating matters.
If your Gili Trawangan restaurant list is currently dominated by pizza, burgers, cafés and Western food, add at least one proper Indonesian meal.
This is a good place to do it.
GiliPass offer: 10% off food and beverages for dine-in customers.
4. The Cutting Board — Gili Trawangan
The Cutting Board, Gili Trawangan
The Cutting Board takes the opposite approach.
This one is about steak.
A relatively new addition to the Gili Trawangan dining scene, The Cutting Board is a premium steakhouse built around quality cuts of meat, proper preparation and the sort of substantial dinner you occasionally start craving after a week of island eating.
It is a simple concept, but a welcome one.
The Gili Islands have lots of casual restaurants. What they have historically had fewer of are restaurants that you might deliberately save for a particular evening.
The Cutting Board fits that category.
Think date night, birthday dinner, dinner with friends or simply the evening when you decide that tonight is definitely not another bowl of granola.
It also gives the Gili Trawangan restaurant scene some extra range.
You can spend lunchtime barefoot eating on the beach, go diving in the afternoon, and still finish the day sitting down to a premium steak dinner.
That ability to switch effortlessly between backpacker island and more polished holiday destination is increasingly part of Gili Trawangan's appeal.
GiliPass offer: Order steak and receive a complimentary dessert. The offer is dine-in only and limited to one dessert per table.
5. Yanai — Gili Air
Yanai, Gili Air
Cross over to Gili Air and the food scene arguably becomes even more interesting.
Yanai is one of the island's standout Japanese restaurants, with a menu spanning sushi, ramen and contemporary Japanese fusion dishes.
The emphasis here is noticeably on presentation and technique.
This is not just somewhere to grab a few sushi rolls before heading back to the beach. Dishes such as Eel Chirashi and Tempura Prawn show the more considered approach being taken in the kitchen, with beautifully presented plates and a distinctly Japanese identity.
Yanai therefore works particularly well for dinner.
Gili Air is quieter than Gili Trawangan in the evenings, and its nightlife often revolves around finding a good restaurant, having a few drinks and settling in rather than moving between bars.
A restaurant like Yanai fits that pace perfectly.
It is polished without feeling out of place on an island where everyone probably arrived by bicycle.
For travellers specifically researching the best restaurants on Gili Air, Yanai should be high on the list, particularly if Japanese food is involved.
GiliPass offer: One complimentary dessert when ordering a main meal. Valid for dine-in and not available alongside other promotions.
6. GiliTIK! Street Food — Gili Air
GiliTIK!, Gili Air
GiliTIK! takes a completely different approach.
The inspiration here is street food from around the world.
Its name comes from the Indonesian word gelitik, meaning "tickle", with the restaurant describing the idea as food that gives your taste buds a bit of a playful nudge.
That means the menu is intentionally broad, but importantly there is an actual theme holding it together.
You might find quesadillas and nachos alongside Pad Thai, nasi goreng, mie goreng, burgers and other international street-food favourites.
Essentially, it is a food trip without leaving Gili Air.
Located on Jalan Putih, GiliTIK! serves breakfast, lunch and dinner in a relaxed tropical setting and works particularly well for groups or families where everyone wants something slightly different.
It is casual, fun and accessible rather than trying to turn street food into fine dining.
That makes it one of the easiest restaurants on this list to drop into at almost any point during the day.
And because there are dishes from several different cuisines, it is also a good option for the inevitable evening where nobody in the group can agree on what they want to eat.
GiliPass offer: 15% off food and beverages for dine-in customers.
7. KIOSKO Spanish Tapas & Churros — Gili Air
KIOSKO, Gili Air
Finding a genuinely Spanish restaurant on a tiny Indonesian island remains one of the more unexpected pleasures of eating your way around Gili Air.
KIOSKO specialises in traditional Spanish food, particularly tapas and churros.
The menu includes recognisable Spanish favourites such as croquetas, tortilla de patatas, patatas bravas, bocadillos and gazpacho, alongside dishes including paella and fideuá.
And then there are the churros.
These are not simply included because somebody thought tourists might like them. The concept draws on a third-generation family tradition of churro making, which gives the restaurant considerably more credibility than the usual holiday-island approximation of Spanish food.
Add a cold sangria and you can briefly pretend the bicycle parked outside is somewhere in the Mediterranean rather than Lombok.
KIOSKO's inland Gili Air setting also suits the concept nicely: small, relaxed and somewhere to settle in rather than rush through.
For travellers who enjoy discovering specific cuisines while they travel, this is one of the more unusual Gili Air restaurants to put on the list.
GiliPass offer: 10% off food between 11am and 6pm. Valid for dine-in and cannot be combined with other promotions.
8. KAI, The Spice Table — Gili Air
KAI, The Spice Table, Gili Air
KAI, The Spice Table is probably the most ambitious restaurant concept on this list.
Located within the tropical grounds of Villa Tokay, KAI takes inspiration from the ancient Spice Route: the centuries-old movement of ingredients, cultures and culinary ideas between Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
The result is a menu combining Indonesian ingredients and spices with Mediterranean influences and techniques.
This is one of the restaurants to save for when you want dinner itself to be the evening's activity.
Alongside à la carte dining, KAI offers five-course and seven-course degustation menus, plus cocktail journeys and wine pairings.
It is still Gili Air. You have not suddenly arrived in Singapore. But it represents how much the island's food scene has evolved.
You can spend the morning snorkelling with turtles, eat lunch barefoot somewhere on the beach, go home for a shower and then sit down to a multi-course tasting menu that evening.
That contrast is brilliant.
For couples in particular, KAI is a strong choice for a special evening, anniversary dinner or one night during the holiday where you want to go considerably beyond casual island food.
GiliPass offer: There are two. At lunch, GiliPass holders receive 15% off food and drinks between 11am and 3pm. For dinner, the "First Table" offer gives 20% off the entire food and drinks bill for a 5:45pm seating. The dinner offer must be booked in advance through KAI's WhatsApp or booking system and excludes the Private Romantic Dinner package.
Eating Your Way Around the Gili Islands
One of the best things about eating on the Gili Islands today is the variety.
You can still sit on the sand with grilled fish and a cold beer.
You absolutely should, in fact.
But that is now only one small part of the food scene.
On Gili Trawangan you can move from Indonesian warung food to proper ramen, tiki cocktails or a premium steakhouse. On Gili Air, an evening might involve Japanese sushi, Spanish tapas, global street food or a seven-course Spice Route-inspired tasting menu.
And because the islands themselves are tiny, none of it ever feels particularly difficult.
Ride your bicycle. Find the restaurant. Order something good.
Then do it again tomorrow.
Save at Restaurants Across Gili Trawangan, Gili Air & Gili Meno
All eight restaurants in this guide are GiliPass partners.
GiliPass gives you access to savings and benefits at restaurants, cafés, bars, activities, wellness centres and other businesses across Gili Trawangan, Gili Air and Gili Meno.
Buy your pass online, receive it instantly by email, and show your digital GiliPass directly at participating venues to access the relevant offer.
And with well over 130 participating businesses across the islands, the restaurants above are only the beginning.
Explore all GiliPass restaurant offers and start planning where to eat on the Gili Islands.