Where to eat on Gili Meno, from a late breakfast to the nine o'clock table

Any list of the best restaurants on Gili Meno written by a restaurant on Gili Meno deserves the suspicion you are already giving it. So this is not that list. We will leave the rankings to the people who have eaten everywhere. What we can do is tell you exactly what we serve, what it costs, and the time of day each part of it is for.

First, the basics. Pomona is on the beach on the west side of the island, a short walk from the harbour with the water on your right. We are open every day from 11:00 to 22:00. Every plate is gluten free. Prices are in thousands of rupiah, so 85K is IDR 85,000, and they are subject to 7% service and 10% government tax.

Eleven o'clock

We do not do early breakfast; the doors open at eleven. But the menu has eggs on it for anyone whose boat got in late. Huevos rancheros on a crispy corn tortilla with black beans and poached eggs, 75K. A breakfast burrito with bacon and cheddar, 95K. Banana pancakes with Sumbawa honey, homemade toasted peanut butter and peanut praline, 75K.

Lunch with your feet in the sand

This is when the ocean side of the menu makes most sense. Ceviche mixto, with white fish, prawn and octopus in leche de tigre, is 120K. Tuna tostadas with yellowfin and guacamole on a corn cracker, 95K. Baja fish tacos with crispy snapper on soft corn tortillas, 110K. A Bintang is 60K. A ceviche, a plate of tacos and two Bintangs come to 350K before service and tax.

Four to six

Happy hour. Drinks in pairs, two margaritas for 140K, on the side of the island where the sun goes down. We have written about the timing separately, because there is a small trap in it.

Dinner, from the fire

The Land section of the menu is subtitled From the fire, and it is the reason to come back after dark. Chicken anticuchos in aji panca at 85K are the easy start. The Peruvian chicken a la brasa at 170K comes with hand cut chips, fries, green coriander rice and chimichurri mushrooms. The picanha is 250g of grass-fed Black Angus rump cap with chimichurri and black beans, at 295K. From the water there is the grilled catch of the day, 195K.

For a table, the sangria comes in a 1200ml jug at 295K, red or white. The Margi'Verde, tequila reposado with cucumber and fresh jalapeno, is the one with a kick.

Who it suits, and who it does not

If you are gluten free, you can order anything. If you are vegan, seven of the eight dishes in the Soil section are vegan, and VG dishes are marked across the rest of the menu. Indonesian food is not on this menu. Everything here is Latin American.

Walk-ins are always welcome. For dinner and event nights, book ahead online or message us on WhatsApp; the last booking is at 21:00.