Best Desserts and Sweet Treats on the Gili Islands 2026

I have a confession. I came to the Gili Islands for the diving and the sunsets, and I stayed for the desserts.

That sounds like a joke, but honestly? The sweet side of these islands caught me completely off guard. I expected basic pancakes and maybe a scoop of ice cream from a freezer somewhere. What I found instead was churros dipped in Mexican chocolate on the beach, freshly baked sourdough pastries with tropical fruit, chia puddings topped with coconut dulce de leche, and smoothie bowls so beautiful I almost felt bad eating them. Almost.

The food scene across all three Gili Islands has exploded in recent years. While the restaurants and seafood spots get most of the attention (and rightly so), nobody really talks about the desserts. That is a mistake. Whether you are a die-hard sweet tooth or just someone who believes every meal deserves a proper ending, these islands will not let you down.

Here is my guide to the best desserts and sweet treats on Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno, and Gili Air in 2026.

Gili Meno: Where Desserts Become an Experience

Gili Meno is the quietest of the three islands, the one people describe as the Maldives meets the Greek islands. It is also, somewhat surprisingly, where you will find some of the most impressive desserts in the entire archipelago. The food scene here punches well above what you would expect from a small coral island with no cars and no paved roads.

Pomona

If you only try one dessert on the Gili Islands, make it the churros at Pomona. This Latin-inspired beachfront restaurant sits right on the sand of Gili Meno, and their Churros con Chocolate is one of those dishes that people talk about for weeks after they leave. Crispy on the outside, soft and warm in the middle, served with a rich Mexican chocolate dipping sauce that has just enough bitterness to balance the sweetness. You will order them once and then come back the next day for more. I did.

But Pomona does not stop at churros. Their Tres Leches Chia Pudding is something special. It is topped with local seasonal fruits and a coconut dulce de leche that is dangerously addictive. If you are there for breakfast or brunch, the Banana Pancakes come stacked with Sumbawa honey and toasted peanut butter, which is the kind of combination that makes you wonder why you ever ordered anything else.

What makes Pomona work is the whole experience. You eat with your feet practically in the sand, there is usually great music playing, and the kitchen runs entirely gluten free. Every single item on the food menu is gluten free, which means if you have dietary restrictions, you do not have to spend twenty minutes reading labels and asking questions. You just order whatever looks good.

Their Sunday Beach BBQ (3pm to 8pm) and Friday Pomona Sessions are worth planning your island schedule around, especially if you want to stretch a sweet afternoon into a long, lazy evening.

BASK Restaurant and Beach Club

BASK is the kind of place where the desserts feel like a natural extension of a kitchen that genuinely cares about every detail. Their restaurant overlooks the ocean with an open kitchen where you can watch bread being baked fresh daily and dishes finished over open flame. The dessert menu changes with what is available and seasonal, but consistently delivers.

The pastry work here is surprisingly refined for a tropical island. You might find a deconstructed coconut cream tart one week and a rum-soaked pineapple cake the next, all prepared with the same attention that goes into their savoury courses. The fresh bread that comes out of the oven each morning is worth a visit on its own, especially when it shows up warm at the Beach Club with house-made preserves.

If you time your visit right, you can grab a daybed by the 35-metre infinity pool, order something sweet from the Beach Club menu, and spend a couple of hours doing absolutely nothing productive. That is basically the definition of a good afternoon on Gili Meno.

For something completely different, head downstairs to Rosalee, BASK's hidden underground cocktail bar. The cocktails here lean into unexpected flavour pairings and theatrical presentation. If you have a sweet tooth, ask the bartender to make you something dessert-inspired. They are the kind of team that takes that as a creative challenge, and the results are usually extraordinary.

Other Meno Sweet Spots

Beyond the bigger names, Gili Meno has a handful of smaller cafes and warungs where you can grab a quick sweet fix. Look for stalls selling traditional Indonesian treats like dadar gulung (green pandan crepes filled with sweet coconut) and klepon (pandan rice balls with melted palm sugar inside). These cost almost nothing and taste incredible when eaten fresh and still warm.

Gili Trawangan: Sweet Treats Around Every Corner

Gili Trawangan is the busiest of the three islands, and it shows in the sheer number of places selling desserts. You could spend a week here just working through the sweet options and still not try everything. The strip that runs along the east coast is packed with cafes, restaurants, and little shops all competing for your attention, and the dessert game has gotten seriously competitive.

Smoothie Bowl Heaven

Trawangan is ground zero for the smoothie bowl trend in the Gilis. Nearly every cafe on the main strip offers some version of a blended acai or dragon fruit bowl topped with granola, fresh fruit, coconut flakes, and honey. The best ones use real frozen fruit rather than powder, and you can tell the difference immediately.

A few spots have taken the format and pushed it further. Look for bowls built around local ingredients like Sumbawa honey, freshly grated young coconut, passion fruit straight from Lombok, and cacao nibs from Bali. The trick is to go early, around 8am or 9am, before the fruit has been sitting out too long and while the granola is still crunchy.

Bakeries and Pastry Shops

Something interesting has happened on Trawangan over the past couple of years. A handful of genuinely talented bakers have set up shop, and suddenly you can get croissants, cinnamon rolls, and sourdough pastries that would hold their own in cities with much longer baking traditions. The island heat makes yeast work fast, which apparently does good things for dough if you know what you are doing.

Wander the main strip in the morning and follow your nose. There is almost always somewhere pulling fresh pastries out of the oven, and the combination of warm bread and sea air is one of those simple pleasures that sticks with you.

Night Market Sweets

The Trawangan night market is famous for its grilled seafood, but the dessert stalls are worth the trip on their own. You will find martabak manis (thick, sweet Indonesian pancakes stuffed with chocolate, cheese, peanuts, or a combination of all three), pisang goreng (fried bananas) served hot with a drizzle of chocolate sauce, and fresh tropical fruit juices that double as a light dessert.

Martabak manis deserves special attention. If you have never tried it before, imagine a thick, buttery pancake folded in half and filled with whatever combination of sweet toppings you choose. The classic is chocolate and peanut, but some vendors get creative with Nutella, condensed milk, or even crushed Oreos. It is street food at its most indulgent, and it costs next to nothing.

Ice Cream and Gelato

A few spots on Trawangan serve proper gelato made in small batches on the island. The tropical fruit flavours tend to be the standouts. Coconut, mango, and passion fruit all work brilliantly as gelato, and the freshness of the local fruit gives them an intensity you would not get from imported ingredients.

For something more local, keep an eye out for es campur or es teler at the warungs along the main road. These are traditional Indonesian shaved ice desserts loaded with sweetened condensed milk, jellies, coconut, jackfruit, and whatever else the vendor feels like adding that day. They are the perfect thing on a hot afternoon, which is basically every afternoon on the Gili Islands.

Gili Air: Laid-Back Sweets with an Artisan Touch

Gili Air sits somewhere between the energy of Trawangan and the total tranquillity of Meno. It has a bohemian, creative feel that shows up in its food, and the dessert scene here tends to lean healthy. That does not mean boring, though. Some of the most interesting sweet offerings in the Gilis are tucked away in small cafes on Air.

Raw and Vegan Desserts

Gili Air has embraced the raw dessert movement more than the other two islands. You will find cafes serving raw cheesecake made from cashews and coconut cream, energy balls rolled in cacao and dried fruit, and raw chocolate brownies that are somehow richer than their baked counterparts. These places tend to be run by people who are genuinely passionate about plant-based food, and the quality reflects that.

The best raw dessert spots are usually a short walk inland from the beach, in quiet garden settings where you can sit under a palm tree with your slice of raw lime pie and wonder how something with no dairy, no gluten, and no refined sugar can taste that good.

Cafe Culture and Afternoon Treats

The cafe scene on Gili Air is built around long, lazy afternoons. Many of the cafes serve house-made cakes and pastries alongside their coffee, and the standard is consistently high. Carrot cake, banana bread, coconut cream pie, and various tropical fruit tarts all make regular appearances. Some places bake in small batches and sell out by early afternoon, so if you spot something that looks good in the display case, do not wait.

Fruit Platters and Tropical Treats

One of the simplest and best desserts on any of the Gili Islands is a fresh fruit platter. Gili Air does these particularly well. Mango, papaya, dragon fruit, rambutan, mangosteen, and snake fruit, all sliced and arranged with a wedge of lime. Order one at sunset, sit on the beach, and try to remember the last time you ate fruit this good. Chances are you cannot.

Several restaurants on Air also serve grilled pineapple or caramelised banana with ice cream. These are straightforward dishes that rely entirely on the quality of the fruit, which is the advantage of being on a tropical island where everything is picked ripe and eaten the same day.

Traditional Indonesian Sweets You Should Not Miss

Beyond the cafes and restaurants, there is a whole world of traditional Indonesian sweets that most tourists walk past without knowing what they are missing. These are the treats you find at small warungs, morning markets, and street stalls, and they are some of the best value food on the islands.

Sweet	What It Is	Where to Find It
Klepon	Pandan rice balls filled with liquid palm sugar, rolled in coconut	Market stalls on all three islands
Dadar Gulung	Green pandan crepes with sweet grated coconut filling	Warungs on Trawangan and Air
Martabak Manis	Thick stuffed sweet pancakes with chocolate, cheese, peanuts	Trawangan night market
Pisang Goreng	Crispy fried bananas, sometimes with chocolate	Street stalls everywhere
Es Campur	Shaved ice with fruit, jellies, and condensed milk	Warung menus across all islands
Lapis Legit	Rich Indonesian layer cake with spices	Occasional bakery find
Kue Lapis	Colourful steamed layered cake	Market stalls

Klepon is the one I would insist everyone try at least once. When you bite through the soft, green outer layer and the warm palm sugar syrup floods your mouth, you understand why this has been a beloved snack across Indonesia for generations. It costs almost nothing and it is absolutely perfect.

Tips for Dessert Lovers on the Gili Islands

Go early for baked goods. The best pastries and cakes sell out by mid-afternoon on all three islands. If you see something good, grab it.

Try the local stuff. It is tempting to stick with smoothie bowls and Western-style desserts, but the traditional Indonesian sweets are genuinely wonderful and cost a fraction of the price.

Ask about gluten-free options. More places than you might expect cater to dietary restrictions. Pomona on Gili Meno has an entirely gluten-free menu, and many cafes on Gili Air specialise in raw and plant-based desserts.

Time your visit around events. Pomona's Sunday Beach BBQ and Friday Sessions both feature desserts alongside the main menu, and the atmosphere turns a sweet treat into a full experience.

Bring cash for street food. Most warungs and market stalls do not accept cards. Small bills work best.

Do not skip Gili Meno. Most day trippers head to Trawangan, but Meno has quietly built a world-class food scene that includes some of the best desserts in the entire archipelago. It is an unspoilt natural paradise with food that rivals anything on the more popular islands.

Plan Your Sweet Tour of the Gili Islands

The beauty of the Gili Islands is that all three are within minutes of each other by boat. You could easily dedicate a day to hopping between islands and trying desserts at each stop. Start with churros and coffee at Pomona on Gili Meno in the morning, grab a smoothie bowl on Trawangan at lunch, pick up a raw cheesecake slice on Gili Air in the afternoon, and finish with martabak manis at the Trawangan night market after sunset.

For a full list of restaurants and cafes across the islands, check out the Gili Trawangan restaurant directory, the Gili Meno dining guide, and the Gili Air cafe scene. You can also explore the bars and nightlife for after-dinner drinks and late-night treats.

The Gili Islands are already on every diver's and beach lover's bucket list. Once word gets out about the desserts, the sweet tooths are going to follow. Get there before they do.