An Australian tourist says he was asked to settle a Rp5.4 million (US$430) bill while trying to leave Chez Gado-Gado in Seminyak as the restaurant was engulfed in flames.

Sebastian Amundsen, 22, was having dinner with friends at the restaurant on Sunday, August 30, when the situation suddenly turned chaotic.

Amundsen, who was born in Norway, later described the incident in an interview with Australian media, saying sparks began falling from the roof as diners rushed to get out.

“We only intended to have a normal dinner. Everything seemed normal. Then, in an instant, a quiet evening turned into complete panic,” he said.

Amundsen said he was dining downstairs and tried to leave with his group as the fire spread. He said a staff member stopped them and asked them to settle their bill before leaving.

“The frightening part was that as we were trying to leave, the restaurant initially told us we had to settle the bill before we could go,” he said.

He said he was not carrying cash and had to wait for a payment terminal to be brought to him. He then paid using Apple Pay.

Amundsen said he did not check the amount before making the payment because his priority was getting out of the restaurant safely.

“I didn’t even look at the amount on the bill. I just tapped my card, and then we ran outside,” he said.

A digital receipt later appeared on his phone, showing a US$430 payment made at 7.29pm local time.

Amundsen said he was among the last customers to leave as the fire intensified. By the time he reached safety, he said much of the restaurant’s roof was already engulfed in flames.

“If we had stayed any longer, we could have died,” he said.

The fire broke out shortly before 7.30pm during a birthday celebration. It was reportedly triggered after a hydrogen-filled balloon caught fire, with flames quickly spreading through the restaurant’s thatched roof.

The blaze destroyed much of the building, leaving the site heavily damaged by the following day.

A staff member reportedly suffered burns to his hand, while an Australian teenager was taken to hospital after suffering burns in the incident.

Amundsen said returning to the site the following day gave him a different perspective on what had happened.

“Seeing footage of the incident afterwards feels very different from being there. You can see the flames, but it’s difficult to describe how frightening and chaotic it was,” he said.