We love Bali and it is always our top pick every year for a holiday. Part of the thrill of travelling back to the same place year after year is to always seek out something new to try.
This time, we headed out to Restaurant Locavore in Ubud, Bali. Locavore boasts a cuisine that combines the art of European modern cooking and locally sourced ingredients.
We made the reservation on the website for the 5 dishes sampling meal with beverage pairing at RP 1275. The interior decor of the restaurant was unassuming and it was a bonus to snag a window seat as we enjoyed the warm sunlight streaming in to the otherwise dim restaurant.
It is interesting to note that every dish comes with a suggested beverage pairing.
We started off with a selection of appetizers before the main courses arrived, so we probably ended up having 10 to 13 different dishes for a 5 course meal! While the appetizers were a bit of a hit and miss, the gastronomic experience was overall exciting and filled with anticipation.
Some of the more impressionable dishes include:
Tomato Sorbet to clear the palate (not shown in the pic). If you were a tomato, you would find new meaning in your life after being made into this sorbet. While the presentation was nothing to shout about, it completely melts in your mouth, tantalizing your taste buds with every sip. A little citrus, a little fresh and just a tad uplifting with every morsel.
"Into the Sawah" means "Into the Paddy Field" in Balinese. The dish features "heritage Galuh Rice, Snails & Garlic, 64 degrees duck egg, frog abon, fern tips and wild flowers". Sounds pretty adventurous if you ask me, but since I just visited the Tegalalang Rice Terrace in Ubud, this dish is even more meaningful to me as it includes "creatures" that can be found in the paddy field. Although it sounds a bit exotic even for an Asian, it was surprisingly delicious. I learned that while the menu in the restaurant changes week after week, this dish remains a staple on the offering. (Top right picture).
The dessert went way beyond my expectations when we were presented with a Congkak! Congkak is a game we often played on a boat-shaped dakon back in our younger school days. The aim is to collect as many points as possible and you can only win the game through using thorough mental calculation before your turn. The dessert (pastry/chocolate) was deftly presented in each hole of the Sungka board.
With a team of chefs that are ready to push the envelope to conjure up new European-Indonesian dishes, it is no wonder that Locavore made it to Indonesia's best restaurant in 2018 and was voted Asia's 50 Best Restaurants. Give it a try if you are in Bali, sit by the window, sip a cocktail and watch the world go by.
