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paradise found<br />
COURTESY MAYA KERTHYASA<br />
its lush, newly expanded gardens. Looking for<br />
innovative farm-to-table and forage-friendly<br />
cuisine? Go directly to LOCAVORE (locavore.<br />
co.id), a world-class restaurant run by a<br />
Dutch-Indonesian duo that was just awarded<br />
Best Restaurant in Indonesia by Asia’s 50 Best.<br />
The most exciting culinary trend on the<br />
island, however, is a long-overdue celebration<br />
of Indonesian food. An incredibly rich and<br />
diverse repertoire of flavors and tastes that<br />
reflects the complex culture of the country<br />
itself—made up of more than 15,000 islands<br />
—Indonesian fare is having a moment<br />
because it’s healthy and vegetable-friendly.<br />
About six years ago, the Ubud-based writer<br />
and restaurateur Janet DeNeefe, who offers<br />
excellent market tours and cooking classes<br />
through her restaurant Casa Luna and the<br />
Honeymoon Guesthouse, launched Bali’s<br />
first food festival that focused primarily on<br />
Indonesia’s food scene: the UBUD FOOD<br />
FESTIVAL (ubudfoodfestival.com), which<br />
returns in mid-April. Some of the newest<br />
and most exciting restaurants and cafes on<br />
the island are Indonesian-inspired, such as<br />
the KAUM (kaum.com) restaurant, located in the<br />
Desa Potato Head in Seminyak, and the casual<br />
but ambitious HUJAN LOCALE (hujanlocale.<br />
com) in Ubud, which serves up elevated<br />
traditional dishes such as Sundanese steamed<br />
and fried fish dumplings with chili peanut<br />
sauce. For a romantic Indonesian meal<br />
with some old-school Bali magic, head<br />
to TANDJUNG SARI (tandjungsarihotel.com),<br />
a beautiful resort designed like a Balinese<br />
village, with seating under old palm trees lit<br />
by lanterns on the beach in Sanur. And worth<br />
the journey to the northeastern part of the<br />
island is a meal at the foot of Mount Agung<br />
surrounded by rice fields at BALI ASLI (baliasli.<br />
com.au), a restaurant and cooking school run<br />
by Australian Penelope Williams.<br />
HOMES FROM HOME<br />
Bali boasts some of the world’s most legendarily<br />
beautiful resorts—Four Seasons Sayan,<br />
Amandari, COMO Shambhala Estate— but<br />
the property that has most captartured the<br />
imagination of the experience-seeking next<br />
generation is BAMBU INDAH (bambuindah.<br />
com), an estate created by the former jewelry<br />
designer John Hardy and his wife, Cynthia,<br />
which is perched above a dramatic river gorge<br />
beyond Ubud. Originally made up of recovered<br />
antique teak houses surrounded by gardens<br />
and lily ponds, it has evolved over the years<br />
and spilled down to the river to include several<br />
stand-alone villas of bamboo and copper<br />
that look like giant art nouveau bird nests,<br />
conceived by John Hardy’s daughter Elora<br />
and her design studio Ibuku. Elora Hardy has<br />
also designed a village of bamboo villas, one<br />
more ornate and fantastic than the next, called<br />
GREEN VILLAGE (greenvillagebali.com)<br />
located on a jungle ravine between Seminyak<br />
and Ubud—some of the houses are available<br />
to rent through Airbnb.<br />
One of the newest properties to open that<br />
celebrates “old-world” Bali is the CAPELLA<br />
UBUD (capellahotels.com), designed, without<br />
cutting down one single tree, by the renowned<br />
Bill Bensley. A resort on <strong>10</strong> acres of emeraldgreen<br />
rice terraces made up of 23 of the most<br />
luxurious and fantastical tents ever conceived—<br />
complete with rock pools and suspension<br />
bridges—each tent has a theme (such as the<br />
Librarian’s and Cartographer’s tents) and is<br />
lined with lavish, rich textiles and rare antiques.<br />
On the less-developed east side of the island<br />
are several exclusive accommodations that are<br />
highlighted by the VILLA IDANNA (alilahotels.<br />
com), an elegant, intimate estate built by<br />
Idanna Pucci—the niece of the Italian fashion<br />
designer, Emilio Pucci, who has had a love affair<br />
with Indonesia since the 1970s—and the very<br />
insidery VILLA CAMPUHAN (villacampuhan.<br />
com), a series of Sumatran-inspired villas with<br />
multitiered roofs designed on a palm treelined<br />
stretch of sand by the renowned Balibased<br />
designer Linda Garland and owned by<br />
the Hollywood director/producer Rob Cohen.<br />
Another cultish property especially popular<br />
with high-end surfers is ULUWATU SURF<br />
VILLAS (uluwatusurfvillas.com), about a dozen<br />
rustic but spacious thatched-roof villas with<br />
an excellent cafe, scattered in lush gardens on<br />
a cliff overlooking one of the island’s best surf<br />
breaks. If you need a party-beach fix, head to<br />
the buzzy Seminyak area and book a room<br />
at the just-opened, Rem Koolhaas-designed<br />
hotel that is part of DESA POTATO HEAD<br />
(potatohead.co). More of a village of creatives<br />
and design lovers than a hotel, the complex<br />
also includes the legendary Potato Head beach<br />
club and Katamama, a modern building made<br />
from locally made bricks, traditionally used for<br />
building Hindu temples, with mid-century<br />
design-inspired interiors.<br />
CULTURE, CRAFT & WELLNESS<br />
Bali is an island of craft, dotted with<br />
villages populated with master artisans who<br />
specialize in everything from mask carving<br />
to jewelry making. Plan to spend an hour<br />
wandering around the TONYRAKA gallery<br />
and cafe complex (tonyrakaartgallery.com)<br />
in the carving village of Mas, which offers<br />
an impressive selection of tribal art and<br />
sculpture sourced throughout the archipelago.<br />
For a modern take on Balinese craft, make<br />
an appointment to stop by the CRAFT<br />
NetJets 51
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