Apéritif Bali – Fine Dining Ubud
Words: Monica Tindall
Photos: Han Sen Hau
Seated at Apéritif Bali, we feel as if we’re observing the good-looking cast and setting of a glamorous movie from a golden age. Black and white marble, arched colonial windows, crystal chandeliers, staff dressed smartly in tailored pants held up by suspenders and a soundtrack from the 20s all play a part. This is not my first rodeo at Apéritif Bali. I arrive ready to surrender to the indulgence, the luxury of a leisurely afternoon. It’s a place to settle, linger and enjoy. Come with friends. Get the wine or cocktail pairing. Let go.
Apéritif Bali
The colonial-era-inspired setting is housed at Viceroy Bali, overlooking rice fields on one side and lush jungle valley views on the other. Everything is grand and elegant. From the driveway to the bathrooms, no detail has been missed.
Led by Chef Nic Vanderbeeken, Apéritif Bali offers various degustation menus, including meat-free options. The kitchen brings new meaning to the phrase “we’re stronger together” with its European menu made better with Asian ingredients. The restaurant is known for its high-quality food experience, well-curated wine cellar, and craft cocktails—we highly recommend trying them all.
Apéritif Bali Tasting Menus
I’m a strong advocate of letting the chef decide, and you get to do that with both the Signature Menu (IDR 1,900,000+) and Avant-Garde Menus (IDR 1,900,000++) at Apéritif Bali. I’m fortunate to know the chef, so we swing between the two, giving you a little insight into both options.
Cocktails & Canapés
Both menus begin with Apero Time, a signature cocktail and canapé experience. A handsomely dressed bartender, Changga, from Pinstripe Bar (the speakeasy within Apéritif Bali), kicks us off with a cocktail, shaking and pouring us the Amaro Sour. The team blends Balinese ingredients to make their own local amaro. With highly nutritious papaya leaves as a base alongside a multitude of other gifts from nature, it’s almost a health tonic.
At the same time, four gorgeous canapés are presented to accompany our sips. The lovely server, Ida, explains the menu. She recommends eating the cured red snapper with ponzu and yoghurt first. It’s easy to spot as it’s sandwiched between potato tuile in the shape of a fish skeleton. The second is a tissue-paper thin shell filled with chicken liver mousse, seasoned with balado (an Indonesian chilli, shallots, garlic and tomato sauce) and topped with pickled shallot marmalade. Next, we take the coconut charcoal puff guarded under a dome of smoke. It’s filled with smoked mackerel cream, so Ida recommends popping the entire sphere into our mouths to avoid a cream incident. We finish with the more intensely flavoured chawanmushi crowned with shimeji mushrooms and dashi broth. We are happy.
Mushroom Forest (Avante-Garde)
Mushroom Forest is arranged on a pretty gold-embellished plate with tiny focaccia slices, shimeji and enoki mushrooms, local sweet potato and hibiscus leaves. It’s paired with Hakkaisan “Junmai Daiginjo” Sake from central Japan, which is clean, delicate, fresh, and floral and has us gently salivating on the side of our mouths. It’s served chilled in a beautiful Lehmann wine glass. It just so happens that their Maître d’Hôtel & Chef Sommelier Jean-Benoit Issele is the brand ambassador for these French beauties, and Apéritif Bali has the entire range exclusively.
The Bread Service
A solid wooden trolley is rolled over, holding a basket of house-made bread, a beautiful wooden chopping board and a serious serrated knife. Ida explains our choices of black olive and rosemary focaccia, black rice loaf, milk bun, sourdough and baguette. It’s not only the bread that’s for the choosing, but we also get to pick the butter – salted, sourdough (fermented made from the essence of sourdough) and truffle. Ida slices to our request and gives us all three butters to try. My favourite combo is the black rice loaf with the light tang of the sourdough butter.
Starters
Tuna
Cured yellowfin tuna is rolled, resembling the delicate petals of a flower. The fish is layered with pickled daikon and fresh cucumber and dotted with citrus gel and hijiki seaweed. The texture is light and fresh, but the highlight is the Indonesian rica rica sauce made from tomato jus, turmeric, coconut, chilli, kumangi oil (Balinese basil), and chopped chives, which is poured over just before serving.
The wine mate, Domaine Vacheron, Sancerre, Loire Valley, France 2022, is 100% sauvignon blanc from a family estate. It’s flinty and mineral and has a wonderful crisp finish, an excellent match to the light, fresh flavours in this dish.
Lobster
Bamboo Lobster has been grilled and mixed with sambal matah (a raw Indonesian sauce), then wrapped up in pickled daikon. The pale-yellow cylinder is then dotted with smoked ikura, dabs of sambal ulek (ground chilli sauce) emulsion and chives. On the side, there’s a delicious laksa bisque. May all bisque be laksa. Food is better with Asian spices.
Its wine mate is a 2022 Domaine Mamurata Trafalgar from Languedoc-Roussillon, France. It’s a skin-contact orange wine, copper in colour with a little sediment. Made from 100% muscat grapes, it has notes of tangerine, blood orange, and soursop. It’s an excellent food partner.
Scallop
We also try the Hokkaido Scallop from the Signature Menu. It’s been pan-seared until golden and sits in an aerated clam stock chowder foam. Chives and sliced clams sit on top while a sweet and sour pineapple sambal hides underneath. The 2021 San Marzano, Edda Bianco from Salento, Italy is a complementary partner. It’s a sophisticated white made from Chardonnay and indigenous white grape varieties with floral notes, peach, and vanilla aromas, and a fresh, mineral palate.
Mains
Duck
From the Avante Garde menu, eight-day-aged duck breast has been pan-seared and served pink in the middle on a coal-grey plate, acting as a brilliant canvas for the ingredients to shine. The plate holds a tiny mound of pumpkin puree with puffed buckwheat and pumpkin confit slices torched on top. Duck consommé is poured into a petite bowl on the side, then jamu sauce is spooned over the duck. Ida prepares nasi kuning (yellow rice) tableside. She starts with a bowl of long, leggy grains of yellow rice, adds some duck breast and skin, seaweed and spring scallions and mixes them together. She suggests mixing the duck with the condiments and rice and then sipping the soup. It’s a fabulous dish.
We switch the colour of the wine for the duck. It’s fruity and fleshy from a lesser-known area between Bordeaux and Spain, Languedoc-Roussillon. The 2019 Domaine Anne Gros & Jean-Paul Tollet “Les Fontanilles” is made by winemakers from Burgundy on 30 to 50-year-old vines of Syrah, Grenache, Sancerre and Carignan. It’s refined and elegant, a definite Burgundy influence.
Lamb
Before the Australian lamb arrives, a selection of knives is presented from around the world – France, Italy, Japan, Brazil and USA. I choose the pocket knife; it’s got some serious weight in the hand. I flick it open; it feels like it could do some damage. The sous-vibe lamb rack is delivered, crusted with dukkah and sided with potato gratin, sambal ulek emulsion and Chinese cabbage stuffed with rujak sauce (tamarind). Lastly, gulai sauce (coconut, turmeric, lemongrass) finishes the plate. The meat is incredibly tender, and once again, the Indonesian ingredients elevate the dish to utter deliciousness. It’s so good that we recommend retiring the knife and fork and picking up the bone so as not to waste a single bite.
The Coravin system is used for the lamb’s fine wine mate, a 2018 Tenuta San Guido “Le Difese” from Tuscany, Italy. It’s the same estate as Sassicaia, created as an answer to Bordeaux, the Super Tuscan. The 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Sangiovese blend is bold and structured with a rich bouquet of dark fruits and chocolate. In the mouth, the well-integrated tannins lead to a long, elegant finish.
Desserts
Sorbet
Peach Sorbet in pomegranate sauce cleanses our palates between courses. It’s topped with lemon espuma and tiny purple flower petals. A thin layer of jelly holds the sorbet in place. It has a wonderful texture and achieves its mission of readying us for the finale, prepared by Pastry Chef Ida Ayu Chinthya Dewi, who not only makes delicious desserts but presents them beautifully, too.
First Dessert
The first dessert, Sensation White (Signature Menu), is white on white on white. It’s not the easiest combo to photograph, but oh boy, is it delicious. Coconut meringue sticks hide a velvety, smooth emulsion. To the side, there’s a fine-grained coconut sorbet based on cheesecake crumble. Lastly, mango and coriander coulis breaks the white with a canary yellow pond in the middle. We love it. It’s absolutely stunning.
Second Dessert
Our second dessert, Chocolate Symphony (Avante Garde) is on round of chocolate cake coated in dark chocolate, with dark chocolate mousse and the most delicious yuzu curd. It’s topped with caramelia 36% and brown sugar whipped cream and adorned with gold flakes, chocolate sticks and chocolate soil. Chocolate and citrus are a magical combination.
Honouring our Japanese sake beginning and predominantly French wine pairing, our beverage pairing concludes with a splash of umeshu plum wine in a glass of Taittinger Brut Reserve Champagne. It’s well-balanced and we love the palate-cleansing effect of bubbles.
Mignardises
We move to Pinstripe Bar, the speakeasy next door, to conclude the exceptional experience with Mignardises and a cocktail. Once more Ida wheels out a trolley, this time filled with sweet confections: chocolate rocher – chocolate mousse and coffee cream, topped with edible gold and crushed nuts; passionfruit meringue pop – a passionfruit middle in a torched meringue casing; Indonesian cake – lapis legit cinnamon layer cake; pistachio cake topped with pistachio mousse and strawberry gel; and lastly, coconut pandan with palm sugar and pandan curd. The passionfruit pop and chocolate rocher are our faves.
Apéritif Bali Review & Menu
As our cocktail washes the last crumbs of sweets from our mouths, we reflect on the beautiful afternoon. Sommelier Jean Benoit perfectly summarises the Apéritif Bali experience for us: “We take you back in time in the setting, but keep you moving forward on the plate.” Han Sen says it’s a Gatsby good time. I say it’s European but superior with Asian spice, proving we are better together.
Reasons to visit Apéritif Bali: an incredibly elegant setting where all details are given importance; an exceptional culinary experience from start to finish; highly recommend either of the degustation menus; wine lovers should definitely sign up for the wine pairing; and cocktail fans must make time for a craft drink in Pinstripe Bar.
Apéritif Bali – Restaurant & Bar
Jl. Lanyahan, Br, Nagi, Ubud, Bali
+62 361 908 2777
aperitif.com
Apéritif Bali Opening Hours
Daily: 12 – 2 pm & 6 – 9 pm
Prices are subject to 21% Tax & Service
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