What a delight to secure a highly sought after reservation at Locavore right before they closed their doors to relocate and form the new exciting culinary concept, Locavore NXT, which is next on our list to try!
Locavore is located in town of Ubud in Bali and has been consecutively voted Indonesia's best restaurant and earned recognition on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants. We were giddy to be able to experience their Artefact menu which celebrates 50 of their favourite recipes over the past nine years. The Artefact menu was split into three “exhibitions” (18-course menus), presented across various "galleries" and rolled out throughout the year. Each recipe was preserved and honoured with artworks by local creatives.
Locavore celebrates local produce with modern cuisine, with 95% of the produce sourced from local providers. The restaurant vibe is modern, casual and inviting with friendly service. There is no pretense considering the high accolades Locavore has earned in the recent years.
In Gallery One, as a welcome starter, we were presented with an Edible Bouquet, representing a Canang Sari, a Balinese Hindu offering which symbolises gratitude. This lovely bouquet consisted of wild leaves and flowers with a spray of hisbiscus vinegar and a dash of sea salt. It was a nice light and refreshing to whet our palette with and to begin our meal with a full sense of gratitude.
Next came their infamous "Monkey Business" which presented fried ant eggs, with crispy aromatic puffed rice, stingless bee honey, and lemongrass as a dipping sauce. We had never tried ant eggs before, so it was interesting introduction.
Bali's signature flower, the Frangipani was presented as a Frangipani fritter. I had always loved the fragrant scent and beauty of the Frangipani flower but had never thought it to be edible. Again another first, the Frangipani fritter was delicious, simply served lightly fried with marigold emulsion and salt and vinegar.
Black Rice Blini, a small bite with smoked egg emulsion topped with crispy puffed black rice was the next to be served.
One of our favourites was the Oyster Mushroom tempura, lightly battered with a dipping of oyster emulsion mayonnaise on the side.
Miang Kham, a one bite wrap was next on the list. This mini bite was a betel leaf with chili, peanut and crystal salts on the side for dipping.
Charred Mango marinated in passion fruit juice, pyramid salt and grated long pepper was another interesting small bite.
The Hot an Cold tomato dish was a very unique and creative way of presenting the tomato in texture, temperature and flavour. A warm clear tomato consomme served with celery salt and a tomato sambal sorbet.
The concept of the bread basket was spelt bread served with dips made from kitchen leftovers, emphasising the sustainability nature of Locavore.
We began the next chapter of the exhibition in Gallery Two with a Roasted Watermelon, slowly roasted watermelon with brined cherry tomatoes, tomato dashi and savoury watermelon caramel. The whole watermelon is roasted overnight and gives it a meat-like texture with complex flavours, it really did taste like a juicy piece of steak. The roasting juices are then reduced even further to form a savoury caramel to season it with. This dish was spectacular in how it was so creatively done as well as the surprising texture and flavours.
Next arrived one of Locavore's signature and infamous dishes, Flower Power 2.0. Marigold flowers with young white corn rice, toasted corn husk oil and nixtamalised corn miso veloute. Nixtamalised is a traditional process that is used in Mexico and Central America where the corn is treated with lime, cooked, dried and ground to produce flour used to make tortilla.
Amongst many of the other firsts we tried, a noteworthy one is the Raw Lamb. Roasted lamb I have tried many times but never lamb in its raw format. Surprisingly the raw lamb was quite tasty. The raw lamb was served with kari kambing shio koji, sawah leaves, warm lamb fat vinaigrette and crispy aromatics.
An interesting pairing was the Lobster with Durian Sambal Tempoyak. The lobster was very juicy and succulent. Although I'm not a huge fan of durian, I have no doubt that the durian lovers out there would certainly appreciate this dish.
Just when we thought we couldn't eat anymore, our Catch of the Day arrived. Pan fried fish, charred shallot blossom, lime pickled spring onions, wild shallot emulsion and cured egg yolk. The flavour of the charred shallot blossoms was sweet yet smoky.
Cabbage and Bacon was served next. A whole cabbage roasted in bacon fat, submerged in bacon dashi and topped with cashew sour cream, bacon shallot crumble and lacto fermented shallot powder.
With its intense fine marbling and buttery tender texture, the Tokusen Wagyu flap steak was the perfect finish to our ensemble of savoury dishes. The wagyu was marinated in rendang shio koji and accompanied by daikon roasted in a smoked beef fat and black shallots. Such robust and powerful flavours.
And finally the desserts. First up was the Bubur Sumsum, which is a frozen rice porridge with seasonal mango, crispy rice and mango vinegar.
And lastly the Kluwak and Chocolate with nuts, banana, rice and pandan.
And not to be missed were the freshly made madeleines to finish off the meal.
Such innovative flavours using local produce at Locavore. We were glad to have made it there before Locavore closed its doors to embark on next new adventure at Locavore NXT. We must plan our next culinary visit to Bali to experience the new creations at Locavore NXT.
LOCATION
Although Locavore has closed its doors, Locavore NXT is now open to carry on the culinary traditions.
Locavore NXT
Jl. A.A. Gede Rai Gang Pura Panti Bija, Lodtunduh,
Kecamatan Ubud, Kabupaten Gianyar,
Bali 80571, Indonesia
HOURS
Monday to Saturday 5:30pm - 8:30pm
RESERVATIONS
Advanced bookings recommended by phone at +62 821-4495-6226, online or by email at info@locavore.co.id
MOST RECENT VISIT
9 September 2023