POTATO HEAD BEACH CLUB

Potato Head Beach Club is Bali's newest beach club.  Out to give neighbor KuDeTa a run for it's money, Potato Head is easily triple the size, with three restaurants, a large pool right by the ocean, and a sophisticated design atmosphere with vintage furniture and hundreds of faded pastel-colored shutters layered one on top of each other as decoration.

I was meeting a friend for lunch and got there right after noon on a Monday.  The place was not full although there were several families sitting around the pool and a few others having lunch at the lounge.  Since I was early, I sat at the long bar near the entrance and had an iced tea while enjoying the view.  C arrived soon after and we walked over to the lounge area where we sat at a low table close to the beach.

The lunch menu is limited with salads, sandwiches and a few light main courses - pastas and seafood.  C opted for the vegetable quesadilla and I chose the chicken tikka on pita.  When the server came to take our order and I told her my choice, she said that they didn't have the chicken tikka and then started to enumerate all the other menu items that were not available that day - another six (!!!) dishes that couldn't be ordered which made the already limited menu quite unappetizing.  This was pretty surprising for what seems to be a sophisticated restaurant that has now been open for about three months.  I can imagine that they have had some time now to get the service and food organized, but apparently not.  Since I was left with not much choice, I decided to have same thing C was having - the vegetable quesadilla which came filled with roasted onions, eggplant and zucchini and slathered with some type of creamy yoghurt mayonnaise - not bad but nothing special either.  It's a good thing that C and I had lots to chat about and the next couple of hours went by quickly.  Lunch ended with an espresso for me.  Potato Head has a lot of potential with it's wonderful setting and fun design and I look forward to going back when the other two restaurants are up and running to see if they turn out a better meal.

_____________________________

Potato Head Beach Club

Jalan Petitenget

Seminyak, Bali

Telephone: +62 361 737 979

*Open daily from noon to 1:00 a.m.

SARONG

Sarong has quickly become our new favorite restaurant in Bali for the atmosphere with its' cozy interiors (sofas doubling as banquettes and oval tables making the meal more convivial) and delicious family style Asian cuisine.  Our first visit to Sarong was just after we had moved to Bali, sometime in April.  I had heard so many good reports about this hip restaurant that I was really looking forward to our meal there.  A and I went on a weekday evening and shared two appetizers and two main courses.  It was fine but the food was nothing special and the piped-in music of classic rock and  pop didn't help make the place trendy.  Fast forward several months later to when A went back to Sarong for a work dinner and was pleasantly surprised with both the food and service, so much so that we went back for dinner soon after and have been several times more.  On each visit, the place was packed, the music was hip, the service was seamless and most of all, the food was fantastic.  When my family were here for a visit, I booked a large table at Sarong for their last night in Bali, knowing that everyone would have a great meal and a fun time.

We arrived at around seven o a Friday evening to an almost full restaurant and were led to a large table set up in the front room.  As soon as we sat down, drink orders were taken and wines were served along with their addicting tempeh chips and spicy cilantro dip.  I had pre-ordered a family style set menu of two appetizers, a salad, three main courses, vegetables, rice and assorted desserts so we wouldn't have to wait long for our dinner and clog up the kitchen with individual a la carte orders.  A few minutes later we were served our two starters -pacific oysters with coriander, deep-fried shallots and chili-lime dressing and the spicy salt and pepper squid.  Both were delicious - the oysters plump and sweet and complemented by the crispy shallots and sour-spicy dressing, the squid were crunchy bits sprinkled with slivers of red hot chili.  The cold Chilean Santa Ema Sauvignon blanc blended well with our first bites.

Next came the salad of crispy salmon with watermelon, mint and basil - a fish version of the traditional Thai beef salad which was hot, cold, sour, salty, sweet and crunchy at the same time.  I wasn't sure that the combination would work but somehow the rich salmon, the cold sweet watermelon and the crispy salmon skin worked so well together making this dish the favorite of almost everyone at the table that evening.  Main courses came soon after and I had chosen different dishes from their varied menu so we could have a taste of Sarong's south-east Asian cuisine.  From the tandoori, we had the Indian-inspired Ajwaini fish tikka cooked in saffron, cardamom, turmeric and lime.  From the  curries, we chose a red curry of duck with lychee, ginger and tomatoes and finally from the crispy things, we had the fried pork hock with tamarind and nam pla (Thai fish sauce).  These came with Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce and garlic from the stir-fries section.  Steamed jasmine rice and roti pratha (flaky bread) accompanied all the dishes.  We were stuffed at this point but still had the assorted traditional Asian desserts to contend with - chendol (rice flour jelly noodles in coconut milk), mango sorbet and some sweet rice cakes.  After some much-needed espressos, we left Sarong, sated and happy.

____________________________

Sarong

Jalan Petitenget 19X

Kerobokan, Kuta, BALI

Telephone: +62 361 737 809

*Open daily for dinner only.  Book at least a week in advance especially on the weekend.

SARDINE

On a mid-week evening, A & I decided to try out the relatively new arrival in the Bali restaurant scene -Sardine.  Located in Kerobokan, a bit further away from the hustle and bustle of Seminyak's restaurant strip, it is across the street from another Bali hip and happening restaurant - Metis.

You enter Sardine's unassuming facade of bamboo fence and thatch to face a large open-air all-white bamboo pavilion split in the middle by the bar.  The front area, where we were seated, and on the other side was a larger dining area.  The show kitchen is off to one side while the front dining area is flanked by green, grassy areas on either side and the endless rice paddies on the front for an impressive vista.

The French influenced menu at Sardine is limited and changes quite often as they serve whatever is fresh from the market that day.  On that evening, we were presented with a simple one-page menu of starters and main courses and a concise but well put-together wine list.  I chose the steamed Batik clams followed by the pan seared scallops and A had the smoked sardine starter and the pan seared sea bream main.  Water and some bread was served along with an amuse bouche.

We had just gulped down the amuse bouches when our appetizers were already there - the steamed Batik clams were steamed in a dill-infused broth of clam juice, white wine and ginger - a modern take on moules marinieres which was a nice change from the traditional.  A's sardine and potato appetizer was another modern approach to the typical French dish of harengs a l'huile - this time with marinated sardines taking the place of the herring but still accompanied by the warm sliced potato salad, onions, capers and oil dressing.  Both dishes were different but quite good.  As we settled in to enjoy our starters and wine - a glass of Sauvignon blanc for me and a Merlot for A, the place started to fill up and we realized why we were given a table in the bar area as soon enough, most tables were filled in both the main dining room and beside the bar. 

They had just cleared our appetizer plates when they soon set down our main courses which really didn't give us much time to enjoy the pause that usually takes place between courses.  My main course were three large pan-seared sea scallops, each one on top of a shredded potato cake and served with oven-cured tomato and sweet-corn coulis.  Although the scallops were good, they were slightly undercooked and the sweet-corn coulis was almost non-existent so it didn't really add anything to the dish, just a bit of yellow on the plate.  A's pan-seared sea bream was, as the French say "c'est correct" (a.k.a. nothing special),  - a slab of fish served with wasabi-mashed potatoes, miso eggplant and topped with a wakame (seaweed) salad.  The purported soy beurre blanc was on the plate but didn't really bring the flavors of the dish out or complement it in any way.  Both main courses were okay but not stunning and the descriptions on the menu made the food seem modern but somehow they just didn't come out that way when served on the plate.  I have to say that the starters were better than the main courses.  We had some dessert to complete the meal - apple tart for A and the flour less chocolate cake for me - good but not great.

We had finished our dinner in a bit over an hour - an amuse bouche plus three courses - a first for a fine dining restaurant and a bit of a surprise.  Next time, maybe I can make a meal of several appetizers and remember to chew really slowly and enjoy the view.

________________________

Sardine

Jalan Petitenget 21, 

Kerobokan, Bali

Telephone: +62 361 738 202