Food Chronicles

Dining in Indonesia’s Best Restaurant: Restaurant Locavore

Ranked #1 in Indonesia on Asia’s Best Restaurant List

Ranked #1 in Indonesia and #22 on Asia’s Best Restaurant List, Restaurant Locavore brings the best of Bali and Indonesia to the table.

Located in central Ubud in the middle of the city center, the casual restaurant offers casual modern cuisine with European and Indonesian influences. As the restaurant’s name suggests, all the ingredients are locally sourced – even the plates and silverware come from regional craftsmen.

Restaurant Locavore’s ingredient driven philosophy produces artful and creative dishes that make for a fun dining experience and its deserving title as the number one restaurant in the country.

Bites Before the Tasting Menu Begins

Even before the tasting menu begins, you will be welcomed to Restaurant Locavore with a series of “snacks” or amuse bouche plates. By the bread plate, your palates are warmed up for the start of the tasting menu

Welcome bite. Influenced from the Thai welcome snack “Miang Kham”, this little bite begins your Restaurant Locavore journey. As each plate is brought out, the server or chef explains the ingredients and the best way to eat each dish
Tempura-fried local spinach. The starter bites immediately introduce you to how the kitchen puts an emphasis on letting the ingredients shine; in this case, the leaf. Plus, you can admire the serving plates and creative presentations
Bread course. The last of the welcome snacks is this bread course. In the case of my visit, it was a fresh, warm roti with three dipping sauces which can be paired individually or combined in one bite

 

5 or 7 Course Tasting Menus

The entire menu for Restaurant Locavore is a choice of the Locavore or Herbivore (vegetarian) tasting menus. Once you decide which of the two tasting menus, you then decide if you will have the 5-course or 7-course. Finally, you must choose if you will also add the beverage pairing (which is a series of creatively crafted cocktails).

The menus range from 625,000 rupiahs ($50 USD) to 1,425,000 rupiahs with the pairing ($110 USD). As the prices are actually quite reasonable for the quality and quantity served, the choice of menus comes down to how hungry you are for this amazing meal.

My recommendation: come hungry and go with the 7-course Locavore menu with beverage pairing. Make sure to account for at least 2.5 hours for a relaxed lunch or dinner. And, sit at the bar to have a front-row seat of the kitchen staff in action.

“Let’s Call it an Indonesian Ceviche” with raw fish, asinan liquid, bangkuang, sayur asin, lokio, peanuts, and kepidoh leaves. Paired with roasted coconut infused rum, jalapeños liquid, and lime juice. The dishes are heavily European and Asian influenced with a beautiful modern presentation
Bangkal Hitam with heritage Balinese pork, jackfruit kalio, sauce lado mudo cassava leaves. Paired with Kintamani orange, bourbon, homemade vermouth, angostura bitter, and ginger beer. A traditional Indonesian dish presented beautifully, creatively, and natively

 

Dessert Courses

By the end of the savory courses, you will likely start to feel full. But, do not give in – you have the dessert courses ahead of you! It is not just the one dessert from the tasting menu, you will have several bites as well as your final beverage pairing.

Like the start of the tasting menu, the dessert course is also pre-empted by a pre-dessert, palate cleansing dessert course. In this case, the pomelo pulp cleanses and readies your palate for the series of dessert bites ahead
Agar-Agar Santan with young coconut, roasted coconut, kaffir lime, agar-agar, and palm sugar. Paired with Es Cendol of homemade cendol, fresh coconut milk, palm sugar, and a spritz of vodka. A most simple presentation of local ingredients, allowing you to taste them in a pure, natural form
The simplicity of tasting menu’s dessert does not end there. You will then get showered with four or five more sweet endings, including local fruits, tea drinks, chocolates, and other sweet bites to happily and satisfyingly conclude the meal in Indonesia’s #1 restaurant

 

Watch the video below of my lunch at Restaurant Locavore. And subscribe to my YouTube channel for all my latest travel vlogs!

 

Address & Hours

Restaurant Locavore
10 Jalan Dewi Sita, Ubud Bali
+62-361-977-733
Lunch, Tuesday to Saturday, 12pm to 2:30pm
Dinner, Monday to Saturday, 6:30pm to 10pm
Reservations required

 

 
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Angela

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Angela

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