Australian restaurateurs making a mark in Bali food scene
When you get the mix right, Bali is the goose that laid the golden egg for a pack of high-end Australian restaurateurs.
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In 2012, Sydney restaurateur Adrian Reed landed on the island and opened the Bali party stronghold Motel Mexicola in tourist party cental of Seminyak.
And now, seven years later, the boy from Bexley has taken sole control of one time sister venue Tropicola, the rocking pool club on Seminyak beach.
Rewind seven years when Mexicola was Bali’s newest hotspot with Reed as the face and soul of the dazzling cantina style joint with his partner Adam Hall operating behind the scenes.
At night Adrian worked the room introducing guests to each other to create a party vibe fuelled by free-pouring tequila. It worked and they came in droves.
Real cost of Bali foodie trend
Seven years on, they still do with Mexicola smashing out quality food and drinks nightly.
In 2016 Reed teamed up with Sydney restaurateur Maurice Terzini who owns Bondi Icebergs, The Dolphin in Surry Hills, Bondi’s Da Orazio Pizza + Porchetta and Bondi Beach Public Bar.
Together they opened the chic Da Maria — an Italian osteria and bar in Bali’s swish Petitenget.
Then came Luigi’s Hot Pizza in the hipster haven of Canggu.
Mexicola Group’s biggest project is the oceanfront Tropicola — a pool club with a 1980s Memphis revival design, daytime lounging, sunset dining and late-night partying.
Reed and his health and fitness guru wife, Leah Simmons-Reed, are now at the helm.
“The Mexicola partnership was extremely successful but I felt it was time for me to move on to the next chapter of my life. Tropicola is the perfect project to focus my attention on. I’ve taken over the existing pool club and plan to expand a second restaurant, a photography studio, a multipurpose rooftop space and eventually, a hotel,” says Reed.
Chef Joel Adele, who has been on the pans in Sydney’s ARIA and London’s Gordon Ramsey restaurant, will create Tropicola’s health-driven menus.
“Tropicola reflects how we live with morning yoga, a healthy breakfast, then lunch meetings by the pool and a sunset drink. The menu is very healthy with poolside staples. But Tropicola first and foremost is centred on music and fun. You could literally arrive here at 6am, leave
at 10pm and have three different types of experiences,” says former DJ Leah Simmons-Reed.
The couple seized the opportunity to live and work on the Island of the Gods.
“I’ve been here for eight years and have learned that the key to any successful business is focusing on your team. We are only as good as our people,” says Reed.
Reed’s now former partner Adam Hall sold up his Sydney pubs including Paddington’s Four in Hand, to move to Bali to build Mexicola.
“Adrian and I started Mexicola together and it was a fantastic collaboration. It was a lot of fun because we didn’t know what we were creating. It was a huge relief that it was successful,” Hall says.
In the early days the duo flew to Jakarta to buy furniture not realising they were expected in Jogyakarta in central Java, which is a different city.
“That’s an indication of how green we were.”
Adam, along with three other Australians, a Mexican and a Balinese now own the Mexicola Group and they have a taste for expansion.
“We have land in Canggu and are nutting out what type of food and fun destination we will create there.”
Hall also owns Two Trees cafe in Canggu while Da Maria, Mexicola and Luigi’s Hot pizza come under the group’s umbrella.
“I was over doing business in Western society because everything is so much harder. Bali is a great place but has its challenges and only suits certain people. When you mix business and the lifestyle it just doesn’t feel like work,” Hall says.
The group is invested in a new project with its executive chef Steve Skelly whose form includes Rose Bay’s swank Pier restaurant and opening Urchin restaurant in Bali.
He also has the thriving bakery called Farine in Canggu.
In September, Steve will open the fish restaurant Uni — which is the Japanese word for ‘urchin’ — in Canggu to showcase his passion for seafood.
“Uni is Urchin fast forward five years using French and Japanese cooking,” Skelly says.
Due to open in late September, the dinner-only restaurant already has a buzz of anticipation among the island’s expats.
“Expats are solid clients because the tourist market is transient and flimsy. We’ve gone to great lengths to not make Uni a fine dining destination,” Skelly says.
Meanwhile, Australian elder of Bali’s dining scene Will Meyrick continues to deliver superb South East Asian dining in his fashionable Mamasan and elegant Sarong restaurants in Seminyak, the opium-den like Som Chai and tropical Hujan Local in Ubud.
The Scottish-born chef has a cooking retreat, a farm, boutique accommodation and mountain biking tours.
During his 18 years in Indonesia, Will has presented Top Chef, judged talent at San Pellegrino’s World Young Chef in Milan and hosted food shows on Discovery Chanel.
Meyrick has no plans of slowing down and rides his mountain bike 30km a day and knocks back cold beers while putting in long hours.
“Bali is more of a business place than a holiday destination these days,” he says.
Meyrick’s opened Sarong in 2008, with Aussie David Kearns who sold out a few years later.
In 2015. Kearns launched Happy Chappy — a Chinese restaurant loosely modelled on local Sydney Cantonese eateries.
With its mother ship restaurant and bar in Seminyak and another in Ubud, the brand now beans into hole-in-the-wall franchises.
Happy Chappy Express is already firing out Chinese favourites at Jakarta airport, Kuta’s Discovery Mall and the tourist district of Legian.
“All the food feeding the franchises comes from our main Seminyak kitchen, which also distributes wholesale dim sum and retails chilli sauces,” says Kearns.
With his Balinese partner Tjok Bagus (Max) — an Ubud-born royal son of Australian Jane Gillespie who married a Balinese Prince to become Princess Asri Kerthyasa — the two plan one hundred franchise operations in Indonesia.
“I’d love eight Happy Chappy Express outlets in Bali then move into Jakarta and Surabaya once we have the blue print right,” Kearns says.
On Seminyak Street, Victorian chef Dean Keddell added the diner Jackson Lilly to his stable that includes Ginger Moon on nearby Eat Street.
“Ginger Moon is nearly seven years old. We’re a small place but we do more than 300 covers a day. It’s a second home for many people with about 80 per cent of our clients from Australia,” says Dean.
Jackson Lilly opened last year and attracts affluent expats with its valet parking and fusion menu.
“It’s strange how two places so close together can attract such different people,” says Dean who came to the island to work at the Ritz Carlton Hotel and open Chez Gado Gado — owned by Balinese businessman Kedek Wiranatha in 2007.
Known as ‘Pak Kadek — the local powerhouse is proprietor of Australian partnered or managed businesses including Ku De Ta with Melbourne legend Aki Kotzamichalis.
His luxury Double Six resort’s Plantation Grill had Australian restaurateur Robert Marchetti’s name on it until 2017.
Ku De Ta alumni Benjamin Cross is among Bali’s hottest chefs.
With Australian partner Dom Brett and Californian Brant Bauer; he has Mason restaurant and Fish Bone Local in Canggu.
Mason packs about 300 people a day in Mason’s 120-seat dining room.
A recent multi-chef lunch sold out within three hours of being launched.
“The people are the best here and they take a lot of pride in their work. I love working with locals and other chefs,” Ben says.
Before his 11-year run with Ku De ta, Cross cut his culinary teeth at Rae’s at Wategos beach in Byron Bay.
He was on the stoves at Neil Perry’s Rockpool and Janni Krystis’ now defunct MG Garage. He launched a restaurant with Julian Lennon in Spain and had a brief stint at the Michelin-starred Can Fabes near Barcelona.
“At Mason people get to eat what they want. We serve share plates and so customers choose to create their own mix,” says Ben.
While celebrity devotees include former Olympic swimmer Michael Klim, American Actor Brody Jenner and the rapper Mickey Avalon, Mason looks a little more Bondi than Bali.
AUSSIES LEADING COFFEE CHARGE
Australian-style cafes in Bali attract hoards of home sick and hungry holiday-makers with coffee as the star attraction.
A coffee revolution is underway in the home of the ‘Cup of Java’ with Aussies leading the charge.
Shae Mcnamara descended on Bali in 2016 to create Expat Rosters — a speciality coffee wholesaler and educator.
Step one was the Brew Bar in Kuta, a cool cafe designed by Sydney-based X plus O and an immediate hit with lush coffee, banana bread and cheese toasties.
Step two was Expat Roasters in Seminyak followed by the larger Full Circle in Ubud that serves Australian-style brunches and … great coffee.
“I decided to open the Brew Bar in Kuta because there was a gap in that area. We grew quickly from there,” says the former Grinders coffee ambassador Shae.
With 17 years as a coffee expert, Shae set up a cafe in Italy’s highbrow city of Venice and was 2016 Australian Champion in the Coffee and Good Spirits competition and subsequently placed fourth internationally in Shanghai.
The coffee insurgency was kicked off when Kiwi pro-surfer Katie Allan opened Revolver in 2011 as Bali’s first Australian-style coffee house.
Revolver’s beans were monetised into a wholesale brand and the blend served exclusively within a tight time frame of freshness.
Revolver cafes are so busy — with the original operation open for dinner — that reservations during prime coffee guzzling hours are refused.
Milk & Madu and Watercress cafes owned by Australians Jordie Strybos and Pablo Fourcard adopted Revolver coffee and currently churn out hundreds, if not thousands of cups of the hot stuff in eight venues across the island.