Rumari at Raffles Bali is not merely a hotel restaurant, rather a dining destination that should be on the radar of anyone living in or visiting Bali. The restaurant helmed by Lyon-born executive chef/ culinary director Gaetan Biesuz, aka “Chef G,” and chef de cuisine Agung Rai, showcases progressive Balinese flavors, and is also the first (and only) Krug Ambassade in all of Indonesia!
“We are a firm believer of the 80/20 Rule in creating Rumari’s menu, with fresh produce and other ingredients 80% sourced from the archipelago, while the remaining 20% are imported by necessity,” shares Biesuz, who was previously executive chef at St. Regis Langkawi in Malaysia. Cooking and sourcing local and highlighting regional flavors were his core goals before putting together the concept. “Why would you go to Bali to eat French food?” Biesuz quips.
At Rumari, tasting menus come in five, seven and nine courses—all explorations of the archipelago’s bountiful culture, produce and ingredients. It is a compendium of Biesuz’s 12 years around Asia, executed with French techniques. For their new Rumari 3.0 menu, each dish is named after the part of Indonesia its ingredients originate from, as homage to its producers, farmers and fishers, “to ensure everything we do everything we say is really meaningful and not just a gimmick,” explains Biesuz.
A menu in the form of a map details which part each ingredient is found, from hard-to-get ahi tuna from Sulawesi to seaweed from Bruno in Lombok to stingless honey from Made Cupliz in Mengwi, to name a few.
The tasting menu begins with a hand-washing ritual, before the bread course is presented with green sambal. The amuse-bouches are flavors of Bali in one-bite wonders: Perkedel Jarung (sweet corn fritters) and Rojak (mixed fruits and vegetable salad).
Biesuz’s signature sous vide duck egg from Brebes Farm is served with coconut strips, local Tomme d’ Andaliman cheese and topped with Kristal Maison Kaviari—a flavor bomb of salty, sweet and umami with a beautiful mouthfeel, an unorthodox combination of flavors that just worked.
Crab from Padang is served with heirloom tomatoes, with the sauce the area is known for; River prawns are served with Kalas curry and serombotan, a local salad from Klungklung; Seabream from Lobok is served with beetroot, tomato ginger chutney, chili, and topped with Kristal Maison Kaviari
The dessert of Es Campur takes its origin from West Java, a colorful mélange of flavors with. jackfruit, pandan, coconut, kintamani, tangerine basil seeds.
Beverage options range from cocktails and non-alcoholic beverages form their signature bar, The Writer’s Bar Bali, and a wine selection, that asides from Krug and the wineries from Bordeaux and Burgundy, also includes the local Balinese wine, Hatten.
It has already gotten the attention of chefs in the industry. Earlier this year, Mugaritz’s Andoni Aduriz came and visited with his family and posted on his Instagram.
“Since I arrived in the region in 2010, I fell in love with the flavors of Southeast Asian cuisine,” shares Biesuz of his time in Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. “Simple, humble, complex [and also], refined.” He arrived in Bali in August 2019, and notes that this is just a “continuation of this story,” while focusing on Balinese flavors and ingredients. “Indonesia has so much to offer, and it’s my mission to showcase what can be done with humble ingredients and heritage dishes. My goal for Raffles Bali is to offer the best quality with wide variety of food and beverage focusing on fresh local ingredients.”
Rumari is located at Raffles Bali, Jalan Karang Mas Sejahtera 1A, Jimbaran, South Kuta, Badung Regency, 80361 Bali, Indonesia. For more information, visit their website.
