December/January, 1998
No. 032/VI/97

cover story

Christians in
Paradise
How Christianity came
to Bali

Once Upon a
New Years Eve
MC-ing a New Year's
Eve party during a
blackout

bali focus:
nusa dua and
jimbaran

The Origin of
Nusa Dua
A fable

People of a
Fertile Sea
The fishers of
Jimbaran beach

Center Stage
Steve Charles revamps
the Candraloka
Amphitheatre

Nusa Dua Nights
How to survive them

The Sacred
Wilderness
Colonial encounters with
Bali's southern peninsula

arts and
culture

Latter Day
Laksamana
A.A.M. Djelantik's
recently launched
autobiography

Kulkul
new Fiction by Gde
Aryantha Soethama

The Rat Pack
Who are Bali's literati?

beyond
bali

An Eddy in The
Counter of Time
Kayaking off the west
coast of Lombok

Slick and Cool in
Sengigi
Round midnight at the
famed Lombok resort

regular

Fashion

Adventure
Into the blue

Food
Jewel of the southren rim

Jungle Drums

Bali Update

On the Road

Home Grown
Made Adi Putra

advertising index for
Bali Echo web site

Most of Bali's best known resorts occupy the piece of coast that stretches from Jimbaran past Nusa Dua to Benoa. Some offering cliff-top restaurants with magnificent ocean views, others beachside bistros nestled in the sand, their presence has augmented the choice and variety of great dining experiences to be had around the paradise isle's southernmost tip. And what could be a better Christmas-New Year treat than trying out one (or all!) of them? 

Singaraja Restaurant 
Bali Intercontinental Resort 
Set within the spacious and finely manicured grounds of the Bali Intercontinental Resort, Sinagaraja Restaurant is without doubt the most formal of all the establishments listed. The colonial-style building in which it is housed typically blurs dividing lines between indoor and out. Sea breeze coming off the bay moves freely beneath high ceilings, tall windows run all the way down to the floor, and the sticky air is cooled as it passes thick stone walls. There is something of an Edwardian ambience here, as jasmine creeps up the sandstone pylons, and a yellowish light softens starched white table cloths. Diners sit on rattan chairs, lacquered white, and are served by waiters in well-ironed shirt sleeves, long pants and shoes as shiny as patent leather. 

In this neck of the woods, where the norm is to make battling the elements part of the experience of resort dining, Singaraja Restaurant's terrace has a unique cosiness to it. It faces a smooth grassy knoll, upon which sits a large Persian earn. The invisible sea is present only in the sound of its effervescent ebb and flow. 

Executive Chef Darren Whightman has completely redesigned the menu at Singaraja Restaurant since his arrival less than a year ago. One of the results is a menu that is to the touch and the eye what the dishes listed therein are to the tongue: original, exciting and stylish. "Life is too short to eat bad food," teaches the text on its back cover. The good food presented here follows a singular yet diverse thematic: 'borderless' cuisine, created by "combining ingredients and methods from around the world." 

The dishes we savoured confirm that Whightman indeed excels in a multicultural culinary style. He combines smoked salmon and eggplant in a lasagne spiced with roasted tomato oil, and serves it cold. He makes tortellini with pumpkin, and tosses it in lobster butter. He envelops a snapper fillet in an Indian yoghurt pastry, and serves it with tomato and chili jam. And despite the high-brow ring to the aforementioned inventions, he is not above a Caesar Salad ("it has a place on any menu") to which he adds little prawns wrapped in proscuitto, or a Tuna Stack, which comes as a colourful column of layers of tuna and grilled vegetables. 
Smoked Salmon and Eggplant Lasagne (Cold) with Roasted Tomato Oil: Rp.27,000 
Pumpkin Tortellini with Lobster Butter: Rp.25,000 
Caesar Salad with Grilled Prawns and Proscuitto: Rp.32,000 
Tuna Stack with Grilled Vegetables and a Green Goddess Dressing: Rp.42,000 
Snapper Fillet Baked in Indian Yoghurt Pastry with Tomato and Chili Jam: Rp.38,000 

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