Chusnul, the female chef, trained at the All Star’s Café in Kuta before joining the Jazz Bar. The menu is very varied and is designed to cater to all palates, allowing too for the Indonesian preference for more ‘sugar and spice’. Dishes are drawn from Mexican, Mediterranean, Thai, Chinese and Indonesian traditions. Flavours, as Fuji clarified, that all go well together, as they use similar spices in different ways. He believes that Mexican food is especially compatible with the Indonesian palate.

The restaurant’s American food advisor confirmed that the ‘fusion’ that the Jazz Bar and Grille is creating is not the complicated ‘over-fusion’ of the late 1980s, but rather an accessible form where Asian flavours and ingredients are refined and combined with something familiar to Western appetites. He went on to explain that Asian flavours are so amazing that they don’t need enhancing, just refining. For example, a traditional Asian flavoured sauce is adapted to a European technique sauce using butter, or lamb chops are still served with mint but also in a hoy sin sauce. The lamb chops are familiar; the sauce creates a novel flavour.
I tried the Black n’ Blue Tuna. Wow! The tuna is seared in olive oil on a red-hot skillet and covered in a combination of 10 Cajun peppers and spices. It is served with Mediterranean ratatouille and an incredibly tasty sauce revealing hints of Dijon and English mustard, horseradish and soy sauce. It has a really exciting blend of flavours and the tuna just about melts in the mouth. 
My favourite was the Banana Foster Pizza. An amusing and original dessert. You must leave enough room for this one. Ideal as a share dessert, it could be eaten with coffee. It’s a thin pizza crust, covered with fried bananas in a Grand Marnier, Dark Rum, orange juice and sugar sauce. You pick it up with your fingers, and it’s sticky, tricky, and tastes divine. Apparently loyal devotees come to the restaurant for the Banana Foster Pizza alone. Wholly understandable.
According to ‘Alison Cook on Restaurants’, there are two types of fusion food. She writes, “The more common is the showy, I’m-trying-as-hard-as-I-can brand, full of wowser effects and in-your-face juxtapositions - less usual is the variety where the cooking deals in subtle, low-key surprises that seem curiously inevitable. The Jazz Bar and Grille falls into the latter category.
The Jazz Bar and Grille bakes all its bread and makes its own fresh pasta, and the menu is unpretentious. All Grille dishes are grilled over a combination of coconut husks and coffee wood, creating a great flavour. The Restaurant is located in the Sanur Raya Shopping Centre, diagonally opposite the Radisson Hotel on the by-pass.
   Bali Bird Park
Bali Bird Park was a revelation. Located just off the main road to Ubud in Batubulan, it is a haven for birds and people alike. Putu Jendra, the restaurant’s charming and incredibly enthusiastic manager, wasted no time in welcoming us and swiftly conjuring up fresh fruit juices with watermelon birds perching on the edges of the glasses.
    The restaurant is roomy, distinctly Balinese, and elegant - with crushed coconut shell tables and chairs, natural colours, and primitive sculptures from Irian Jaya and other parts of the Indonesian Archipelago. Frangipani blossoms are quirkily arranged on fine reeds, and there is a background chorus of birds. Chorus? A very chatty mynah nearby is a fantastic mimic and, if you listen carefully, can be heard saying ‘ah, ada tamu’ (ah, there are visitors), ‘at Bali Bird Park’ and singing the Indonesian National Anthem.
     Set close to the park’s entrance, the restaurant caters to Bali’s many visitors (and clued-up expats) for breakfast and lunch, fitting in with the 8:00am - 6.30pm opening hours. The restaurant does open some evenings for visitors wishing to attend Kecak dances held in the Park.
    Pak Jendra told us that his vision for the restaurant is “to promote Asian and Balinese food using European preparation techniques and the latest in presentation”. Combining Asian and Western cuisine, he went on to explain that Edi Swoboda, one of the Park’s owners, also influences the menu design. Eddie is an avid traveler who regularly brings back inspiration and fresh ideas from afar.
    

next page>>

Top : Jazz Bar and Grille's famous Banana Foster Pizza
Below: Artistic Bali Bird Park dishes served on coconut wood tables.

[top]
[welcome page]

copyright © 1999 Bali Echo. All rights Reserved
site design by : Access Bali Online