HOMEGROWN OFFERINGS
From restaurants and bars to fashionable
boutiques, entrepreneurial Australians are
not hard to find in Bali.WINING AND DINING
Over the last decade, the food scene in
Bali has been increasingly shaped by
Antipodean expats moving north for
the sunshine and laid-back lifestyle on
ofer. With its blazing neon sign and
share-plate menu, Bikini is the latest
Australian culinary assault on the island,
at the hands of Adam McAsey.
The Melbourne native has opened
a number of other restaurants along
the same street, including Sisterfields,
where you can order sma
on rye; Bo$$ Man burger
known for its 60-day dry-ag
steaks; and Expat Roasters
where another Aussie, Shae
Macnamara, heads up the
barista team, sourcing
single origin beans from
across the globe. Others
who have made the sea
change include Ryan
Clift, who recently opened
Grow and rooftop bar Grow
Up. (OK, so Clift is actually
an honorary Aussie — he wa
born in the UK, but spent h
formative years as head ch
Melbourne’s Vue de Monde, a role he
held for almost 10 years.) Clift’s Tippling
Club in Singapore is one of the most
innovative restaurants in the city-state,
and he brings the same mix of culinary
theatrics to his new Bali oferings.
Expect a laboratory-inspired cocktail
menu and experimental dishes such
as a salad of roasted bone marrow or
confit egg yolks with tiger prawns.
From Sydney to Seminyak, Double
Bay’s popular Mrs Sippy opened its
Balinese outlet with a splash earlier in
the year — quite literally. The sprawling
establishment is home to the island’s
largest saltwater pool, replete with
multiple diving platforms. It also has
table space for 500 diners. The menu
stays true to its Aussie roots, with
items such as grilled tiger prawns,
steak sandwiches and half-a-dozen
burgers; the cocktails and tropical tunes
provide a nod to the new location.Celebrating a year in Bali is Da Maria,
a casual incarnation of the Bondi outfit Da
Orazio. Australian restaurateur Maurice
Terzini (also behind Sydney’s Icebergs
and the Dolphin Hotel) teamed up with
fellow Australian Adrian Reed to launch the
estaurant and bar, which unites European
ign sensibilities with touches of island life.
moved here in 2014 to open Motel Mexicola on
Petitenget Beach. With an achingly cool Acapulco-in-
the-’60s vibe and a spicy menu of tacos and ceviche, it could
have been transplanted straight from the streets of Sydney.
Modelled on Frank Camora’s Spanish restaurants in
Melbourne, the island outpost of MoVida calls the trendy
Katamama home, the flagship hotel from the Potato Head
group. As with Camora’s other spots, the menu is all about
small bites and share plates, perfect for the Balinese climate.OTHER EXPAT VENTURES
Australian expat Janet DeNeefe was a pioneer when she moved
to Bali in the 1980s, opening restaurants and a cooking school
in the following decades. She has also written a memoir
and cookbooks, and in 2004 launched the acclaimed Ubud
Writers & Readers Festival, in response to the 2002 Bali
bombings. Her passion for the island inspired many other
Aussie artists to make the pilgrimage north.
Designer Sam Stevenson launched Pared Eyewear
in Bali in 2012, with her bold stylings and graphic lines
becoming so popular that she has since taken the brand
global, collaborating with the likes of POMS and Ginger
& Smart. You can still buy frames at stores across the island.
Having spent years starring on the catwalks of New York, GailCLOCKWISE
FROM TOP RIGHT
Transported from
Sydney’s Double Bay
to Bali, Mrs Sippy
opened earlier this
year; a mouth-
watering dish at
Grow; sit down for
a cocktail at Bikini.Sisterfields,
shed avo
joint,
ged
s,y
as
his
hefat
lhre
des
Reedm
Pi t064 VIRGIN AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 2017