Among the best culinary event in Bali to go to, is the Denpasar Festival that held annually each December. What makes it a bit troublesome to visit it though, is the heavy rains that frequents December. I wish the city official could move it outside the rainy seasons, or perhaps make it twice a year; for the food festival section at least.

During this event, different food from different parts of Denpasar are showcased. While the theme of each year seems to differs a lot, like there was a Legendary Cuisine section back in Denpasar Festival 2009, in Denpasar Festival 2012 there was none. While lacking what I consider as the most important part for foodies to sample bests of Denpasar street food, there was still a lot of varieties to choose from.

While obviously there were a lot of pork, like the pork satay photographed above; and usual stalls that I've seen and been to before; giving my already 3+ years of living in this beautiful island, there were still surprises awaits. One of the example, is the Sate Lilit Salmon.

Sate Lilit Salmon

Marketing on Salmon's health benefits, Warung RA Salmon offers several set menus that proven to be a success; because early in the afternoon they're already running out of most of the items. What's left though is the rather unique Sate Lilit Salmon, which I found was more interesting to try than Salmon steaks, Salmon nuggets, or whatever western dishes version made with Salmon. This is Bali, and it's good to see that people in the food industries are still willing to innovate and experiments.

Though as experiments might go wrong, I still find the regular Sate Lilit Ikan favorable over this innovation. While I can still taste the salmon very well, its combination with Bali's base genep seasoning, a moderate amount of chilly  and sweet glazing requires some time to get used to. I guess salmon's strong taste are best nurtured instead of contested. Perhaps the experiment has a better result in the monochromatic tum, or pepes? I can only imagine they do.

Vegetarian Dishes

Another kind of dishes I'd always curious to try is vegetarian. Not for its health benefits or religious reasons, but to see how this specialty culinary has grown.

Having visited a Vegetarian food expo 10+ years ago in Jakarta, where I got a chance to taste many of it's 300 different dishes, I'm a bit disappointed that here in Bali, I didn't find any mushroom in the vegetarian dishes I have sampled. Even if you want to go purist; resorting on real vegetables instead on those meat-imitation ingredients, mushroom is a great ingredients to flavor your cooking.

There was this beef jerky look alike that was made from green beans, however taste wise they almost have no taste except for the grainy earthy over dehydrated beans sensation.

The Sate Lilit made from tahu was pleasing though, but it's no surprise since perkedel tahu is quite a common dish in my mother's cooking.

Visitors

While we were enjoying our meal, the rain suddenly pouring down, hence we need to stay where we are. The side effect of it though, is that we got to meet other Festival goers, like these sisters from Karangasem, who drove all the way just to visit Denpasar Festival. Having a chatty kid helps a lot too, as it's an effective ice breaker among strangers.

The Closure

Missing many of 2009's unique dishes, like Sup Bulu Babi Pulau Serangan (very putrid taste but unique nonetheless), or the Lawar Nyawan, which made using bee's nest, I still managed though, to find some of Denpasar's unique culinary like the Sate & Tongseng Alu (monitor lizard); however (again) they're marketed more as medicinal food instead of savory treats, where I assume they're made just to become bearable; hence making me reluctant to try them.

In the end, we did more of walking around, and due to the rain we couldn't do much of that either. We made it to stop at a dessert stall though, selling many of Bali's best desserts, including the simplistic yet flavorful Es Daluman.

See you in Denpasar Festival 2013. (byms)

Fontana Hotel held their Grand Opening last 15th December 2012, among the event scheduled for the evening are Press conference, room & hotel interior tour, free flow of drinks and canapes, and the music show featuring Bali's guitar prodigy Balawan.

Epicurina didn't miss this opportunity to knows out more about Fontana that involved no other than Bali's prominent architect Popo Danes, with the touch of former Super Potato's designer Nobuyuki Narabayashi for its interior design. I was also curious to discover what Chef Vittorio Negri has for the evening. Portabella Bistro itself was closed for the evening though, as all of its dining area & crew are catering for the food and wines for this party.

As much as I tried to dress casually, planning to attend its Press conference means I cannot dress down completely. It's time for my usual black outfit then. However having the place packed with guests resulted in a much warmer air compared with the usual, and me suddenly having a favorite hangout place near the standing aircon.

Portabella Bistro behind the scene

I met chef Vittorio Negri early when he commanded his kitchen's army preparing for the night, continuing our conversation  a week before, we talked a bit further on his passion for classic Italian cooking, and about his current post as Executive Chef at Portabella Bistro. Other than being raised in an Italian tradition, Chef Vittorio explained he believes that Italian food excel in its simple happiness quality: easy to understand food, everyone's food, and that classic is the best form of Italian cuisine.

Having years of experience in the restaurant business, Chef Vittorio explained, that he had develop a fondness of sourcing for local ingredients to supplement for the genuine, imported ingredients. This habit he admit, was developed from his years of cooking in London where there's already a lot of good local ingredients available, that can be used instead of the genuine Italian-imported ingredients. This practice was continued during his practice in Abu Dhabi, Koh Samui, and now here in Bali.

By sourcing locally instead of importing ingredients half way around the world, 11,669 Km away, Portabella Bistro can cut down costs, enabling them to charge below what a Hotel's restaurant usually charge its patrons.

This advantage fits well into what Billy planned for Portabella Bistro too, that even though it's a restaurant inside a hotel, it's convenient dining & meetup place for public consumption as well. To further support this idea, Portabella Bistro provides the side entrance right beside Sunny 16 Cafe, so guests from outside the hotel can reach the settlement without all the hassles involved in entering a hotel.

Fontana Hotel behind the scene

At the press conference held in the Hepburn room, Fontana Hotel was represented by its owner pak Frans, its General Manager Wayan Supandi, its Director of Sales Komang Sri Dewi, and representing Portabella Bistro, its mastermind Billy Wirawan.

The event revealed interesting facts about Fontana Hotel itself: that to pursue their vision of a perfect leisure experience they let their 46 acres land only houses 136 rooms, and they choose to have their own management instead of joining established chain hotel operators to be truly serving their ideals; how they have four floors with different theme on each floors, how Fontana is among the very few hotel applying Balinese Prada paint, and many other less known facts.

Portabella's other mastermind Finy Wirawan was nowhere in sight until the conference about to end, so unlike last time there's not much information revealed from her side.

The Hepburn room itself Billy explained, was named after the famous actress Audrey Hepburn, which resulted in all-white elegant looking interior design. Beside of Hepburn, there are also three other function rooms at Fontana Hotel, each with different design styles.

The Party

The party started around the Press Conference is done: guests are coming, the food and drinks are there, so I did not waste a moment to hunt for interesting shots; and sampling the finger food Portabella served that evening.

The opening ceremony itself was done casually, after the Balawan opening show, and the creative fashion show done by Fontana Hotel's crew; parading their daily working uniforms, including from the service department. I can see that they take a serious attention to details.

Pak Wayan informed earlier that the dress code of the Hotel's staff that evening is "Color Diversity", which resulted in a very casual outfit wore by the staffs; different only in the ribbons wore on their arms.

The Concert

Balawan performed variety of music repertoire that evening, including the unique score from Gotye, "Somebody that I used to know". With his double-neck guitar and tapping style, Balawan also performed beautiful complicated scores involving Balinese gamelan, his signature composition.

The Food

While they're all small and considered lightweight, since the canape supply is unlimited and there are so many variants to taste, I end up feeling full by sampling most of the savory ones, leaving the sweet ones out. Fell in love with the smokey tuna in cucumber, surprised by the very simplistic but good hot dog, delicious mini pizza, and I found myself coming back for another supply of chicken fillet with beetroot; quite an interesting combination. The aged marinated beef was another favorite as well.

A dish that quite surprising though, was the one Chef Vittorio explained as a traditional "Italian quick food": mix the pasta, the cheese, the cream, then bake it, and you get this macaroni schotel like dish ready for general occasions. It's a dish you won't find in restaurants he added, only in Italian homes.

What first came to my mind though, is the Indonesian habit of creating "Martabak Indomie" by turning the nation's most famous instant noodle into an omelette; our favorite emergency meal when we have nothing serious to be cooked seriously, yet we're getting bored of the usual instant noodle dinner. It's simple, delicious, easy to prepare, and I think every country has at least one of this .

The Aftermath 

It was a blast: seeing Balawan live, getting to know the people  and the story behind the scene of both Fontana Hotel and Portabella Bistro; tasting the interesting servings from Portabella Bistro's kitchen throughout the night, meeting some of the Denpasar's journalists, and simply having a good time. On top of that, I believe I got some interesting catch of Balawan's on my camera, so I don't mind having my shirt drenched wet from all the action.

I do find it awkward though upon meeting the Fontana's trio conceptor; Billy, Finy, and pak Frans, where hand shakes and shoulder tapping are happening almost intuitively. Well Balinese heat around December is really torturing, especially for someone grown up in a cold weather like I am.

As the night heated up with the DJ's playing, I found myself overheated as well and need to excuse myself from the crowd. End of the party for me.

Last, so you don't miss them when you visit Fontana Hotel, here are pictures of Finy and pak Wayan, taken from Fontana's own collection:

For more pictorial journey on this Fontana Hotel Grand Opening Party, tune in to Instagram and search for "Fontana Hotel", or find it through Statigram here. To find out more about Portabella Bistro please navigate here. They also offers special 25% off discount until the end of January 2013. (byms)


Portabella Bistro

Jl. Dewi Sri No. 68
Kuta - Bali, Indonesia 80361
T. +62 361 8947002
F. +62 361 8947123
info@portabellabistro.com
www.portabellabistro.com
twitter.com/portabellabali

Reservations

T. +62 361 8947002
F. +62 361 8947123
reservation@portabellabistro.com

Fontana Hotel

Jl. Dewi Sri No. 68
Kuta - Bali, Indonesia 80361
T. +62 361 8947100
F. +62 361 8947123
contact@fontanahotelbali.com
www.fontanahotelbali.com
facebook.com/fontanahotel.bali
twitter.com/fontanahotel

Reservations

T. +62 361 8947100
F. +62 361 8947123
reservation@fontanahotelbali.com

Sales

T. +62 361 8947100
F. +62 361 8947123
sales@fontanahotelbali.com

Photos are courtesy and copyright of Portabella Bistro unless stated otherwise.

For those interested in tasting unique Balinese cuisines, there will be "Denpasar Festival" event held towards the end of December 2012 in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia. As always, Denpasar Festival will presents authentic Balinese cuisine from around Denpasar, including those that are considered as legendary like Mak Beng and Nasi Ayam Kedewatan.

Among the highlights from last years are: Ayam Betutu, Balinese chicken rice, Sate Lilit (minced satay), water snail satay, sea urchin soup, banana stem's soup, fish head soup, and surely the famous Balinese suckling pig. (byms)

Today marks the opening of Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2012. Among many sessions will be held, we have picked some which might interest foodies and food bloggers. Here they are based on relevance, not schedule:

Tongue Teasers

Forget about brain food; let’s talk turkey, spill the beans, makan the mango: a passion for food and for succumbing to temptation!

Shamini Flint, Romesh Gunesekera,  Ma Thanegi, Bondan Winarno.
Chair: Janet De Neefe

When:
Sunday, 07 October 2012
09:30 - 10:45

Where:
Indus Restaurant
Jl. Raya Sanggingan, Ubud
Bali - Indonesia

Honest, I'm working!

Dreaming of travelling the world, writing your adventures and being paid for the experience? Meet the people living your dream

Don George, Zhang Su Li
Chair: MJ Akbar

When:
Thursday, 04 October 2012
11:00 - 12:00

Where:
Left Bank Lounge
Jl. Raya Sanggingan, Ubud
Bali - Indonesia

Writing there, living there, the difference of distance

The freedoms and difficulties imposed by living in a location far distant from that in which one writes.
Isobelle Carmody, Sunil Nair, Romesh Gunesekera
Chair: Inez Baranay

When:
Saturday, 06 October 2012
10:45 - 12:00

Where:
Indus Restaurant
Jl. Raya Sanggingan, Ubud
Bali - Indonesia

Writing to the power of E

The challenges, opportunities and practicalities of writing in a digital age with those who have taken the digital baton and run with it.

Luka Lesson, Kristina Olsen,  Jessica Zafra, Tom Vater
Chair: Jonathan Campbell

When:
Friday, 05 October 2012
09:00 - 10:15

Where:
Neka Museum
Jl. Raya Campuhan, Ubud
Bali - Indonesia

Say it out loud

Be it song or spoken word, performance gets the message across. How do writers convey big ideas without the real estate of the blank page?

Luka Lesson, Kristina Olsen, Krishna Pabichara
Chair: Skid More

When:
Sunday, 07 October 2012
14:30 - 15:45

Where:
Left Bank Lounge
Jl. Raya Sanggingan, Ubud
Bali - Indonesia

Sense and sensibility

The role of the writer. Do writers have social, political and cultural responsibilities?

Louise Doughty, Nidurapas Erlang,  Neal Hall, Joanna Murray-Smith, Luka Lesson
Chair: Jamie James

When:
Thursday, 04 October 2012
13:00 - 14:30

Where:
Indus Restaurant
Jl. Raya Sanggingan, Ubud
Bali - Indonesia

Transitioning

Writing locally, reading globally: the experience of writers finding their works in translation.

Kader Abdolah, Sheng Keyi, Riikka Pulkkinen.
Chair: Deepika Shetty


When:
Sunday, 07 October 2012
13:00 - 14:15

Where:
Left Bank Lounge
Jl. Raya Sanggingan, Ubud
Bali - Indonesia

Suddenly it's October... and next thing you know it's year 2013. Perhaps time does rolling faster toward the year's end?

Despite of the issue that the world is going to end this year, thanks to the Mayan Calendar prophecies, I still make plans for the upcoming year and assure everybody that the world is not going to end in 21 December 2012, I promise... Well that's an easy promise since even if the world did end by that date, you can't sue me either.

On the lighter note, facing October in Bali I was preparing for the super rainy season just like we had last year, however the sun is still shining brightly with just occasional light shower in early mornings; hence no rush to dust the raincoat I stored (did not sure where) earlier this year.

And the highlights of October 2012 are:

1. Will Meyrick will be performing a duet with William Wongso in "William and William", a Gala Dinner opening the Jakarta Culinary Festival 2012 this Thursday 4 October. Among the rare event which making me wishes I was still living in Jakarta.
2. Ubud Writers Festival is about to start, this 4 October too, bringing you the plethora of interesting topics on writing and culture. Among the talks you should attend is the "Tongue Teasers" which talk about passion for food and succumbing to the temptation, where Bondan "Mak Nyus" Winarno will be one of the speakers
3. Mayura Mohta is launching her new book "The Heart Smart Oil-Free Cookbook" in Singapore. This is an important book for those who loves eating, and wish to keep that hobby until the later days of his/her life
4. Some free online courses to improve your writing skills are available at Coursera. Though some will not start until early next year, you might want to sign up early to avoid missing it. One of the highlight is "The Science of Gastronomy" which  introduces participants to elements of science lying behind cooking and cuisine preparation
5. The 6th Annual Balinale International Film Festival 2012 is coming. Between 22-28 October there will be World premiers, festivals, talks, and everyday screening of good movies, including a Gourmet Cinema Charity Dinner which include one ticket to the screening of Entre’ Les Bras (2012), A documentary on three-Michelin-stars French chef Michel Bras, and his decision to hand over his restaurant to his son, Sebastien. This dinner is supported by Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Bali. Event will be held at the new cineplex in Bali, Cinema XXI Beachwalk - Kuta, right by the Pantai Kuta shores.
6. Kuta Karnival 2012 will be held from 10 - 14 October, with various fun and cultural related activities, including a Food Festival which will open from 12 - 14 October 4 p.m. onward.

Anything else should be on the list? Feel free to comments.

Cheers!

Bayu Amus

Epicurina Indonesia

Following Ismaya's Jakarta Culinary Festival 2012's announcement about The "William and William" Gala Opening Dinner, Raechel from Sarong supplied me with detailed information to this wonderful event:

"Chef Will Meyrick is heading to Jakarta next week to do the Gala Opening Night Dinner for the Jakarta Culinary Festival – it’s quite an interesting and very unique event, the meeting of two great chefs – William Wongso and Will Meyrick - who are all about championing Indonesian cuisine globally, and present it in a way it’s never been done before."

"They are both incredibly different in terms of their backgrounds, approaches, perspectives (and even their favourite Indonesian dishes and ideas about what the stand outs are!), but the one thing that brings the two of them together is their genuine love of Indonesian cuisine and their dedication to helping preserve the culinary heritage and traditions of the country’s unique food, an unsung hero of Asian cuisine."

Well I admires them both: William Wongso as the long time expert and avid promoter of Indonesian food, and I know Will shares the same passion of introducing Indonesian culinary scene to the world.

If you follow "Oom William" daily journey on Instagram (@williamwongso), you'll know that he's not a mere food promoter but also actively creating new and improved Indonesian dishes, like his Rendang Wagyu, which takes Rendang Padang to a new level; and many inventions coming from his private kitchen like this "Pepes Bandeng Presto dengan Kluwek & Daun Mengkudu" which according to Ade from 979 Food For Fun (@misshotrodqueen) is a "genius experiment".

After experiencing how Will's work on many exotic Asian dishes, his take on Indonesian dishes is surely one to be waiting for. Well there's already a talk about "Kitchen Sessions: Indonesia" upon the two previous Kitchen Sessions dining, and Will and Raechel did mention about their plan to participate in Jakarta Culinary Festival 2012, but this duet performance comes as a wonderful surprise.

If you're curious on how Indonesian cuisine should looks and tastes in their bold internationalization style, and how Indonesian food could take its deserved place in the international culinary scene, then this is the event for you.

Jakarta Culinary Festival
Grand Opening Night Dinner
William and William

Pop-up restaurant Grand Indonesia Shopping Town
West Mall – Level 5, Jl. M.H. Thamrin No. 1 Jakarta 10310
Thursday 4 October 2012 starting 7 p.m.

There are only limited seats available for purchase by the general public, call 0812 800 80 700 to RSVP and secure your attendance. (byms)