Dreams of going zero waste and collaborations with world-class artists, designers, and musicians give this seaside creative playground its unique charm.
Desa Potato Head offers direct access to Seminyak Beach.
What started out in the late 2000s as an industrial-chic eatery inside an upscale Jakarta mall, closely followed by a celebrated beach club, has since evolved into one of Indonesia’s most exciting hospitality brands. Potato Head now runs overseas outposts in Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as an excellent pan-Indonesian restaurant in Jakarta, but it’s in the Seminyak area of southern Bali where the distinctive “Good Times, Do Good” ethos finds its fullest expression. A self-contained universe whose name incorporates the Indonesian word for “village,” Desa Potato Head balances bold experimentation with true craftsmanship and an environmentally conscious worldview.
Sate lilit bangkal, a Balinese specialty, at Kaum.
Tanaman’s progressive chef, Dominique Hammond.
Left to right: Sustainable seafood at Ijen; the seating area and open kitchen at the same venue.
Eat
Whether it’s vegan poke, grilled meat platters, or pizza, there’s something for everyone at the beach club. Situated right on the ground floor, open-air venue Ijen specializes in line-caught fish and seafood cooked over an open fire. Upstairs, diners at Kaum can sit indoors or on a breezy ocean-view terrace as they tuck into traditional Indonesian cuisine. The menu here showcases regional specialties like gohu ikan from the Maluku Islands — a ceviche-adjacent dish of fresh tuna tossed with thinly sliced shallots, kenari nuts, and ginseng leaf in coconut oil and calamansi juice. Other must-tries range from the succulent crispy duck with young mango sambal to pa’piong ikan, spiced fish steamed in a bamboo tube and a specialty of the Torajan people in South Sulawesi’s highlands. Beyond the beach club, Tanaman is a neon-lit semi-subterranean space where inventive plant-based cooking comes to the fore; young Australian chef Dominique Hammond has developed a boundary-pushing à la carte dinner menu informed by Potato Head’s broader zero-waste ethos. Much of the fresh produce utilized in the Desa’s kitchens is grown at Sweet Potato Head, a farm in fertile Tabanan up the coast.
Inside the bedroom of the singular Katamama Suite at Potato Head Suites.
Left to right: The dining area in the Rooftop and Katamama Suites are practically identical; upcycled furniture at Potato Head Studios.
One of Potato Head Studios’ 36-square-meter Desa Studios.
Sleep
Design-savvy travelers wanting to lay their heads at the creative playground have two unique choices. Formerly known as Katamama, Potato Head Suites (doubles from US$294) made a splash on the island’s hospitality scene when it debuted in 2016. Today, it’s still one of the most beautiful boutique hotels in Bali. Eminent Indonesian architect Andra Matin deftly combined a neo-Brutalist style with traditional craftsmanship: the facade and interior walls are made up of 1.8 million bricks hand-pressed by Balinese artisans. A midcentury modern aesthetic characterizes the 58 suites, which come adorned with bespoke furniture and naturally dyed textiles by Tarum Bali, not to mention some quirky contemporary art. Rooftop Suites offer 268 square meters of living space, including an upstairs private terrace complete with a daybed, dining table, and Jacuzzi. These are accessed via a spiral staircase in a plant-filled sky well that draws natural light into the main dining area.
Next door, Potato Head Studios (doubles from US$157) doubles as a 168-room hotel and a cultural venue. Acclaimed Dutch studio OMA gave the building its geometric form, and Andra Matin returned as a design consultant to bring touches of local culture and vernacular Indonesian design. (The perforated walls of guest room corridors are adorned in patterns inspired by the Balinese divination calendar.) Public and private spaces feature zero-waste furnishings by avant-garde designers including Max Lamb and Faye Toogood. Desa and Bamboo Studios are perfect for solo travelers; the more romantic option is an Oceanfront Suite with a balcony and a hammock to take in Bali’s fabled Indian Ocean sunsets. With a similar layout to Oceanfront Suites, the handful of fourth-floor Resident Studios on the north side are highly sought after for their quiet location and ultra-high ceilings.
Left to right: Morning meditation at Sunset Park; a yoga session inside The Womb.
Multi-sensory beds at Sistrum, located inside the Sanctuary wellness space.
Overlooking the rooftop long bar at Sunset Park.
Unwind
The Desa has two beachfront infinity pools, one at the Beach Club and the other along the Studios’ expansive outdoor deck. Complimentary cocktail-making classes are offered at the cozy ground-floor bar Akademi in Potato Head Suites: learn from the pros and create tipples that blend spiced rum and arak (Balinese moonshine) infused with local ingredients like torch ginger flower and fragrant mesoyi wood. The ramps and stairways circling around the main courtyard at Potato Head Studios lead to Sunset Park, an alfresco rooftop venue serving up excellent sundowners and light bites. En route, Studio Eksotika contains a co-working spot and library stocked with more than 500 tomes that reflect founder Ronald Akili’s interests in sustainable design, music, fashion, and alternative spirituality.
MERASA, the Desa’s newly launched wellness service, offers customized journeys that integrate traditional and modern practices. It also organizes talks and workshops by visiting experts on topics as diverse as yoga, native medicine, and gut health. Guests can bliss out with a straightforward Balinese massage in one of the Spa’s sleek, minimalistic treatment rooms. For something a little more unconventional, Ubud-based Pyramids of Chi has designed hour-long sessions at the Sanctuary (accessed via Studio Eksotika) that combine vibration and sound therapy with an overhead LED shower. Fitness fanatics will find the well-equipped Desa Gym on the same level, while yoga and morning workouts are periodically held on the rooftop. Still to come is an expansion of Sunset Park with a pop-up DJ booth, ultramodern kinetic artworks, and a plunge pool.
Left to right: A perforated wall at the OMA-designed Potato Head Studios; Pointman – River Warrior and its creator, New York artist FUTURA2000.
Liina Klauss’s 5,000 Lost Soles takes pride of place outside the Beach Club.
See
Desa Potato Head is dotted with large-scale art installations, the most famous example being 5,000 Lost Soles by German art activist Liina Klauss, who assembled a kaleidoscopic array of plastic flip-flops washed up on Bali’s beaches. Acclaimed New York artist FUTURA2000 turned 888 kilograms of plastic waste collected across the island into Pointman – River Warrior, a six-meter-high sculpture in the main courtyard at Potato Head Studios. It’s a thought-provoking commentary on the pollution that blights rivers in Southeast Asia and New York City.
Another highlight is Balinese artist Nano Uhero’s tunnel-like bamboo sculpture The Womb, which serves as a grand entryway to the Desa. There are several interesting sights along its length: the Waste Centre charts Potato Head’s ongoing pursuit of becoming a zero-waste operation, and includes a workshop where used plastic is shredded and pressed into sheets to be turned into useful in-room items (think tissue boxes and soap dispensers). You’ll also find the recording studio for Headstream by Potato Head, a digital streaming station created during the pandemic to bring Bali straight into people’s living rooms. Missing the good vibes of Seminyak? You can always tune in for more inspirational content from Potato Head long after your holiday.
This article was brought to you by Potato Head Family.
