Rotary evaporators? Immersion circulators? Mejekawi, the latest offering at legendary Seminyak hot spot Ku De Ta, bills itself as a “tasting kitchen and laboratory,” and the food, which fuses high technique with local produce and ingredients, is as progressive as you’ll find on Bali. Occupying a glass-walled second-story space that overlooks Ku De Ta’s beachside daybeds, the dinner-only restaurant seats just 30 patrons around a central open kitchen, where chefs Phillip Davenport and Ben Cross dish up 7- and 11-course tasting menus that might feature frog leg with chorizo puree and palm hearts or a sucking-pig terrine presented atop a crisp square of sourdough. Desserts are by New York pastry chef Will Goldfarb, who has worked with Fabio Picchi, Tetsuya Wakuda, and the Adrià brothers. High-concept and beautiful to behold, they include Goldfarb’s trademark Pandanbert, a luscious vanilla-and-pandan panna cotta paired with a salak-fruit tarte Tatin.
9 Jl. Kayu Aya, Seminyak; 62-361/736-969; kudeta.net.
This article originally appeared in the August/September 2013 issue of DestinAsian (“Top Tables: Fantastic Four”).