The Yak #33

IDR68,000 : S$11 : HK$50 : A$10 : €5

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--------Introducing the newest restaurant to Potato Head Beach Club, Lilin conceptualizes in the authentic taste of home cooked Asian cuisine. Polished with wooden walls and communal table, Lilin reconciles a simplified atmosphere that highlights comfort and intimacy in gatherings, while leaving out its colors to the vibrant flavors of its tapas menu and live seafood selection from the island.

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Contact RSVP 0361 4737979 reservation@ptthead.com www.ptthead.com Lilin Restaurant Potato Head Beach Club Jl Petitenget Seminyak 80361 Bali, Denpasar

REFINED PRIVILEGE, TIMELESS GRACE PARADISE IS HERE!

TRI HITA KARANA

ON BALI’S UNTOUCHED NORTHERN COAST.

Jalan Raya Gilimanuk - Seririt · Pemuteran · Buleleng · 81155 Bali/Indonesia Phone: ++62 362 92312 · Fax: ++62 362 92313 · E-Mail: info@matahari-beach-resort.com · www.matahari-beach-resort.com

asean ASEAN GREEN HOTEL

ELEGANT TRADITIONS • EPICUREAN ATTITUDE

R E S TA U R A N T

•

BAR

•

GALLERIES

Jl. Raya Kerobokan No.38, Kerobokan, Seminyak, Bali T +62 (0) 361 731175, 7492796 E info@warisanrestaurant.com www.warisanrestaurant.com

Lu xur y

I n

P r i n t

Volume Thirty Three dec/jan/feb 2011-2012

The Yak Magazine Sophie Digby, Agustina Ardie, Nigel Simmonds Publisher's PA / Sales & Marketing Ananda Sarina Production Manager Evi Sri Rezeki Graphic Designers Irawan Zuhri, Tika Tjandra, SuperStu Accounting Julia Rulianti Volume 33 Dec/Jan/Feb 2011 - 2012

Distribution Made Marjana, Kadek Arthana, Putu Widi Susanto, Made Sutajaya, Didakus Nuba Publisher PT Saka Wahana Cipta Licence 1.265/09-04/PB/V/99 Advertising Enquiries Tel: (+62 361) 844 6341, 743 1804, 743 1805 IDR68,000 : S$11 : HK$50 : A$10 : €5

www.theyakmag.com

On The Cover. Partner, by Tyler Warren.

Email: info@theyakmag.com sales@theyakmag.com Canggu Club Tennis Centre, Jl. Pantai Berawa, Canggu, Bali 80361, Indonesia © PT Saka Wahana Cipta The Yak Magazine Bali.

You know the drill. No part of this publication may be copied or reproduced electronically or otherwise without prior permission from the Publisher. Opinions expressed within this publication are those of the authors not the Publisher.

The Publisher reserves the right to refuse advertising that does not comply with the magazine's design criteria. The Yak will not be held responsible for copyright infringements on images supplied directly by advertisers and/or contributors.

min

The Yak’s monthly e-newsletter is sent

Archives, additional content and

yPodBali Version 2.0 – The Yak's iPhone

to 20,000 mailboxes every month.

more at www.theyakmag.com

App – is available from the App Store.

P: 88 White noise

contents

46

70

Yakety yak

15 minutes

50

new in the hood

62

Andrew E. Hall on the blinding of the masses.

Words From On High

48 58

Occupied

76 82

Bryan Ferry Smashed Me

Shopping and Stuff

98

Out of the box Kitchen Confidential interview

108

Iskandar

66

Jim Larkin

68

Elora

118

interview

126

interview

62

98

culture vulture The Good Oil Interwho Stevie Gee artsake Spanish Antonio

the yak awards Oh! The Glory! travel Sri Lanka Yak fashion Just Attitude events White Heat

186

108

contents 128

Transit

134

Paul Ropp

182

events

136

Spoilt for Choice

144

Private Dining

152

Smart Moves

159

180

yak fashion

184 186

members of the cloth

oral pleasures

204

Venting in a villa

just doin' it

208 210

Foreplay

168

Warung Kayu

174

Bloody Marys

176

Two's Company

oral pleasures

212

big six

oral pleasures Mama Mia! oral pleasures Khaima oral pleasures Lilin fashion freestyle Client Collectibles

sounds around Nick Warren raver's review Album Opinion astro yak Star Struck Advertiser directory Who's Who

constant wining

168

144

70

152

yakback Giving Twenty11 and our 33rd edition of The Yak a resounding pat on the back, we would like to wish you all a veritable, variety of vivaciousness this festive season. It’s been a year of Champagne and chiquery, of campaign and shockery, in fact it’s been a bit of a dichotomy. Struggling somewhere between the new equilibrium and the optimum balance, we at The Yak strive to keep you up in the know and barking up the right tree…

In this issue, we introduce ourselves with someone else’s 15 minutes of fame, before taking a quick trip around what’s New In The Hood. We have an Out Of The Box moment, before stringing you along with one of Indonesia’s youngest violin divos – Iskandar and an in-depth interview with the talented (youthful) octogenarian, Jim Larkin. Elora (Hardy) might greenside you with her new wave of architectural designs that don’t even disturb nature, before these humble pages introduce you to some of today’s most talented canvasstretchers: Tyler Warren, Stevie Gee and the totally eclectic Antonio Muñoz von Furstenberg. Read on to get Hall-ed over by White Noise and the shenanigans of politicos and occupiers, talented wit of what is, is. We take a minute retro-look at our ‘best eva’ Yak Awards 2011 (was September so yesterday?) and give eternal thanks to Bali’s heroes and sponsors. Our travel feature, Sri Lanka-bound, takes us a whole seven degrees north of the Equator, before the monochrome stylish pages of Attitude prepare us for the White Heat of The Yak’s presence at the Milan Fashion Week. Still mashing with the fashion, Paul Ropp catwalks ‘W’ at sunset, and dreams come true with the first ever Yak Fashion spread of – guess what? Men only. Totally in tune with the Age of Aquarius, The Yak then does Hair – shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen – through Bali’s best salons before we head out for private dining and sojourns in three of Bali’s many privy’d villas. Golfing and a no-menu restaurant hi-tails us before we dive into six of the best Bloody Marys on the island and learn about the art of pairing wining with dining. Shanghai chic comes in the guise of Bali’s latest noodle and wok mecca, Mama San, followed closely by Khaima and Lilin – Yak eateries by design. With little time left to shop for presents and the like, we’ll give you a peek at Fashion Freestyle before checking out a little bit of music to download onto your iPod. Then and only then will you learn what is up and coming for you this frisky, festive season with our AstroYak and that does not include your fortune in the upcoming year of the Dragon… Gong Xi Fat Chai and as ever, may The Yak be with you…

Dear Yak, Greetings from Café Marzano, Bali.

We really appreciated your article that rated our restaurant as one of the best pizza places on the island. It was a great surprise as everybody knows that The Yak is one of the biggest magazines in Asia. I don't know how to express my gratitude. Come, have dinner with us!

Gita, Marzano.

We're always up for free pizza.

Dear Yak, I finally got hold of a copy of the magazine and read your article about Ayana Resort and Spa. It was a great piece. Thank you for taking the time to visit us and write such a personal and enticing article.

Marian, Ayana.

– and what was completely new for me was the combination of the jegog with the music from the DJs. I was very impressed. They should record that, or at least do it again – it was great.

Detlev, Bali Yes good call. Martin East – when is the album coming out?

Dear Yak, A belated note to say thank you for a wonderful event! The food was spectacular and the beachside stage/set up was really great. Congratulations on what must surely be another successful Yak Awards from us all at The Private Spa Wellness Center.

Richard, Bali.

You’re more than welcome Marian.

Glad you had a good time Richard – fab music, fab people, fab party . . . we had a ball.

Dear Yak, Thanks so much for such a wonderful night at The Yak Awards. It's always the best event of the year. So one more Yak Award . . . to The Yak! I loved the location

Dear Yak, The Yak Awards this year was an absolute pleasure! Thanks to all... especially those who attended!

James Karl Ephraim, Mozaic.

yakinthelapof... Paris Hilton What's going on in this town? First our great friend and Head of Security refuses to let us into the Paris Hilton VIP area claiming he "can’t do anything for us" and then, when we attempt to board the USS Big Ship sailored here from the US of A by our very own Jakarta homeboy Barack Obama, we are once more rebuffed by beefy uniformed types. Have they no respect? In exasperation we headed for the club – where of course we found Paris hanging round the loos looking shifty. We pressed a copy of this esteemed organ into her hand.

Her response: “Oh The Yak! I love The Yak!” …Exactly Miss Hilton, exactly.

b rya n ferry

smashed me at

ta b l e

t e n n i s

drew corridore gets a lesson in life from a bat-weilDing pop star.

When I was a chipper, chirpier, version of the ageing rapscallion I’ve become, I had the best job in the world.

It was one of those things one did to afford the books and birds so necessary to experiencing the ride through university.

I was a “loader” – no, not someone who threw shells into the breach of an artillery piece – but a person who unloaded trucks and loaded them up again, and with the touring road crews, set up concerts for some of the biggest bands in the world at the time.

I worked concerts for Joe Satriani and Stevie Ray Vaughan; Sting and Robert Palmer; Neil Young and Crazy Horse; and Whitney Houston (mad as a box of frogs). Whitney, in fact, surrounded herself with what resembled the offensive line in an American football team, which insisted that we refer to the diva as Miss Houston - not that we ever got close enough to her highness to say hello.

Bryan Ferry rocked into town once. You could not meet a more gentlemanly superstar if you tried. We’d set up his show and were just going through sound and lighting checks; I was punching buttons and pulling sliders up and down on the lighting desk, next to the sound engineer on his rig. Bryan came on stage – it was a sultry afternoon – and sang something that resembled Mary Had a Little Lamb. I leaned over to the sound techie and asked him to open up the intercom between the desk and stage.

“Why?” he asked.

I shrugged, winked maybe. He,

too, shrugged and made me live: “THANK YOU MISTER FERRY, JUST LEAVE YOUR DETAILS WITH THE OFFICE AND WE’LL GET BACK TO YOU,” boomed out at however many thousands of watts over the stack.

Bryan laughed (a rude gesture perhaps?) and exited stage left.

Later, when all was in readiness for the evening show, Bryan Ferry tagged me for a game of ping-pong – he might have even punched me on the arm for my flippancy earlier. Anyway, we had a table set up “out the back” and he beat me by an embarrassing margin.

Speaking of sound checks, one that blew me away was done by INXS’s Michael Hutchens. I was on stage about five metres away when he let rip with this vocal arpeggio that seemed to go on and on and on in the upper registers. He was a tiny guy but he had the biggest voice I had ever heard. Amazing.

We bumped in Chris de Burgh for a multi-night stint and, despite the fact that he’s blotted his copybook somewhat since, he was the nicest of nice people then. He insisted that the local crew be treated in exactly the same manner as he, his family, and his road crew. When it came to meal times we all ate together in the dining room and no expense was spared: we had platters of lobster and oysters and prawns and salads and steaks. We had bottles and bottles of the best wine. We had a fine old time.

We made damned sure the de Burgh family got whatever they wanted.

We worked for the Stones and Floyd, Dire Straits – it was a great time to have an “Access All Areas” pass.

We worked hard – long, long hours, especially if the acts were in and out on consecutive days. We had a lot of laughs and we all took away many, many anecdotes about our encounters with these people who were sometimes treated as gods by their fans.

We also got the best seats in the house.

One night the local crew was “recreating” in the air-conditioning control room during a concert – must have been an act we weren’t that interested in, or one that had been in for several nights, I don’t remember. What I do remember is the stage manager, Paul, rushing into the room: “Put those fucking things out!” he yelled, “and (over his shoulder) run!”

Apparently our recreation venue was ill-chosen and the audience in the auditorium was unknowingly recreating with us through the A/C ducts.

If it was a shite concert we probably did them a favour.

Who knew? We were rolling around the crew room in fits that might have carried to the stage as well . . .

Do have a story to tell about a meeting with someone famous? Email us on info@theyakmag.com.

SUSHI, SAKE, SUBLIME Minami the Japanese restaurant in Ubud, has such a strong following that they have expanded their premises to Sanur. Attracting a strong Japanese contingent and those with a more delicate palate, you can start your meal with a beautifully presented bento box with grilled fish, miso-flavoured grilled beef, Japanese pickles and shrimp tempura.

The Sushi rocks and is so fresh you might even see it wiggle. Dine on high-end Japanese cuisine and says yes to that third sake or indulge in a Sake Tini with Yuzu. The owner Miho is from Osaka and she overrules with an iron fist – so you know that your meal will melt in your mouth.

Tel: 081286134471 www.minami-bali.com

EUROPEAN FLAIR THAT DARES In true St. Regis style we finally have some European class about us. One of the most stunning resorts on the island, the St. Regis, never lets one down. Their newly refurbished suite The Grande Astor, takes living in opulence to a new level. Three hundred and thirty three metres, complete with magnificent outdoor terrace and infinity pool overlooking the azure waters of the Indian Ocean, let’s you know it isn’t Monaco or Saint Tropez - it is Bali!

You will find no teak wood here, it is all magnificent mahogany wood furnishings, Italian marble flooring and very top drawer. Indigenous objets and cultural artifacts are used in the suite as another reminder that paradise exists here on earth.

Tel: 8478111 www.stregis.com/bali

LILY JEAN BLOSSOMS AGAIN What does one need to wear?

Resort wear and Lily Jean. This Yak staple has opened a shop dedicated just to easy at- home entertainingstyle clothing. Focused on kaftans, comfy basics, sexy Brazilian bikini’s topped off with must-have Bali Towels. It’s the perfect stop before a sun-kissed day on the beach.

Lily Jean uses imported materials combined with local handwork in embroidery and batik. The Lily Jean label is 'all over the shop' in 12 different countries and 3 other stores in Indonesia. Sweetie don’t let your standard’s slip just because you're in the tropics, frock up to dress down!

Map ref: O.5 www.lily-jean.com

FEELING GOOD, FEELING BAD? BIMC is our answer to help, when help Is required. Thank goodness we are about to have two options with BIMC – already operating out of Kuta they are expanding into Nusa Dua. Making health a priority in Bali, the internationally managed BIMC Hospital has assigned the well-known Australian architectural firm, Silver Thomas Hanley (STH) to build the new premises. A two-storey private hospital with 45 inpatient beds, will incorporate an accident and emergency area, intensive care unit, and all the tricks of the trade. Due for completion early next year. The goal is to provide care for all on the island. Whew! www.bimcbali.com

SANDY BAY AT NUSA LEMBONGAN Please get my yacht and take me to Sandy Bay Beach Club even if just for the day.

If you don’t have a yacht YET - the club is just 30 mins by fast boat, east of Sanur on Nusa Lembongan - they can organize a private charter for you. With an infinity- edge, beachfront pool, sun loungers and large lazy chairs this is a place to really let it all hang out. With this kind of setting and jaw dropping sunsets, Sandy Bay is spoiling, even for the Seminyak spoilt. Plan on making it a full day out and let the wind blow your troubles away.

Tel: 082897005656 sandybaylembongan.com

TREAT ME TO A TANDOOR Known as the “Little India of Bali”, Queens Tandoor has been serving guests in Seminyak since 2004 and, after opening in Tuban, they are now opening a branch in Nusa Dua. Indian-owned and managed, the level of cuisine will have you thinking you have left Bali for Bombay! An extensive lunch and dinner menu, airconditioning and terrace seating comes complete with a private loft gallery for private meetings and functions. Both the food and the service are sublime...

Tel: 771344 www.queenstandoor.com

PILLOW PERFECTION Padma Resort Bali is a serene paradise that enjoys the renowned Legian sunset nightly. If the combination of the reassuring sound of the sea and the celebrated Balinese hospitality don’t lull you into a peaceful slumber they are now offering a new “pillow menu” to ensure all guests sleep comfortably. The pillow menu features 5 different options that we now take the time to highlight. Hypo-Allergenic, its synthetic and help relieve sinus problems and those with dust allergies and is suitable for stomach and back sleepers. The Neck Treat is a high-density pillow that gives maximum support for the neck and is considered ideal for side sleepers. The Swedish Memory will have you forgetting those dreams made of 100% goose down as it reacts to body temperature and is great for all types of sleepers.

The Stress Free Sleep conforms to the head and neck for maximum support and stress reduction, if it does that we think it is probably good for all of us. Finally the All-Around Wellness pillow is a memory foam pillow that offers spinal relaxation and can also reduce snoring, which let’s face it, no matter how cute your mate is, can be annoying.

Selamat tidur!

Tel: 752111 Map ref: R.15 www.padmaresortbali.com AYANA IS IT AT AGAIN The Ayana has been raising the bar in more ways than 10 and to raise it even further they invited the celebrated Chef Jusman So to join the team as their new Chef de Cuisine at Dava, Ayana’s signature restaurant. So founded the much-lauded Sage restaurant in Singapore. Haven’t you been?

If not, pretend. It was nominated the Best New Restaurant at The World Gourmet Summit and also has a place on the prestigious Miele List. While it’s a bit greedy, we Yakker’s are thrilled that the Ayana is upping the stakes once again. So’s muchappreciated European technique, local ingredients and modern presentations are a touch of brilliance.

Welcome to the island Chef So, and we look forward to seeing your work in action or in the surf, apparently you are quite competitive on that score too!

Tel: 702222 www.ayanaresort.com

CONSTANT WINING Opening in mid-December - we hope - is the newly renovated and extended Winehouse in Kerobokan. Housing more than 3'000 wines from around the globe and accompanied by knowledgeable staff choosing wines is a breeze.

The Winehouse will hold regular tastings and by mid-February will open a school for both professional and non- professional wine lovers and a wine bar.

Expect 16 wines, changing on a monthly basis, to be enjoyed by the 'taste', half or full glass. Wine on!

Tel: 737217 Map ref: V.4

ANOTHER ANATARA ACCOMPLISHMENT Anantara have taken rooftop viewing to new heights with their new resort in the Bukit, Bali’s prime example of a view is of course a cliff. So clifftop - with inclinator - four types of accommodation are on offer: Oceanfront Villas, condo’s with Ocean views and Garden Villas. Plans are ahead for Italian, Japanese and Western restaurants and a secret dining cave. We can’t say more than that. A gym, a mini theatre, a wedding venue and an incomparable view complete this 'living on the edge' experience. Get me down to Anantara.

Tel: 2145456 www.bali-uluwatu.anantara.com

TWINKLE TOES The boys maybe by our side giving us much needed assistance over the rough roads of Bali but one should always be up for a pampering, especially after a long night in our Choo’s, a girl needs a break. So darling, time to prime those feet for their next round of abuse and get the rid of those 'treds'. Fabulously Feet is the place to get those toes in a perfect row. Perfectly pampered, calm and soothing, Fabulously Feet has treatments that include a foot mask, total scrub and massage.

Importantly, they also do unique for jet lagged feet - minimizing those swollen trunks down to their normal size with peppermint, chamomile and lemongrass.

Soothes and heals the soul or do we mean soles? If you only have a lunch break to spare FF even give you lunch, and if you're heading for the high skies you can go in style with a hydrating juice or tea traveller and a jet-lag pack that has regulation-size gel and lotion in a zipper bag.

Tel: 8475764 www.fabulouslyfeet.com

Finn's Beach Club Catch a wave and your sitting on top of the world or get a lift and take the inclinator down to Finn’s Beach Club at the stunning new Semara Luxury Villa Resort which offers just what the doctor ordered on any lazy Sunday - a white sandy beach, blue waters, sun loungers and perfectly crusted pizza out of their own pizza oven. You can purchase a RP250,000 beach pass that is later credited to your F and B bill.

Rarely and incredibly tastefully designed with natural stone and bamboo you can relish your day sampling the casual yet delicious menu crafted by Executive Chef Stuart Marsden whilst exploring the tide pools, kayaking with the kids or having a much needed massage in the private beach bales. OLE! Tel: 8482111 www.semarauluwatu.com

DRINK, DANCE, DINE SAKALA Things are heating up in Tanjung Benoa with the area’s first night-venue Sakala, which sprawls elegantly in a spectacular setting accompanied by superb food. Executive Chef Frederic Boulay comes from a family of restaurateurs - he started working at his father’s award-winning restaurant in Quebec before he could even ride a bike. Chef Frederic spent the last three years in the Caribbean and is totally hooked on getting the freshest seafood available. Having worked with Joel Robuchon in Monaco and Michel Bras at Laguiole, Chef Frederic is bringing to the island a sense of refinement while remaining true to his traditional French cooking methods, both of which are immensely pleasing to both the palate and the eye. On the sunrise side of south-east Bali, Sakala is an expansive 3,000 square metre venue with a fabulous two-storey Balinese style building. Upon entering Sakala, patrons encounter a LED Glass bar and an intimate lounge area before entering the main dining scene with indoor and outdoor seating and an open-air party deck, sun loungers, a massive infinity pool and bar, all beside the sea. And back the all things culinary, Chef Boulay has worked for royalty and rockers, folks, including Prince Albert II of Monaco and Sir Paul McCartney. Impressive.

Tel: 774499 www.sakalabalicom IT’S A FAMILY AFFAIR AT EIGHT DEGREES SOUTH One of our favourite family spots, the Conrad Bali has helped us do it again by launching a new Sunday Barbeque Brunch on their stunning expanse of beach in Tandjung Benoa.

Eight Degrees South - which the restaurant is aptly named - is actually the exact position south of the equator where you want to be on any given Sunday, Monday or Tuesday… too heck with it, stay for a week. Guests can indulge in alltime breakfast favourites including truffled hollandaise eggs benedict, seafood frittata and crispy French croissants. Fresh seafood is of course primary as all you have to do is get a hook and a line, but if your not feeling in the mood go for the rock lobsters and fish brochette. The bonus here is if you bring the kids you can enjoy complimentary access to the kid’s club.

Tel: 778788 www.conradbali.com

ELLA ELLA ELLA Who would have ever guessed that the ever-present Sunbrella is half a decade old this year, 50, yes 50! We are not only ever-grateful for the invention but we are also ever so impressed. Without you, our sun brolly's would look tacky and our sun beds would look mouldy. Without your imagination and design flair - think deep reds to vibrant blues passing through stripes and fabulous jacquards we would still be living in the age of the kidney-shaped pool and beige, faux-leather mattresses. Thankfully available in Bali, the time has come to do the right thing and get our all-weather furniture, awnings, umbrellas and poolside seating Sunbrella'd. www.sunbrella.com

NUTTY INSPIRATIONS Ubud's spankiest new noodle, satay bar and music lounge comes complete with indoor stage and tree-towering covered courtyard. Next door to Casa Luna, the dream team that is Odeck and Tara, of Ary's Warung fame amongst other things, have brought youthful inspiration and culinary creation to what once was a waste of space – literally! Green zoning and roofing the ample courtyard and designing a two-storey inner noodle and live stage sanctum, Betelnut is about to be on the gathering cards in Ubud on any given night.

With delicious, yet reasonably priced, Asian fare and pretty above-average cocktails, maybe its time to we all got patio-ed?

Tel: 971426 www.dekco.com

HOMEGROWN 'N LOVING IT We struggle here as we all know, with wine prices spiraling out of control. It’s so horrid that we have even considered other islands to move to, but no, we are too happy here. Hatten Wines, our own home-grown wine label is such a relief. Deservedly awarded the 2011 Silver Medal Wine Style Asia Award with it’s Alexandria, your taste buds will be tempted to the max. Made from Muscat of Alexandria (Belgia) grapes, the wine is golden in colour with a soft fruity finish perfect for our tropical climate to be served very chilled. Hatten has also just been awarded the 2011 Bronze Medal at the Wine Style Asia Awards in Singapore with their Pino de Bali. These “fortified” style of wines are produced by adding brandy to fresh white grape juice to prevent fermentation so it retains the natural sugars. Perfect for an after dinner snifter...

Tel: 767422 Map ref: F.12 www.hattenwines.com

THE LADY SINGS THE BLUES The name Taman Bhagawan comes from “taman”, the Indonesian word for garden and “bhagawan” the Sanskrit word for possessing fortune and being blessed. Here the creators are taking these words to bear. They have created a 1.8 hectare beachfront event-venue with amazing gardens and lush green lawns that house elegant Javanese Joglo structures.

Think Jazz Market by the Sea where there is stroll-around cuisine, local talented artists and craft makers showcasing their extraordinary handcrafted work in ceramics, glass, fine art, jewelry, leather, sculpture and wood. Already seen as a perfect location for concerts, Jason Mraz recently played to a sell-out audience, enjoyed by those lucky enough to get tickets. Spectacular! We at The Yak are all for promoting our local culture and if Bali can also encourage artists from overseas to entertain us bravissimo Taman Bhagawan, bravissimo!

Tel: 776555 www.tamanbhagawan.com

TOP OF THE WORLD Whether you are enjoying your local bistro and a really fine expresso, or making your own eggs at home, it has to be said that it’s hard to beat a rooftop brunch. Anantara, one of our faves has a new “All Inclusive 360 Degree Brunch” overlooking the sublime Seminyak beach. Hosted by celebrated winemaker Dan Pannel of Picardy Wines in Western Australia finely tuned with Chef Huisman's cuisine de jour. Whilst the menu is staggeringly good we also love the free flowing sparkling wine, SOS cocktails and red and white wines.

In case you run over your fill, there is also a fun corner for kid’s with a mini buffet and kid’s activities to keep the sprogs occupied while you say “Yes please, I’ll have another” and we don’t mean children. Along with the brunch relish the complimentary access to Ananatara’s beach side cabana’s and pool. Try to remember not to jump you will have to take the lift down and then lounge.

Tel: 737772 Map ref: P.11 www.anantara.com

BRING ON THE ANIMALE Since 1991, the globally-known Animale brand has been layering us every step of the way. Opening a a new shop on Oberoi expect more fabby frocks, tops and separates in loose linens, soft cottons and tropical threads that leave us looking fresh while the rest of the world sweats it out. The brainchild of Jacques Ruc, a French art patron, Ruc was inspired by Balinese flora and fauna and his designs use those inspirations with the backdrop - much like a canvas - of neutral tones.

Mix and match and you are set to go.

Tel: 485450 Map ref:Q.8 animale.com

Experience the fun of an artistic lifestyle . . .

Resplendent in shades of red and gold, the lobby at Padma Resort Bali extends a warm welcome to arriving guests. Its comforting ambience is reinforced by Ketut Winata’s The Lotus, which adorns the reception wall as a symbol of gracious hospitality.

Jl. Padma No. 1 Legian, Bali 80361 - Indonesia

T +62 361 752111

F +62 361 752140

www.PadmaResortBali.com

boost kitchen confidence with bali's best cuisine collectibles.

LEFT: KNIFE BLOCKS by SKS LAB Fiberglass knife blocks made by sKs lab.

Available in orange, white, bluE and black.

WWW.SKSBAlI.COM THIS PAGE: Inspired by the great outdoors, Word Of Mouth's Big Star series of handmade ceramic tableware comes in blue, green or brown. www.wordofmouthbali.com

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TABLE MATTS BY SKS LAB Homewear latest creation by sks lab. The graphics on the matt inspired by Jasper Morrison’s “Knife Fork Spoon” project made for Alessi.

WWW.SKSBALI.COM

Spider ashtray by Indonesian designer Eko Nugroho. vailable at Potato Head Beach Club, www.ptthead.com

ISKANDAR A Franciscus Geissenhof Violin from 1783 . . . Who is this YOUNG guy playing that kind of an instrument? violinist IskaNdar Widjaja TALKS TO SALVADOR BALI ABOUT HIS PASSION FOR PLAYING . . . FROM OF A LIFE WRIT LARGE.

BEGIN at the beginning . . .

My name is Iskandar Widjaja. Which is an Indonesian name, but I was born in Berlin, Germany, age 25, my home base is in Berlin, but I travel 50 percent of the year, What is your parental mix?

My dad is Arabian-Dutch, from Maluku, my mom is from Chinese origin, also from Indonesia, and I speak English, German and Indonesian.

Schooling background?

Normal high school, but I was accepted in college at age 11.

Stop the music, Age 11? I need more of that . . .

I was studying violin at that time, alongside adult students, my mom thought it would be good to get support as soon as possible.

At what age did you start playing violin?

I was four years old.

What brought that on?

I was actually asking my mom to buy me a violin.

At four years old?

It’s not unusual, my family is full of artists – my mom is a pianist; my uncle is a conductor; and my grandfather, Udin Widjaja, in the Soeharto era, was a famous composer; my aunt a ballet dancer.

So, totally encompassed with music, I thought it was normal.

By the time I was 11, I was already sure I wanted to pursue a musical career. Not even a concert pianist, I wanted to be a soloist. I was already designing my own CD covers.

That’s quite a passion for a child.

When my mother was pregnant she would be practicing Chopin all day – genetic, who knows?

For sure, osmosis . . .

I started off with a method from Japan called the Suzuki method: the point being to learn the music intuitively, like a mother tongue, so you don’t learn with the notes, but learn from hearing. When driving in the car with my mom, she would play the music and afterwards I would try it on my violin, without even knowing the notes. It’s a very good method for children.

You said you went to college on a scholarship?

In Germany there’s lots of support for the arts, and it's not very expensive to learn an instrument.

When and where was your

it's berlin and bali for iskanDar.

top of the world ma!

first performance?

At age seven, in Italy, I played a Vivaldi Concerto. That was my first performance and the mayor of the city, after my solo, came and shook my hand. I was so proud.

From there?

The feeling of being on stage, especially as a youngster, makes you kind of high. I knew then that’s what I wanted to do as a career.

Are you saying that you feel like another person on stage?

I try to be just a tool for the music.

I try to get rid of my personality and let the music speak for me, and it’s the most wonderful feeling.

And so the progression?

There’s a supportive program for highly gifted children – the Unistand Institute – where they organize concert tours in Europe. I was accepted for that and rubbed shoulders with other gifted students my age. I graduated one-and-a-half years ago from the University of Arts, Berlin.

Before that what were some of your accomplishments?

Don’t be shy . . .

The Gold Medal of the first International Violin Competition; first prize in the German national competion, Jugend Musizert; best Bach and best Beethoven sonatas in the XXI Concorso Violistico Internazionale Postacchini; Julios Junior – Young Talent category, awarded by Berlin’s mayor; scholarship from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben; performing with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Dubrovnik Symphony

Orchestra, the Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Orchestra de la Suisse Romandi and others. Festivals, Kissinger Summer, Valdes Sommersymfoni, Festival de Saint Prex, Music Phnom Penn and Kesher Eilon; also conducted master classes at the Pelita Harapan University in Jakarta.

What brought you to Indonesia?

I came here six years ago because it was my parents' home country and I had a unique experience in my musical endeavors – instantly showing that the music reached the Indonesian people; they would immediately applaud during the pieces which you can’t expect in Europe. I was surprised by that – a new experience.

Europeans are very silent and attentive; they applaud after the piece but Indonesians are more relaxed. Five years on, I tried to reestablish a career in Europe – the base of classical music. Through that I established a tour of South East Asia. There’s huge interest here (in my music), especially in the younger generation. Recently I had a big concert in Medan – 3,000 people, full house, the Sky Convention Hall.

What brought you to Bali?

My dad is friends with Tom, the owner of JP’s Warung and he asked me if I would like to have some fun in Bali – come over, relax, nothing serious and jam in the club.

I gave it a go and really enjoyed it. The classical concerts can be quite stressful with all the rules.

Being 25, I presume that you are influenced by all the

other music that’s going on, do you enjoy everything, and do you play everything?

My main focus is classical, but I love to sing a lot, and now there are many articles saying, oh this classical artist, blah, blah. I’m not this uptight classical artist, I’m having fun.

Backing up a bit: you said you wanted to be number one, did you accomplish that?

There are competitions in Germany, and yes I won (laughs), but then again, music is not like sports, you can’t really measure it, you can’t say he’s the fastest or the best. It’s taste as well, if you have reached technical perfection there’s many more things to judge, so there’s no such thing as number one in music.

I’ve come second and third all the time, judges have different tastes or they have their own students and like them better. In the end it comes across to the audience what you do.

What about America?

I performed in the Chicago area where I received a scholarship when I was 16, at the time I considered my musical base in New York. But Europe has so much tradition and it’s kind of sacred. I was born in Berlin, which is kind of the Mecca for classical music.

I stayed and never regretted it.

Is there one place that you would like to play in?

Yeah, Carnegie Hall in New York.

I had a chance to play there twice, but I couldn’t make the schedule, but that’s my dream.

Also a dream come true was the Berlin Philharmonic, that was

a Christmas concert last year, to play there is incredibly hard, they only invite international artists. Being born there and accepted – overwhelming.

So now where do you go?

I don’t make plans, I believe there’s a plan already in order, I just try to be as flexible as possible for the energy to guide me to the places life wants me to go. So I’m happy that life has guided me to this point, I have no objection.

Future plans for Bali?

Actually I fell in love with the energy here in Bali, so my secret feeling is in about five or six years to buy a place here and make it my second base.

Berlin for half the time – it has cool energy – but the east and Bali is so easy in a way. In Germany there’s the structure and order, Bali is easy and I love that, also to combine these two worlds into my playing.

What about recording?

My recording company, Oehms Classics, is available in Indonesia, but I don’t want to make a big project out of this. I have plans for Indonesia that is easy listening, accessible to the Indonesian audience. I talked to many people about this and the recording companies are all in agreement.

Your philosophy on life?

Let it happen and believe the believeness [sic] of it.

To your fans?

I appreciate all the love; it’s not about me, but giving me the energy to work hard.

interview jim larkin was there at the birth of jazz, singing with some of the greats. martial arts beckoned, then bali.

LET the music begin.

Ok, Jim Larkin, born in 1936 in the ghetto of San Francisco, California, USA. Seventy five, really, that’s starting off with a bang...

I started singing at a very young age – I’m from a family of musicians; my uncle had a big band in the early ‘40s playing with Josephine Baker.

A classic of show business . . .

Yes, in that time in San Francisco there was a street called Fillmore; Fillmore Street was jazz in San Francisco.

Bill Gram, the hippie movement shot up from there.

Bill Gram (laughs) was a hippie in the late ‘50s, he was working for a black guy named Sullivan, who had a place called Primalon Ballroom. On Friday and Saturday nights the artists there were the likes of Billy Holiday, Fats Domino . . . oh hell, all of those people.

Primarily black artists?

Yes, that’s when black music was defined as rhythm and blues, soul, etcetera. There were rhythm and blues stations and there were white stations.

Pat Boone and east is east and west is west and the twain meets on twack twee . . .

Yeah, like that, so coming from that background I started singing, vocal groups at the age of 12.

The groups in those days were the Mills Brothers, the Orioles.

Acapella group days?

Yes, the groups were quartets and

quintets. I recorded on a record label called Town Records and ended up running away from home and went on tour with that company, got burnt and came sniveling back home. Time passed and there I was again in the scene with Etta James.

She was like the Aretha Franklin of her time wasn’t she?

More so. (But) by the time I reached 26-years-old I was spent and burnt out from the music circuit, especially touring Japan singing rhythm and blues. And then I got into jazz – sharing with Oscar Peterson and other heavyweight people.

History in the making.

That’s what it was, the creators of jazz. Then I went on tour with the Harlem Globe Trotters.

Ha, that’s somebody to look up to.

You’re absolutely right, I came up to their shoulders and when walking the streets of Japan, Japanese people would look at me and then up, and up, like the Empire State Building (laughs). I had a great time in Japan. It was a lucky situation, I was being treated lavishly but I didn’t have a business head then.

When I came back to America it was a complete turnaround – every nightclub would only allow one black in a band and so on. That was in the ‘50s.

Being disenchanted and while being in Japan beforehand, I had become involved and trained in the martial arts – for a short time in Japan and

then continued in San Francisco, eventually to a point where I opened up my own school, Larkin Buked Kai Karatedo. Stepping away from the music business during the redevelopment period of the San Francisco ghetto areas, there was this forty four thousand square-foot building that the community had taken over from the government for one dollar a year. I was asked to come in and manage the building, which in essence was a cultural center. So with my background, I ran the facility for nine years, during that stretch I wrote grants to the national endowment of the Arts for Gifted Children; trained kids how to perform on stage – technicalities, sound, lighting, staging; made a few into stars . . . lot’s (of them) working in Vegas and the like.

It’s all about preparation, dedication, desire. To me talent is a stepping stone towards success. I pulled a lot of people out of the ghetto kind of situation. So doing both martial arts and the school, at 70-years-old, I decided to do another turn around.

You’re 75 now, seems like you had a midlife crisis.

Yeah, my kids were telling me they can teach the karate and the techniques in the school, so I felt not needed and all used up.

Here comes Bali . . .

My wife is friends with Michael Franti who travels Indonesia and he says

to me, you should go to Bali, they don’t have anybody with your singing power, so coming in 2009, having dinner with friends and listening to someone singing blues, I said I can do better than that. I was asked to go on stage and started to sing jazz – no, they wanted blues, so I became a blues singer, that’s how it happened.

How is it going so far?

I find it difficult, in the respect that local clubs can’t afford to pay musicians. I mean, I don’t get it – it cost me $4,000 to get here, another $2,000 to get a kitas, I can’t make the money back, and it’s difficult.

What to do? I have to make Bali my base and hit Singapore, Thailand and so forth. I have to tour again but they don’t have agents here – only for DJs. I wear two hats: booking agent and musician, difficult to represent yourself. So there’s the long and short of the story.

What’s on your mind to say to the fans out there?

Book me!

Philosophy?

Whatever that power is, God or whatever name you want to give it, that’s the creator, and part of that creativity is your ability to create, so what I’ve learnt in life, what we see, what we believe, we can achieve.

The power is in your imagination.

"The power is in your imagination." –jim larkin

interview

lean, green, and not so mean.

elora

ART ON THE BIGGEST CANVAS . . . and building for a better world.

Spiral swerves and sweeping curves,

and was supportive of Elora’s early

saw there weren’t going to make

multi-storey mandalas, helix-bound hold-

artistic endeavours. A family affair.

sense for very much longer – just the

extravagant structural foundation work

way we use stuff and dispose of it,

whereby massive bamboo supports

ups...these are terms you might expect

After school it was off to art college

This practise leads to some

to be used describing a Maurits Escher

in Boston where Elora graduated

people will look back at us and think

hold up houses that can be anything

piece until, that is, you visit Elora Hardy’s

with flying colours but upon leaving

we’re nuts, or maybe criminal.

up to five storeys and appear to be

Green Village project near Mambal.

was confronted with something that

Large, luxurious houses built

confronts most youngsters when they

battle – to do something “green” in

graduate . . . “what do I do now?”

fashion.”

entirely from bamboo and other natural materials in a setting straight out of Lord

“I knew that I had skills to offer

“I wasn’t able to fight the fashion

Elora returned to Bali in early 2010

floating on the sides of the river valley.

“Over the past year or so we’ve built five house and have three more in process,” Elora says.

of the Rings – with vistas overlooking

and I wanted to do something

– 14 years after she’d left – with no

the Ayung River – are furnished with

creative in the world with my drawing

thought about starting a business or

intricate latticework made by slicing

freeform shapes, also using bamboo

or my other art skills,” she says.

running a business but as it turned out

thinly the bamboo lengthwise; rooms

she arrived at a time when the Green

made of rattan basketry, and walls and

constructional foundations.

Elora picked up internships here and

Internally the residences feature

It’s pretty impressive.

there before happening upon fashion

Village project was having management

shoji screens from organic, handmade

Canadian-born Elora is the

designer, Donna Karan, who threw her

problems. So she put her hand up.

paper. No two places are the same.

daughter of John Hardy – renowned in the jewellery industry and as

into the deep end of the fashion world.

“I ended up in New York and

“The (Green Village) company that

Chunky sliced granite adorns work

was floundering closed so I opened my

surfaces. Copper bathtubs and shower stalls round out the earthy feel.

being the creator of Ubud’s green

wandered around a bit and got a job

company, P.T. Bamboo Pure, and retained

school, which also features unique

with an interior design firm . . . but

a lot of the skilled workers . . . and then

bamboo structures. In many ways the

that was terrible . . . and I was rescued

opened Ibuku which is the international

bamboo is a feeling that it might

Green Village is the evolution of the

by meeting Donna Karan,” she says.

design arm of what I do,” she says.

succumb to environmental and

Green School building concepts.

“She asked me to pick up some

Green Village is the main project

One aspect of building with

entomological decay over time . . .

Elora is very much a child of

fabric for her . . . she’d thrown out

handled by the two companies but

“We treat the bamboo with

Bali having completed her primary

all the prints and patterns for that

on the design side there have been

natural a salt solution – we have our

education here. She remembers the

season – two weeks before a show.

commissions for furniture from the

own formula – it’s based on the best

likes of Richard Branson amongst

known, tried and true, treatment

others. Unfortunately his lovely dining

used in the world,” Elora says.

days when Ubud had a functional system of traffic and transportation!

But for higher schooling she went

“Donna asked me if I could paint on fabric and I said I’d try.

“So there I was, in New York with

table probably succumbed to the

“We test the material and make sure

to an arts-based boarding school in

dresses (featuring my artwork) on

fire that burnt down his house on a

that it has absorbed around five times

California – returning to Bali for holidays.

a runway which was pretty cool.”

Caribbean island – the billionaire’s

the amount that is usually acceptable.”

“I was miserable most of the time,” she says.

“I got into the school with a

Elora stayed with Donna Karan, and later DKNY, for the following five years either painting or sourcing materials

mother being saved from harm at the time by Kate Winslet.

The bespoke furniture with its

scholarship – because throughout

and technically doing all the prints

organic forms graces the Green Village

my childhood I had already been

and patterns for both of those lines.

villas which, in their turn, take on unique

doing arts and crafts compulsively

But with success came an increasing

shapes according to the topography of

around the villages of Bali – and got

sense of dissatisfaction with what was

the land upon which they are built.

a really good art education there.”

going on around her in the world.

Elora’s mother, Penny, also had

“I felt like it wasn’t doing it for me

a jewellery business on the island

– that it wasn’t fulfilling,” she says.

and, Elora says, is also very artistic

“I thought a lot of the things I

“We don’t do any ground leveling to accommodate our structures so they must fit in with what ever contours the land has in its natural state,” Elora says.

Then we go for a walk around the property to check out these quite striking structures. I think to myself: “I could live in one of these . . .” . . . too bad buddy, you should have taken up rocket science, not writing . . . ibuku.com

Culture vulture

surf artist Tyler Warren talks Bali, birds and board-riding to yakker Tony Stanton.

TYLER, we love your work and were so happy to see it hanging in Bali. How long have you been coming to the island?

I have been to Bali twice now. The first time was 11 years ago when I was 14-years-old.

Your work reminds us of Miguel Covarrubias.

Are you familiar with his work?

No, but I have looked him up and it seems like he was painting around the same time and place as my great uncle Roberto Montenegro, who was a Mexican muralist. . .

You seem to be channeling some great artistic associations . . . we can imagine art has been in your life for a long time, even though you're still young.

I have been drawing ever since I can remember.

Every child seems to enjoy drawing and painting . . .

I just never stopped.

Your great uncle did some immense work. Does that intimidate you at all?

No, not at all . . . it just inspires me to keep doing what I love and reminds me that anything is possible . . . it’s in my blood.

Were you trained as an artist?

untitled

kicks

Culture vulture

textbook top turn revistited

Culture vulture

Were you trained as an artist?

I didn’t go to a fancy art school. I attended art classes at school from seventh grade on. I went to a community college for three and a half years where I took screen-printing, drawing, metal casting, print-making, graphic design and life drawing. When I was about 20 I began working with my uncle who is a professional oil painter – I would drive up to his studio in east LA and help paint backgrounds. I learned a lot from him over the next three years – that was like art school in itself. He is a very diligent artist with a great library of art books. We were painting on a lot of large-scale canvasses.

When did you first realise that you had something of a talent?

When other kids started asking me to draw stuff for them !

Surfing is your theme . . . would you say you are principally a surfer or an artist?

I was an artist first I guess but grew up around the water. I started drawing when I was very young and began surfing around nine. I started selling silkscreen shirts out of my truck when I was 16 or 17.

lines

Tell us about how you grew up, and where you live now.

I grew up with good parents who always supported my dreams and aspirations. We grew up traveling, snorkeling, going to the beach, hanging out on our boat in the harbour, going to surf contests. I have always lived in Southern California. Dana Point and San Juan Capistrano are my hometowns.

How is your year split up? Or do you take it as it comes?

I just go with the flow. This past year I have been to Hawaii, Costa Rica, Morocco, Bali, then I’m going to Spain and France for an invitational logging event that Vans and Joel Tudor have put together. Then I am having a show in Waikiki with good friends Andy Davis and Jeff Canham.

I've had two solo shows this year – one in San Diego at Loft Gallery and one at the Deus gallery on Bali. Shaping and doing commission work when I can. It’s kinda like riding a unicycle and juggling at the same time I guess. I just take it all day by day.

How would you describe your style in oil painting?

Flat, illustrative, smooth, oil, canvas, dreams, life, graphic, past, present, light, dark, contrast, depth, warmth . . .

Are you going to stick with the surf theme or do you see yourself branching out – and if so into what?

I actually never wanted to do surf-related work . . . but as I get older I realize it’s what I know and understand the most – it’s who I am. For the most part it’s where most of my work has come from. I would love to get more into illustrating and painting live models, and designing clothing.

I used to always love to draw all the models in Vogue and that kind of stuff when I was growing up. Nothing better than a beautiful gal in some heels! www.artbytylerwarren.com

photo: T.Hawk

interwho

Illustrator Stevie Gee works as a deep sea fisherman, longboards in Central London and learned his comedy from a one-eyed uncle – which is probably why his work is so funny.

jesse and stevie gee.

79

interwho lovebox

dolphin rider

wild abandon

81

interwho

STEVIE Gee, where are you from? Is that your real name?

My real name is Stevie Gee. I was born in Essex in 1980 but I currently call Muswell Hill, North London, my home. I live there with my wife, son, daughter and cat.

What do your parents do for a living?

They are retired now. My Dad was a gypsy jazz guitarist – he still is actually – and my Mum was a fortune-teller. My Dad is currently restoring his old motorbike and my mum is learning calligraphy.

How did you become an illustrator?

I got kicked out of the marines for being too hardcore. Drawing was my only other skill.

Who or what are your influences?

People who are doing what they want, enjoying it and doing it well. Popeye and "The Fonz" are my two of my all-time heroes. Then it would be Andrew Wellman, Sonic Youth, Mark Gonzales (the skateboarder) Raymond Pettibon (artist) Ernest Hemmingway, Dennis Hopper, Ian Mackaye (Minor Threat/ Fugazi)…any man with a moustache, any man with a big quiff, ladies with big ass booties, rainbows, sunsets, clean waves and my wife and kids, to name but a few.

Who was your first client?

I think it was a surf lifestyle magazine called ADRENALIN. It was an editorial piece about the Hawaiian national anthem. It was a nice first piece. The bastards never paid though, which was annoying as I couldn't pay the rent. I know who you are suckers…you best watch your back!

Which client helped you make your name?

All of them in different ways I guess. I have worked for some good bands, companies, friends and labels over the years. All of them are stepping stones to new adventures. Key ones for me would probably be Paul Smith, Nike, Beams Japan, Death Spray Custom, Penguin books and Deus Ex Machina. I think doing solo art shows has brought my work to the attention of a few of those clients, as that stuff often gets a lot of press globally. The agency I'm on, STEM in London, helped get my first solo show, "Vengeance is Coming" in 2009. After that I got a lot more work – the show got featured in a book.

You spent some time here in Bali recently, what were your impressions of the place?

I was over for my art show "Deeds not Words" which was part of "Slidetober", the Deus art, music and surf fest. I spent most of my time at Deus – Dustin's place – and a few mornings at the beach. I couldn't have had a better time.

The Deus crew all made me feel so welcome and the show went really well. I survived an earthquake and caught a few waves. I think I could handle living in Bali for a while…everyone was lovely and it's a beautiful place. I met lots of rad creative people who were all very kind to me. I did nothing to deserve such kindness, yet it was poured all over me day after day.

What advice do you have for any budding illustrators out there?

Don't take yourself too seriously, you're not saving lives you're drawing pictures. Enjoy it. Have as much fun as you can, make cosmic love as much as your body can handle. Don’t listen to negative talk. Also, it's really important to share everything you’ve got creatively: your ideas, your style, your pens, your desk, your body…there’s nothing new under the sun so help people out and never think you are better than anyone else.

There's a humour to your work that's offbeat…where's that from?

My Uncle Jackie was a semi-professional boxer in the '70s until he quite literally got one of his eyes knocked out and had to quit. Uncle Jackie was a classic fighter, he had an incredible right hook. After he lost his eye, he started doing stand up comedy. He used to do shows in workingmen's clubs in East London.

As a small child my dad would take me to watch him sometimes. Apparently, I’m a lot like him.

What's the weirdest job you've ever done?

One summer I labelled women's underwear in a basement, that was kind of weird – there were some creepy characters down there. I have done loads of unusual jobs to get money when I needed it though. I worked as a dustman for a week at college to earn the money to buy my girlfriend (now wife) an engagement ring. You find loads of self-photographed porn shots in peoples bins, that was kind of interesting. The entire dust truck was filled with porn. It was pretty greasy in there.

Do you consider yourself an underground artist?

I’m not really sure what that means but some of the stuff I do definitely appeals to people into alternative scenes. I reckon I have done too much paid work to claim that I'm an underground artist. As much as I enjoy working for free doing 'zines, T's and record covers for friends' bands, I have to support a family these days, so it's a mix of both.

When does illustration stop being that and start being art?

This is probably totally wrong, but how I see it would be: Illustration normally means you are producing a visual piece to communicate a message or story for someone who is paying you to do that. With art you can never be wrong, there's no client feedback. You are doing exactly what you want without any influence from outside sources, clients or companies. I like both and I do both.

Do you have a studio at home or do you head out to work every day?

I have a small desk next to my bed which I work on at night and at weekends.

I work a full time day job doing graphic design during the day in Central London. One day I would love to have a studio to work in. One day.

You work across many media…what's your favourite?

My favourites so far have been the Ellis Ericson shaped surfboards I did for Deus in my last art show and the two fixed gear bikes I did for my first show with Death Spray Custom. 3D stuff seems more special than regular print work to me. Both of those examples were collaborations with people way more talented than me.

Your work doesn't appear inherently 'English' to us, more of a West Coast American vibe there…why's that do you think?

I don’t really know if that’s right but I do draw a lot of long-haired males with moustaches and ladies with curvaceous figures, kind of'70s-looking cats. I guess living in London I aspire to sunnier climates and endless long waves, that probably comes out in my drawings… Coming to Bali I saw my drawings come to life.

What's the worst thing about what you do?

All of the fame, money and women that get thrown at me. It gets dull after a while, which is why I live a very modest life with my family in a tiny flat.

Hahaha...if you weren't illustrating, what would you be doing?

I’d be a deep sea fisherman.

Stevie Gee, many thanks for your time.

The pleasure was all mine. Much love x. www.steviegee.com

Solo Stevie.

83

art world maverick Antonio MuÑoz von Furstenberg celebrates life's divine comedy.

ANTONIO Muñoz von Furstenberg . . . wow . . .that's quite a name. Are you related to the famous von Furstenbergs?

As far as I know they are all related to me! I guess it is a quite familiar name, especially on my mother’s side.

Such a quality to your work . . . and so eclectic. You started out in paint?

I started once upon a time in school, drawing in all my textbooks. I especially enjoyed history books, with lots of pictures and paintings where I could scribble all kinds of stuff over them.

And of course you're filthy rich? A filthy rich and well collected global artist :) I am hanging all over the place. But filthy rich?

Quite the opposite, I'm super clean Mr Poor.

I’m a true artist! You could say my life is rich – sometimes I get to savour the luxuries of life, like a nice sunset, a healthy nasi goreng, a wellearned siesta and those pleasant hangovers.

Seriously, tell us your story . . . and how you ended up in divine montage?

Here I am in this world on a rampage of the good and the bad. Always on the other side of things, seriously malfunctioning with the established correctness . . . the divine comedy.

Why are you not working in a bank and driving a series 7 BMW with a name like that? You had a calling maybe….

Yeah sometimes I wonder why. But now it’s too late, there is no way back. I´m happy.

Being an artist is not a diploma you get in university; it’s not a title the queen grants you and then you’re done. It’s something you struggle with on a daily basis. That’s the beauty of it. It’s a never-ending story. Hopefully with a happy ending. Once I´m dead I hope people start to value my work.

Your work is surreal . . . did you go eat peyote with the Indians at some point in your life?

I don´t know if this is politically correct to say, but I did experiment. I discovered some colours that are not in the rainbow, saw things that chased me around, tasted the bitterness of sugar . . . and laughed my head off. If anybody has seen a laughing head, please tell her to phone home.

You have layers in your mind that you transfer to the canvas . . . is that how it works?

That is an interesting way of putting it. Layers and layers of visual information on one side, and on the other, layers and layers of phrases upon phrases with

double meanings that relate to each other. I agree it’s a combination of layers – if you would cut it open it would look something like a club sandwich.

How big are your canvasses? Is it like a stepladder job or a brush with a single unicorn's hair?

Size matters? I´ve painted huge canvases with a mop, and gone into painstaking detail in others.

You went to Parsons . . . it's a good school, possibly the best. What did you learn there?

It’s a great school, but I think I learned more in the streets of New York than in class. It was an amazing experience in and out.

We're only making jokes here because your style is amazing to us. So detailed and left-field . . . classic at the same time. Good job sir.

Thank you, this is a very serious matter.

What's the pedigree of montage - we find it hard to reference any really good montage artists – why is that?

The beginning of the 20th century saw the birth of political photomontage. The First World War was a moment of truth and counter-propaganda. Cutout images started invading the printed matter.

The surreal movement gave it another dimension.

Nowadays we are living a new revolution, a big change of perspective. Messages must be sharp and clear. Strong visual imagery is necessary. The web is our new printing press. RE-EVOLUTION. Is there a resistance to montage as an art movement? Or do you see it as just an extension of multimedia . . . a modern classic?

I guess there is, in the art world establishment, something about that, the different categories of art. I studied illustration, so I started in the lower levels of art. Something like an outcast. But one thing is for sure, art is art and if not is a FART. You work in Photoshop . . . or you're actually pasting stuff together?

Mostly I work in Photoshop. I started at the beginning of the ’90s, with a fellow student of Parsons, doing comic books. Those were prehistoric times for the internet; computers and Photoshop.

We used to have photo archives from magazines that we would cut out and scan – a folder with trees, a folder with buildings, a folder with cars . . .

Each page of a comic book would take up all the memory of the Apple computer. There were no layers . . .

Nowadays on the web you can search for

an image of anything you think of (little red ant with binoculars and you get 60,700 results in 0.81 seconds). Computers have the memory of an elephant and growing . . .

And Photoshop has layers (or was it my brain?)

Let's talk about inspiration. Where does that come from for you?

I´m glad you asked me that question . . .

(Antonio crawls under the table, rolls towards the door, looks outside, licks his finger and feels the wind. Rolls back to his chair) And can we ask, do you remember a time when you were afraid of the canvas?

This is like bullfighting, the fright must be there, you can’t go around it. It’s a constant fight with the canvas, or whatever you have in front of you. Sometimes you are in control, sometimes not. At the end you give a final blow and you kill it. That’s when it’s over. If you did a good job you get the ovation of the public, the two ears and the tail. Y sales por la puerta grande!

Do you yearn to return to those days of innocence. in that do you think there's a danger as an artist to overwork pieces? How do you stay fresh?

Normally I take a shower every morning. But yes, I would love to just jump into a mud puddle and splash. Overworking a piece happens once in a while - it’s when your not happy with it and just keep on going. Sometimes it would be better to just give up but that’s very difficult, there is the inner voice saying come on, you can do it. Nirvana is when you manage to get to the point directly.

What else do you do in your life?

The usual daily routines. Somewhere in there I´m still a person.

What does money mean to you?

I´m still trying to figure that one out.

What do women mean to you?

Women messed everything up. If it wasn´t for them we would still be living in caves, hunting deer, eating with our hands and dancing to the drums around the fireplace, high on mushrooms . . . can´t be with them or without them.

And children…where are you with that?

Same place – I´m still a kid. I have two children who are growing much faster than I am. When I grow up I want to be rich and famous.

How about poor and famous?

Man, you’re in The Yak!

artsake

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Don’t look now, but the zeitgeist is shifting. by Andrew E. Hall

Jarring autonomics . . . medullas assaulted in multi-various ways, mostly made to prime the pumps of pompous plutocrats

We are too static . . . while statisticians reveal us in all our vainglory

Tsssht

In all our laziness . . .

History Channeled into colourised versions of Hitlers and Himmlers and Görings / and gore / as if seeing it in black and white wasn’t bad enough

Tsssht.

As if monochrome mania isn’t quite capable of hitting a home run in our sensorial sitting places . . .

If you were in New York would you be occupying Wall Street or having a Tea Party?

. . . where news is a muse for stockmarketeers: voyeurs of slips and slides, rises and falls, of raids / hostile and otherwise / on homes, on histories

In Los Angeles, London, Cairo, Damascus, Bahrain, Sydney and Melbourne where people have set up camps in prominent places – sometimes harassed by paramilitaries, sometimes killed by them – the cry of “we’re mad as hell and we’re not taking it any more” has gone up. Are you a bit cross too?

Hagiographers stylin’ Jobs and Buffett / Lindsay Lohan, for chrisake / buffeting the little ones, cajoling always: This is real This is REAL And you are not Hagiographers who look at saintly things, sinister in their picking, in their choosing, foisting facades upon those who might otherwise hear Handel and Bach, Mendel, instead of deafening Wagnerian Valkiries appropriating the plains of human happiness Be afraid Be very afraid It speaks to your bigotry . . . it speaks to your agoraphobic solitude Turn it on It’s good for you they reckon . . . . . . if not, why do programmers dote on disasters and diabologies?

Fear keeps you here / militates meretriciously in movement of mind and body / in private places you are wont to visit / in your timidity / in your lack of tolerance / in your totalitarian tripping of the switches that terminate lives, dreams, desires Frissions of static concocted to line silk purses: the mirrored sows’ ears of sojourns never undertaken because we, too, are static

That said, how’re you guys doing?

“Socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor” . . . has been laid at the door of bureaucracies and banks and brokerages. At the feet of dictators and democracies alike. Because when the big boys get into trouble they get bailed-out, while middle and lower layers are left to the tender mercies of the market.

What does it all mean?

Whatever it is, a social upheaval is happening around the world, ably assisted by on-line social networks and other mod comms. Perhaps as a pushback against more traditional media formats, people are taking the information environment into their own hands and using it to organise. To protest.

To portray the plutocracies as detrimental to even-handed sociopolitical management. To call to account the people who prop up corrupt and corrupting corporations and at the same time let the “little people” bleed all over themselves.

There have, of course, been abuses perpetrated by protestors as evidenced by the riots in London and other parts of England in 2011, which left many a small business devastated and destitute.

Have we reached a socio-cultural Rubicon?

Has the “top end of town” finally gone too far in its rapacious self-interest?

Or are the protesters missing something about the trickledown effect of extreme wealth – a rhetorical question because there isn’t a scrap of evidence to suggest that this Thatcherite/Reaganite concoction actually exists.

Have they not quite understood that power structures are necessary hierarchies – yes, they’re not silly; they merely question governments’ tolerance of abuses of corporate power. And lack of compassion for “lesser” mortals.

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Owners of the means of media production appear to be pushing back against an increasingly skeptical public – fear-mongering on a grand scale in an effort to keep people in their place/s. Governments too.

A case-in-point is that during November 2011 the US government “revealed” - by way of the media - a new war plan for the containment and conquest of . . . China. As if they haven’t got enough on their plates with Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s always good to have an(other) enemy though – someone to kick when the chips are down domestically.

The reporting of this new “Cold War” approach to Chinese expansionism . . . wait a minute . . . say again!

Please, I’m not hearing right. Surely I’m not reading right. Please tell me I’m losing my faculties!

Nope.

“The plan calls for preparing the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps to defeat China’s ‘anti-access, area denial weapons,’ including anti-satellite weapons, cyberweapons, submarines, stealth aircraft and long-range missiles that can hit aircraft carriers at sea.

“Military officials from the three services told reporters during a background briefing that the concept is not directed at a single country. But they did not answer when asked what country other than China has developed advanced anti-access arms.

“A senior Obama administration official was more blunt, saying the new concept is a significant milestone signaling a new Cold War-style approach to China,” The Washington Times reported.

Barack Obama, what are you thinking?

The Chinese have been paying your debts for ages, and now you want to add to the X-trillion-dollar deficit by getting them to pay for your Pentagon to come up with a plan about how to shoot the shit out of them?

Thanks Liz, you might have warned us!

Neo-con cons and their loyal lobbyists connive to capture powerful partisans who leave behind mutilated middle classes (the socio-economic engines so critical to maintaining sustainable consumption and economic growth).

On the natural history channels it’s all sharks and nazis; hillbillies and hobgoblins; riots and rampages . . . guns and more guns. Hollywood is obsessed with violence as a rational solution to just about any grievance.

More moderate – one might suggest, objective, small-“l” liberal – news organisations struggle against the tide to provide some form of accuracy and balance while fending off take-overs and tradeoffs. There are still some “good guys” out there who take their membership of the Fourth Estate seriously, responsibly. But they’re a dying breed.

The term Fourth Estate is attributed to British parliamentarian, Edmund Burke, who in an address to his fellows in the latter half of the 18th century said: “There are three Estates in Parliament, but in the reporters gallery yonder, there sits a fourth Estate more important, far, than they all.”

The three estates he referred to were the Lords Temporal, the Lords Spiritual and the Commons. The Lords Temporal and the Lords Spiritual combined being The House of Lords - the upper house of parliament, while the Commons is the British lower house.

Across the Atlantic at roughly the same time the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, said: “No government ought to be without censors and where the press is free, no one ever will.”

Dude, I used to think you were cool . . .

I wonder what he might think if he was alive today in the wake of the ongoing saga surrounding the illegal activities of Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World tabloid (outlined in the previous issue of The Yak).

Is your only saving grace, now, that the political forces arrayed against you domestically are completely bonkers?

And in a moment of prescience, in a letter to George Washington, he also said:

In keeping with the conservative owners of The Washington Times (founded in 1982 by the Unifying Church of Sun Myung Moon), the Murdoch media empire propagandises plights of peoples as if they were merely so much grist to his imperial mill - so that all that is left is a black and white bellyache about notions of left and right, wrong and right.

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.

The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”

“. . . and when his gorgon-headed scandal sheets present their daily bytes . . . to give the righteous news believers drugs to keep them white . . .” says singer/songwriter Roy Harper (although not about Murdoch in particular, or loony-tune Moon).

Rupert Murdoch’s own mother, Dame Elizabeth, describes her son thus: “To understand Rupert, to truly know him is to realise that he’s just a businessman. And there’s no morality in business.”

The issues surrounding good governance (versus capitulation to captains of industry), corporate excess, media complicity, and the events exemplified by the Occupy movement are inextricably intertwined.

Where is the “free” press (see also the other commercial media) when one man who heads what has been called – by

julian assange: the most dangerous man in the world?

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"Banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies." – Thomas Jefferson, 1743 - 1826

prescient: thomas jefferson.

the founder of Crikey.com, Stephen Mayne - “the most powerful family in the world” owns so much of it?

Carl Bernstein – who made his reputation when he and Bob Woodward revealed the Watergate cover-up, which led to the downfall of Richard Nixon – recently wrote: “The hacking scandal currently shaking Rupert Murdoch’s empire will surprise only those who have willfully blinded themselves to that empire’s pernicious influence on journalism in the English-speaking world. Too many of us have winked in amusement at the salaciousness without considering the larger corruption of journalism and politics promulgated

by Murdoch Culture on both sides of the Atlantic.

“All of this surrounding a man and a media empire with no serious rivals for political influence in Britain— especially, but not exclusively, among the conservative Tories who currently run the country . . .

“Murdoch associates, present and former—and his biographers—have said that one of his greatest longterm ambitions has been to replicate that political and cultural power in the United States . . . “. . . (T)hen came the unfair and imbalanced politicized “news” of the Fox News Channel—showing (again) Murdoch’s genius at building an empire on the basis of an everdescending lowest journalistic denominator. It, too, rests on a foundation that has little or nothing to do with the best traditions and values of real reporting and responsible journalism: the best obtainable version of the truth. In place of this journalistic ideal, the enduring Murdoch ethic substitutes gossip, sensationalism, and manufactured controversy.”

It’s no wonder that droves of people eschew the mainstream media in favour of on-line informational environments. In the past we might have been able to argue that there is an inherent danger in this because these spaces lack the filters – the checks and balances – that have existed in the traditions and values referred to by Bernstein, for over a century. But ethics in journalism have been swept aside to accommodate the profit motive and shareholder value-adding. No different, really, to the banking and (other) business sectors.

So how do we, the people, get a handle on what’s really going on in the world we all share?

Again, I turn to the ongoing “seismic” (Bernstein’s reference) events surrounding the News of the World criminal investigations and parliamentary inquiries – because it is a poignant metaphor for what motivates the Occupy movement/s. And the Murdochs can no longer hide behind their influence peddling. In a sense the British parliamentarians (and those who are considering convening similar bodies in the US and Australia) involved in the inquiries have (unwittingly) allied themselves with those who are demanding answers from global corporations and the governments that have spent untold amounts of taxpayer money to bail them out – in lieu of their CEOs’, CFOs’, COOs’, (and their lawyers’), at best, “misguided” decision-making.

Heir apparent to the Murdoch empire, James, last

November appeared for the second time before a British parliamentary inquiry where he faced tough questioning about his knowledge about illegal activities (that have not been denied, but profusely apologised for) in the company he heads, News International.

Labour MP, Tom Watson, put it this way to James Murdoch: Watson: Are you familiar with the term Mafia?

Murdoch: Yes Mr. Watson.

Watson: Have you heard the term “omerta” [the Mafia code of silence]?

Murdoch: I’m not an aficionado about such matters.

Watson: Would you agree with me that this is an accurate description of News International?

Murdoch: Frankly that’s offensive and not true.

Watson: You must be the first Mafia boss in history who didn’t know he was running a criminal enterprise.

Ouch!

But millions upon millions consume his father’s products.

Here’s an interesting – and fairly depressing – exercise for you to carry out in your spare time (if you’re an average worker with a family to look after you probably don’t have enough, so you’re excused): Do a straw poll of everyone you meet and determine how many of them watch Fox versus how many prefer, say, America’s PBS or Britain’s BBC . . . it’s an insightful and accurate guide to their characters (or how easily their characters can be manipulated). Second only to the ultimate character guide: how a person parks his or her car . . .

Enter Julian Assange who has been tagged “the most dangerous man in the world” because he has a knack with computers and uses them to find and publish information that various governments and corporations would rather not see in the public space.

Personally, I would award the “dangerous” epithet to another (former) Australian whose surname begins with “M”. But that’s just me.

At the time of writing Assange is awaiting extradition from the UK to Sweden to face sexual assault charges, but the website (along with a bunch of mirror sites) he founded, Wikileaks, continues to offer up information that would otherwise be “classified” by the government/s and corporations that manufacture it.

Wikileaks’ April 2010 release of a video shot through the gun sight of a US Apache attack helicopter while it strafes and kills Iraqi civilians and a Reuters news crew – to the delight of the chopper’s crew – was a spectacularly sick example of what authorities would prefer us not to know.

Of course States must have their secrets, as much as corporations, likewise, must keep certain information confidential – it’s about maintaining competitive advantage (and avoiding embarrassment when things go pear-shaped). There are freedom of information clauses written into most democracies’ legislative structures but

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the process of extracting information from governments about things they’d prefer to keep to themselves through FOI requests can be protracted and cumbersome. Corporate hierarchies are, generally, impervious to FOI requests.

The Reuters organisation, for instance, has been trying, without success, to gain access to the gunship footage from the US government through FOI since it appeared on Wikileaks.

Presumably because if the footage remains in the realm of information gained from “unauthorised” sources, there remains a certain degree of “deniability” – as opposed to being granted legal access to the same information which could be used in a law suit against the government in question.

Not surprisingly, numerous conservatives in the US have dubbed Julian Assange a terrorist and have even called for his death . . .

“We should treat Mr. Assange the same way as other highvalue terrorist targets: Kill him,” conservative columnist Jeffrey T. Kuhner wrote in The Washington Times.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology emeritus professor, and long-time political activist, Noam Chomsky has expressed support for Assange and called the conservative depiction of him “outlandish”. “ . . . one of the major reasons for government secrecy is to protect the government from its own population,” Chomsky said in an interview with the Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman.

Australian ethics professor at Princeton University, Peter Singer, (who has also expressed support for Assange’s methods) has said greater transparency has some bad consequences but that: “. . . a climate of openness makes it more likely that governments and corporations will act more ethically.

“In a world in which terrorists have committed atrocities and threaten to commit more, to seek complete government transparency is utopian . . .

“Sometimes it is possible to do good only in secret. Yet on the whole, a more transparent community is likely to be a better one – and the same applies to a more transparent world.”

And regarding the warrant for Assange’s arrest in Sweden, he has attracted a, perhaps, surprising supporter in the form of longtime feminist activist, Naomi Wolf, who mocked Interpol’s desire to arrest and charge him, satirically ‘thanking’ the organization for “engaging in global manhunts to arrest and prosecute men who behave like narcissistic jerks to women they are dating”.

“Thank you again, Interpol,” she wrote at the Huffington Post, “I know you will now prioritise the global manhunt for 1.3 million guys I have heard similar complaints about personally in the US alone — there is an entire fraternity at the University of Texas you need to arrest immediately.”

All this ballyhoo would be rendered redundant if the media in general, and working journalists, in particular, had

stuck to the time-honoured traditions of (legal) truthseeking; if they had remained faithful to the ethical guidelines upon which their profession was founded. If their collective conscience had rejected the subversion of their craft by big business and its bosses.

I know, I know, pie in the sky wishful thinking. And, at the end of the day, why should you believe anything I have to say on these issues. I freely admit my biases - if you haven’t picked up on them already. I’ll leave notions of objectivity for another day – it’s tricky.

Feel free to occupy my garden – I’ll make some coffee . . .

So, are the people in the Occupy movement merely a bunch of anarchists who protest for the sake of protesting or are they making a valid point in the only way they see that point can be made – given the paucity of our “legitimate” informational environment?

Is the Tea Party a valid organization that should be replicated outside the USA? Or is it a sclerotic group of tax avoiders that has been accused of being subverted by “the evangelical thought police”?

I tend to the latter myself on that one because their social agenda is notably lacking in . . . well, anything.

Are the two movements simply the idealistic opposites of one another – one tokenly “left-wing” and the other undoubtedly the darlings of the right? So the media can present them both in the same grab or column, in some feeble attempt at “balance”?

Why are such comparisons drawn in the first place?

Thanks for asking . . . it’s because we have an enduring desire to put (other) people in pigeonholes. It makes it far easier to write them off if what they represent doesn’t happen to accord with our own beliefs.

Will the Occupy movement, in and of itself, produce a more just and socially equitable world?

The jury is still out in respect of the Middle Eastern occupations.

But I fear not.

As Montreal’s The Gazette reported recently: “Don’t look now, but the zeitgeist is shifting.

Maybe it was the Occupy camp that elected a border collie as its leader, or the death of a 23-yearold woman in Vancouver of a drug overdose, or reports of an alleged sexual assault in Philadelphia, but the occupation has been steadily losing its cool.

A month after tent cities sprang the Western world as sympathetic the Occupy Wall Street movement, impatient and calling the cops .

up throughout satellites of authorities are . .”

occupied.

the yak awards

The Yak Awards 2011 referenced the roots of this glorious island to bring the best of bali's music, culture and cuisine to the hotel tugu Bali.

the glory, the fame...the hangover.

the yak awards

left and above: the magic of Mekar Bhuana.

the yak awards

above: sunset set up. Right: Mekar Bhuana.

the yak awards

Clockwise From Top: Yasmin suteja; emily baylis, our woman of the year; enjoying the moment.

biasa's susanna perini, winner best ad campaign; dancer nyoman sura; pascal from sardine feels the love; Suaramantra’s inter-island World Music group.

the yak awards

The Seventh Annual Yak Awards held in October 2011 closed Bali’s party season with an event that boasted an array of firsts.

Decrying recent trends for international themes, The Yak magazine’s premier gathering beautifully merged the island’s rich past with contemporary cuisine, culture, couture and cocktails.

Held at Hotel Tugu Bali, Canggu, on October 1st and themed “Bali Bohemia”, it attracted more than 650 of Bali’s movers and shakers, as well as celebrities from the worlds of fashion, music and culture dressed in “nouveau-trad” gear.

It was a first for Suaramantra’s inter-island World Music group; a first for a fusion of Jembrana’s jegog by Suwentra with Martin East’s global ambient music; and a first for many party-goers to experience the magic of Mekar Bhuana – a 35-strong gamelan orchestra that resurrects and conserves the island’s arcane royal court music.

Yakker Sophie Digby said: “We are just so proud and grateful to have been able to showcase so much of Bali’s extraordinary talent in so many fields. It’s what The Yak is about – we strive to be a bridge between the international community and the best that Bali has to offer.”

Hotel Tugu’s rustic interiors and exteriors provided the perfect backdrop to the event which was spread over a number of the hotel’s spaces: Guests were greeted in the lobby with wines from Indowines and cocktails from Behind Bars Bali, and serenaded by the Suara Mantra Band (which had come over from Lombok for the event).

Intimately lit gardens – were made more enchanting by the music of Mekar Bhuana.

On an elaborate stage on the beach the non-stop entertainment was kicked off by the sounds of Jegog Suwentra and dances from Nyoman Sura. The fresh talent of singer, Yasmin Suteja, was as refreshing as the gentle zephyr blowing in from the sea. And later the house was rocked by DJs Joe White and – long-time Awards supporters – Cozi and Gus Till.

Music production and direction was managed masterfully by Martin East.

Bars and food stalls festooned the grassy field in front of the stage where beers flowed from the taps of the Yak Awards’ official brewmeister, Heineken. Champagne was sponsored by PT Buana Cakra.

Back at front of house lurked a gem that delighted all comers –14 of Bali’s best chefs from their respective world-class kitchens. They produced a constant stream of delicacies that had the goddesses of glam and their partners panting for more . . . and more just kept on coming.

The maestros of munch represented: Anantara; Ayana Resort and Spa; hu’u; Nutmegs Restaurant; Sardine, Como Shambhala Estate; Uma Ubud; Mozaic; Oberoi Bali; Evo at Sentosa; The Balé; Pan Pacific Nirwana Blai Resort; Nammos@Karma Kandara; Wah Wah Burgers; Lobre Bar and Grill; and host, Tugu, with its Warung Djamoe treats.

The highlight of the event – the 19 Yak Awards created by sks simple konsep store – gave recognition for achievement in industry categories, and were awarded by The Yak magazine directors to outstanding individuals and companies on Bali. More than 4,000 Yak fans voted worldwide, through The Yak Magazine’s website www.theyakmag.com, and

were tabulated on-line by web provider, Island Communications. . . . and the winners were: 1). BEST NEWCOMER: Potato Head Beach Club 2). BEST RETAIL SPACE: Deus Ex Machina, Canggu 3). BEST CHEF: James Ephram, Mozaic 4). BEST SUNSET VENUE : Rock Bar @ Ayana Resort 5). BEST RESTAURNT: Sardine 6). BEST WINE LIST: Sip 7). BEST DJ: Eric Entrena 8). YAK WOMAN OF THE YEAR: Emily Baylis, Potato Head Beach Club 9). YAK MAN OF THE YEAR: Dustin Humphrey, Deus Ex Machina 10). BEST COMMUNITY SERVICES: Christina Iskandar 11). BEST BAR: Word of Mouth 12). BEST VILLA: The Edge, Uluwatu 13). BEST SPA : Karma Spa 14). BEST FASHION LABLE: Biasa 15). BEST JEWELLER: Luke Stockley from Jemme 16). BEST RESORT: Alila Uluwatu 17). BEST AD CAMPAIGN: Biasa 18). BEST EVENT: Empire of the Sun @ Potato Head Beach Club 19). OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Janice Girardi, BAWA Additional event sponsorship and support for the Yak Awards 2011 were kindly provided by: sks- simple konsep store (including Baik and Nakal clothing labels, sponsors of the MC outfits), Gaya Ceramics, Vision One Productions, Kinetic Studio Indonesia, Bloomz, ProMotion Events, Mango Vision, Tugu Hotel and Behind Bars Bali.

We at the The Yak would like to send our heartfelt thanks to all who helped make the Seventh Annual Yak Awards a resounding success.

109

trAvel

Ano Mac feeds on the sights and sounds of an extraordinary island: sri lanka. Photography: by D.Hump.

sri lanka's south coast stilt fishermen.

Walking past a row of electrical stores full of fridges, big-arse TV’s, stereos and a plethora of ubiquitous electronic gimmickry gave me a rainbow of mixed emotions of the land in which I had just arrived.

I’m not in some Singapore supermall – this is the no-man's land between immigration and customs, the place one normally tops up on duty free booze and cut-price chockies. The picture wasn’t quite right – actually it was well out of whack. A family moved out of a store to my right, a house-full of white goods on their trolley. And what a trolley – the thing was on steroids … I smirked at the thought: if this was only the arrivals hall, what else was in store?

Sri Lanka, with a history said to be 500,000 years old. First read about in the fabled Ramayana. A well trod stepping-stone on the ancient Silk Road.

A place where Buddha was said to have walked and where they bought a sapling of the Bodhi Tree, the same one under which the Buddha attained enlightenment. Sri Lanka, one of the last bastions of Buddhism in South Asia.

A multi-religious land: Buddhism, Hinduism in the north and to the east. Islam was a reminder of Arab traders and the Western colonists; the Portuguese and English, left their mark on some souls as well – Christianity.

A land of many peoples: Sinhalese, Tamils, Moors, Burghers, Kaffirs, Malays as well as remnants of the aboriginal people, the Vedda.

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Left and this page: historic faces abound.

trAvel and the surf goes on.

A land known by many names: In India it was once Lanka or Singhala. The ancient Greeks knew it and named it Taprobane. The Arabs referred to it as Serendib, the origin of our word “serendipity”.

But it was the Portuguese who named it Ceilao when they came in 1505. Later this was transliterated by the English into Ceylon. More recently they shrugged off everyone else and went by the name Sri Lanka, a beautiful Sanskrit name meaning Venerable Island.

In 2009 the 25 years of civil war came to an end. And what an end, you couldn’t help but hear the mumbles. Blame lay like a dropped pie on the floor – maggots and flies everywhere. It did bring some good. Particularly stability and with that came back tourism. For good or bad Sri Lanka is definitely back on the destinations map.

I retrieved my bag with a heartfelt sigh and made it through the cordon of white goods only to be assaulted by a horde of 20 or so money changers. Everything seemed to be in multiplicity. Beyond the moneychangers was a murder of transport booths. Further still the doors and outside to the street and heat. I wandered, head down, making a beeline for the exit. Once there I lit up a cigarette and inhaled, taking in the fumes and for the first time, the stares of a dozen pairs of dark eyes that rested on me in the crowd of a hundred or so. White shirts, dark faces punctuated with the whites of their eyes and similarly coloured teeth. Taller than the Asian races I am used to. Sri Lankans have a quiet curiosity that is in the eyes. While it didn’t make me feel naked it certainly was a little disconcerting to be stared at by so many for so long.

Cigarette extinguished, I plunged back into the transport touts and randomly choosing a booth, lay out plans for an immediate destination. Numbers were bandied back and forth. A deal struck, and paid. Van acquired and we moved off into the heat.

Australia and Sri Lanka are battling in Galle today. Two countries of roughly the same number of inhabitant’s, give or take a million, will fight tooth and nail to be crowned winner. Cricket. Our driver a mad fan, frantically fiddling with the radio knob to find a station with the live broadcast. Soon though the static starts to overtake the announcer and his attention, which really should be on the road ahead, rests on getting the next station into tune. And so rolls morning into afternoon. When no station can be found he wants to narrate himself. How will the boys do against Australia? How much does an Australian batsman make a year?

Do you know our opening batsman is from Kandy? It’s not a subject I am versed in so I feign sleep or look unapologetically out the window.

Although only just over 100 klicks out of Colombo, Kandy is a world away. Just turn left at the cotton wool clouds, proceed up the hill until the temperature plummets five degrees and take a right where the jungle conspires to overtake anything left lying for too long. Fields of tea, a vibrant emerald green sea lay off to either side. Waterfalls punctuate the trip every 10 or so minutes. The town’s centre lays against the shore of its enchanting lake; a chaotic jumble of antique shops; gemstone merchants; haberdashers and restaurants lead us to a bustling market and a pretty damn good selection of lodgings. The entire ensemble

nestled amongst a number of hills. The town had a profound effect on me – a confirmed life-long Java drinker who unintentionally opened up his heart to chai and found that it was pretty bloody good.

Wildlife is plentiful, and not only your common garden-variety stuff. We saw it all. Troops of monkeys and slithers of snakes. A pulchritude of peacocks, especially in the low lands, but what made the heart beat was getting up close and personal with a Sri Lankan leopard. We also spotted the gnarled back of a crocodile less than 50 metres from the swimming beach and had our breath taken from us by birds who moved about in mixed feeding flocks with names like orange billed babblers and greater racket-tailed drongos. We saw more than one obstinacy of massive water buffalo – geez they’re large for livestock. The icing for me though was seeing a flock of flamingos rise out of a lagoon just behind Pottuvil. Poetry in motion.

It took the width of the country and days bouncing around in the back of as many variants of transports to finally see the ocean.

And if I had to do it that way again I would, it was well worth the wait. Sand so white it hurt to look at it. Seawater so clear and unaffected that azure isn’t a light enough name to call it. It’s very late this summer. Months of sun have drained the area of all the green it could. I feel the hot sun burn my skin. It has a bite I have not felt for sometime. In this rather crisp environment beauty abounds.

In the distance there’s a mirage, a smudge of colour on the white between the two blues. Pink and purple heading my way. The heat rising from the sand sending ripples through it, animating it vertically. As it approaches the edges slide into focus until I can finally make out that it’s actually two women underneath a parasol. Their full-length saris a welcome blot on the duotone landscape. Not far behind them a man in dark trousers and white shirt rides his bicycle across the sand. A sharp crack followed by peels of laughter made me spin round. Teenagers wearing only their wet trousers and beads of the salty seawater, scatter like disturbed seagulls. Leaving a lone fisherman. He stands there in the centre holding a cane. His eyes downward cast yet still dancing after the flighty boys who now circled him like a wagon train though they remain just out of his range. This troop of mischief is adept at taking that which isn’t bolted down and he’s protecting his livelihood in the only way he knows how. The boys quickly grow tired of teasing him, seek out their shirts and make off into the scrub. We wander off the beach and go to talk to the old uncle who looks after the house on the hill. He offers us tea, to which we eagerly agree, excited at an opportunity to wash the salt from our mouths. Only after we drink is it known that we must pay a fee, the equivalent of which can buy two cups back in town. We don’t feel cheated though. The sweet milky tea is smothered in his tale of an English owner who visits from time to time.

Each gap growing longer. Cobwebs and decay now inhabit the house 11 months a year. We pay and leave, promising to return the next day.

The south coast around Galle is a pastiche of Dutch 16th century forts, brightly painted fishing boats and something I have waited an

TRAVEL

age to see. Perhaps Sri Lanka’s most iconic visual besides the Buddha’s foot, her vast tea plantations and a wild herd of Sri Lankan elephants. The stilt or stick fishermen of the south coast. Men, whose daily grind is to climb their perches, some no bigger than a sapling branch and sit anchored above the rolling surf pulling out rather mediocre-sized fish. They do this all day long, every day. A torturous life that is also a breathtaking sight.

A tradition that lives on even after being totally decimated eight years ago in the rising waters. These men didn’t really have a choice. A lifetime had made it for them; they had to return to the one thing they knew.

Breakfast in one of the ill named ‘hotels’ off the main street. White eyes behind dark faces. Walls smudged with the grime of time and after the 2004 tsunami, the line of tide. We order banana roti – thin bread filled with a sprinkle of sliced bananas, a few sultanas and a slurp of condensed milk. Folded and cooked until slightly brown. These parcels are mouthwateringly good.

Actually I didn’t taste a bad meal during my entire time there, nor did I get a wayward belly. More than can be said for my adventures of the past in the land to the north. The hardest thing for me was eating their hot curries through sunburnt lips. Punishment for a foolish, though fun-filled, day out in the sun.

The country is a tourist mecca of temples, vistas, wildlife and history all in abundant quantities. Though to me, it’s the Sri Lankans themselves who are the real win. Such a proud people, whatever walk of life they are from. For instance, the tuk-tuk drivers who would wait outside our accommodation vying for a chance to ferry us somewhere. One stood out. It was the shrewd, and as we found out later, more than slightly dodgy Nadir, whom we nicknamed Fatty that won our fancy. You could see straight away he was a mover and shaker, that he had things going on. He rode roughshod across the lot, organizing, cajoling them, he knew things. The combination of his piercing eyes, cherub voice and chubby cheeks had me at hello. It was his tenacity dealing with his brothers each day to rescue us from their clutches that wrapped it up neatly. At first I mistook it for a kind of loyalty but a few days grinding up and down back roads together made me realise it was his self-preservation rising to the top.

Dusk brought a herd of Sri Lankan elephants out into the open. They sense us and the bull eyes us up. They are big and the encroaching darkness adds a large dollop of foreboding and menace. Our normally unflappable Fatty, tuk-tuk driver extraordinaire, is nervous as hell and making plans to leave with or without us. He’s probably seen what a jealous bull elephant can do to a little machine like the one he drives. I can see it in his eyes and quickly decide to believe him.

And as quickly as it started it was over. I find myself in a restaurant minutes from the airport. A last supper. I dip naan bread into my dahl until I’m wiping the bowl clean – the taste lingering. I have it in my mouth queuing for my ticket, it’s still there going through customs. It’s even there on the plane.

Rolling along that tarmac staring out the window I realise that the taste I have isn’t for the food but for the entire country. The nose of the plane rises as my eyelids slide shut, I drift off to sleep. I am already dreaming of my return. senses from an island that now welcomes back the world.

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tunic at quarzia

photographer stylist

arizona vidal

make and hair MODEL

D.hump

anja

AGNES

stylist assISTANT

celeste del moro

linen jacket at lily jean, t.s. and jeans at religion, bracelet at naMu, earings by studio paras at NAFSU.

cardigan at lily jean, top at beach gold, silk crepe pants by coquette at sks, earrings and bracelets by studio paras at naFsu, handbag by katsunori ueda at sks.

cardigan at religion, t.s. at lily jean, leggings at sks, leather necklace by monarc 1 at sks, earRings, ring and shoes by studio paras at NAFSU.

top at bamboo blonde, linen pants at lily jean, leather belt at sks, earRings by studio paras at NAFSU, watch by frankstona at sks.

chiffon net top and cardigan by baik at sks, balLerina skirt by studio paras at NAFSU, laser leather boots at numero.

leather VEST by coquette at sks, shirt at bamboo blonde, skirt at lily jean, bracelets at platform 18/27, clutch at religion, shoes at naFsu.

leather jacket by nakal at sks, monosholder top at naMu, skirt at quarzia, clutch at naMu, leather bracelet by monarc 1 at sks.

events

WHITE HEAT DATELINE: Milan, Italy…anybody who's anybody in the fashion world was there to get a glimpse of what the trends are going to be in the 2012/2013 season . . . at White Milan, that is. The biggest fashion trade show event on the planet with more than 16,000 people attending.

Michela Boriotti of Bali fashion brand Baik and sks SimpleKonsepStore were there too. And she took The Yak along with her to augment the display – of clothing lines – to show that our little island is an increasingly big player in the world of fashion design, production and publication.

“SimpleKonsepStore was developed as an important store,” Michela says “and Baik plays a decisive role in our overall conceptualization.”

“With the delivery of the new Baik autumn/winter collection, we took the opportunity to tell Milan about our new project: a collaboration between sks, Baik and The Yak, a leading international journal, sharing our reality and insight.” www.whiteshow.it

the Yak joined bali fashion brand baik at white milan this year - milan fashion week's most exclusive fashion trade event.

yAK FASHION

PHOTOGRAPHY: T.HAWK STYLING: D.HUMP & J.Z

T-Shirt - Nico Perez Pants - Milo's Shoes - Stylist's own Hat - Brixton Sunglasses - ENKI

T-Shirt - Nico Perez Vest - Milo's Pants - Milo's Shoes - Stylist's own Hat - Brixton

yAK FASHION

Shirt - By The Sea Board Shorts - By The Sea Bag - By The Sea Shoes - Stylist's own Hat - Brixton

Hat, Tank Top, Canvas Leather Backpack, Selvedge Stretch Denim Deus Ex Machina. Yacht Shoes- Vans

yAK FASHION

Blazer - Biasa T-Shirt - Biasa Pants - Biasa Shoes - Stylist's own

Wax Canvas and Leather Travel bag, Khaki Chinos Deus Ex Machina Boots - Red Wings Shirt - Nico Perez

events

Paul Ropps's birthday fab-fare not only brought his signature vibrant colour to W Resort and Spa's front decking but also all of Bali's 'still here but not forgotten' dramatis personae that have walked these shores for nigh on three decades. Add to that the beautiful nouveau arrivées to Bali and Paul's fabulous new collection – in which models floated chiffonesquely along the catwalk – and it was a sunset event bar none. A birthday that echoes his motto – the fun of fashion; the statement of art maybe?

top row: Amo Beauty and Spa. middle and bottom row: Toni & Guy Essensuals Bali.

goodhairdays You’ve got your hipster clubs, gastronomic dining and designer duds, now, finally, Bali plays catch-up with the global hair scene.

By Katie Truman.

AMO Beauty and Spa Located opposite W Retreat on Jalan Petitenget, AMO isn’t so hot on ambience, décor or space.

However, this little bijou is renowned for its full services beauty salon offering the latest in therapeutic and relaxing spa treatments for men and women. Considered one of the hippest beauty parlours in town, AMO was established by former New York model Navia Nguyen.

Expats and local celebs flock to this buzzy little space – a hive of beautifying activity at weekends. Hair menu covers basics from colouring (from Rp350K) and cut & blow (Rp250K), to a selection of glamification: hair extensions (with Hair-plus by L’Oreal-Remy Hair); flat iron (Rp50K); or treatments such as glossing (from Rp400K); and highlights (from Rp600K).

AMO’s hair team are also dab hands at up-dos, chignon, French braiding, plus bridal hair and make-up. Bring your wedding party in to prepare for the big day, with trial runs and in-hotel visits part of the service.

Body and face is also covered - everything from IPL and micro-dermabrasion skin therapies to men’s waxing.

But even while tending your tresses, AMO is adept at simultaneously working on other beauty needs, courtesy of a posse of therapists: cream bath (Rp180K) mani’s-pedis and shoulder rubs in those classic black leather armchairs with personal foot

sink. Just the job for time-challenged lovelies.

If you’ve any hands left, grab a freshlymixed concoction from the funky Juice Bar. Daily 10am to 9pm.

AMO Beauty and Spa, Jalan Petitenget, 100x.

Tel: 0361 275 3337 ww.amospa.com CHRISTOPHE C. COIFFURE On ever-blossoming Jalan Kunti, the scene is set before you’ve set foot inside: a swanky, all-glass exterior emblazoned with the word ‘Coiffure’. Inside this spacious first-floor salon, there are finesses of French glamour and style.

Techniques, products (L’Oreal) and the ownerstylist, Christophe, are in fact all from France.

Previously with his own salon in Saint Tropez, L’Oreal trainer and Vogue coiffure, Christophe established his eponymous salon here three years ago.

And as you’d expect from Frenchman, grooming and styling is superior. The salon offers a complete beauty service, but hair dominates, with highlights (from Rp400K) - Christophe’s piece de resistance.

There’s also a master colorist from Jakarta (colour from Rp500K), and hairstylist hotshot from Tony & Guy, Paris. The team can create anything from classic to outrageous hair, and provide services like Keratine Brazilian Blow-Out (from

Rp2 mil) and Wedding Styling (from Rp850K).

For stressed tresses, indulge in Kerastase Ritual - a one-hour hair treatment combined with reflexology and hand massage, while flat-out on leather recliners facing gardens.

New services include a full-time makeup artist on hand for personal make-overs, wedding parties and professional shots. And if you want to stay young but abhor needles and knives, Christophe has just introduced Debussy Thermodermie - a non-invasive advanced technology regime from Europe featuring infrared and ultrasound and naturally helping slow down the ageing process, improving skin firmness and tightening and reducing visible lines.

Take the one-and-a-half-hour Debussy Facial Aging Prevention (Rp790K) for a visibly instant lift.

But for total, durable, skin rejuvenation and firmness the Debussy Vitality and Rejuvenation, for three to five sessions (from Rp2mil) is simply a must.

“Our objective is to give you lovely nails, make-up and hair, then you leave looking beautiful and gorgeous,” Christophe says.

VoIla! Daily 10am to 7pm.

Jalan Kunti #9, Seminyak.

Tel: 0361 738025 www.christophe-c.com

ROB PEETOOM HAIR SPA World-class hair stylists are even infiltrating Petitenget’s paddy-fields, namely Dutchman Rob Peetoom, creator director of Intercoiffure Mondial and named one of the world’s top ten hairdressers by hairstyling vade mecum, Estetica magazine.

This hair, make-up and beauty guru has also received a knighthood from the Dutch royal family for outstanding contributions to the hairdressing profession (they’re a bit weird the Dutch).

Owning a total of 14 salons in the Netherlands, including make-up and beauty departments, Rob has just opened his first international hair spa here on Bali.

Heralding a new generation of hair salons, you could well be mistaken for thinking you’ve stumbled into a five-star resort – contemporary Zen, Asian white pavilions edged by calming water pools.

Rob emphasises strong hair and beauty doctrines, passed on to his Dutch creative director and highlytrained stylists - graduates of his own on-site academy.

“True beauty lies from within and a good stylist knows how to bring the best out in everyone,” Rob says.

“Observing your client and creating a fashionable, attractive hairstyle by taking into consideration their hair type, personality and charisma is what it’s all about.’’

He feels it’s not just about haircuts (Rp150K to Rp500K) but keeping the hair beautiful and well-maintained – the salon uses purified water for final rinses and superior Redkin products.

Treat yourself to one of several intense hair treatments with sophisticated hair steamer (30 to 75 minutes from Rp350K); get massaged with hot stones and reclining on leather loungers on the open-air section at the rear facing rice fields (bliss).

Or a make-up consultation (from eyebrow shaping to complete make-overs) with the resident makeup artist inside the glam, glass-encased salon.

“Make the most of yourself; not just the hair cuts, make yourself beautiful!” is Rob’s mantra.

Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 8pm.

Rob Peetoom Hair Spa, Jalan Petitenget 16, Petitenget.

Tel: 0361 738 363 www.robpeetoom.com

SPOILED Spoiled is a one-man show – another Dutchman, Max Vanderhoek.

But one of the original wave of accomplished foreign hair stylists on Bali - opening Spoiled five years ago.

The chic, glass-fronted and sun-drenched salon (with handy parking out front) is in the depths of sedate, leafy Umalas 2, but loyal clientele, especially a heavy European contingent, flock here from all over the island.

With a devotion to Max – “I may cheat on my husband, but not my hairdresser” – that perhaps husbands should be worried about. Within the intimate surrounds, repeat customers end up old friends, gossiping over freshly-brewed lattes.

Award-winning Max ran his own salon in Holland at 18 and has been a successful hair stylist for three decades. The key to his popularity is personalized service, on hand and hands-on with all the cutting/ styling (from Rp440K) and colouring (Rp600K); top-notch blonde colouring and highlights (from Rp750K) are his forte. There’s no official price list per se as these are finalized after individual consultations with Max, who insists on meeting all new clients.

Max doesn’t beat around the bush – giving the best advice, drawing on years of experience and knowing what havoc this climate can wreak on hair. For him, the best part of his labours is seeing clients with low self-esteem emerge utterly confident with their new look.

“Hair is the key to a woman’s confidence.

It’s great to give customers a good feeling when they walk out of the salon,” he says.

The salon isn’t open when Max is on holiday or away but there is, however, a reliable colorist and sweet team of gals for additional grooming like mani's-pedi's.

Tuesday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm.

Spoiled, Jalan Umalas 2 #90, Kerobokan.

Tel: 0361 847 5141

Toni & Guy Essensuals Bali One of the new wave of hair heavyweights has arrived and Toni & Guy’s Essensuals Bali is, essensually, cool hair, cool people and cool ambience – a perfect fit for upper Seminyak.

On the first floor open-plan above Deus Ex Machina Café, Essensuals Bali resembles a New York-style exhibition space: stylish, industrial chic meets tropical living, with authentic barber chairs; exposed brick work; old Javanese recycled timbers and fabulous vintage sugarcane grinder – now the reception desk.

The Essensuals concept – a younger funkier version of sister brand, Toni & Guy – incorporates the lifestyle destination factor. Events and performances like poetry readings and DJ evenings will be featured in the space.

Toni & Guy Essensuals Bali is the brainchild of David – who has racked up 30-plus years with the original Italian-based Toni & Guy, and is the owner of its Singapore franchise.

He’s excited to be on Bali, “Doing the kind of work we want to do, on the people we want to work on.”

No coincidence Essensuals is above Deus Ex Machina either – inspired by what he’s seen, David feels they share the same company creativity and passion, reminding him of Toni & Guy. Walking embodiments of cool Britannia, David and his hairdo crew specialise in cutting (around Rp500K) and colouring (highlights / half head, from Rp750K).

Influenced by the catwalks, Toni & Guy are fashion interpreters, synonymous with the latest sassy, geometric cuts. It’s also about listening to clients’ needs, personal consultations, and taking on board Bali – an emphasis on realistic, manageable cuts and colour suited to tropical conditions.

“Haircuts for punks, princesses, pirates and rock stars” reads the blurb: in reality, for locals, expats, creative people and international celebrities – but then, “every client is a celebrity”, David says.

Monday to Saturday, 10am to 7pm.

Essensuals Bali, Deus Building, 2nd Floor, 3B Jalan Laksmana Oberoi, Seminyak.

Tel: 0361 732 013 www.essensuals.co.uk

rob peetoom.

amo beauty and spa.

145

Whether you’re A lover, A high roller or blushing bride, get away from the crowd and book yourself into one of the most refined, intimate dining spaces in town‌..

By Katie Truman

W retreat and Spa

ST REGIS BALI: One of Bali’s premier beach resorts, St. Regis Bali oozes class and sophistication, but its beachside location lends a surprising informal, playful touch. St Regis’ signature fine dining restaurant, the sublime Kayuputi, is housed within a classic, beachside white weatherboardstyle building alongside the immaculate sands of Nusa Dua Beach. Escaping Kayuputi’s main dining area, stairs at the front of the restaurant lead to an intimate space almost suspended below the vaulted ceiling and white rafters.

Attic-style Mezzanine presents a more private dining experience at Kayuputi with sneak ocean views through encircling windows which face the beach. It shares Kayuputi’s premium Asianinfluenced haute cuisine plus impeccable six-star service. A conservatively elegant yet discreet setting, Mezzanine is ideal for small wedding gatherings, corporate lunches and wine dinners.

Pre-dinner cocktails first are essential at Kayuputi s’ Champagne Bar, downstairs.

SEATING CAPACITY: minimum six, maximum 20.

MENU: Kayuputi’ s range of à la carte menus can be customized to suit individual preferences.

PRICE: No booking fees; pricing depends on menu requests.

SPECIALITIES: Top-notch contemporary cuisine based on fresh, quality ingredients, including naturally fresh local/imported seafood (like seasonal Sturia and Prunier caviar, and oysters), plus prime Wagyu and Kobe cuts. The resident wine sommelier can advise on suitable wines (no extra cost) from a highly discerning selection.

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS: For ultimate romance and privacy, St Regis’ beachfront Cloud Nine Chapel can host ‘Romantic Dinner for Two’ options with special gourmet seven-course menu. Seriously outrageous wooing includes dazzling Swarovski chandelier overhead, traditional bell tower and white Grand Piano; US$ 550 per couple (excluding beverages).

LOCATION: alongside a manicured stretch of tranquil white sand beach, in the heart of Nusa Dua enclave.

CONTACT: Mrs Anita Arfiany, Events Department: email: anita.arfiany@stregis.com; tel: 0361 3006341/ St Regis Bali, Kawasan Pariwisata, Lot S6, Nusa Dua / www.stregis.com/Bali

W Retreat & Spa Bali-Seminyak At Seminyak’s sensational W Retreat & Spa, FIRE restaurant tends to get somewhat overshadowed by signature Starfish Bloo. But W’s fun-dining No#2 grill restaurant is dramatic and playful, and offers the option of two private dining areas – both cleverly putting into practice W’s ‘conceal and reveal’ and ‘new scene unseen’ philosophy, while displaying W’s trademark inimitable style and flair.

Downstairs from the main lobby and separate from FIRE’s extensive dining area, the Private Dining Room is completely enclosed, for maximum privacy. Funky, retro yet polished interiors are dominated by a long, heavy wood dining table and impressive outer water wall window feature, while skylights and water elements create a flowing, natural element.

A discreet LCD TV heads the table, making this an ideal spot for corporate wining and dining. Alternatively, within FIRE, the Cellar offers a more intimate, atmospheric space; located amongst all the action and near the impressive open kitchen, yet glass-encased for total privacy.

The dining table is framed by displays of some of FIRE’s phenomenal wines (more than 200 selections) – making a great venue for wine buffs.

SEATING CAPACITY: Private Dining Room: maximum 16 / Cellar: maximum six.

MENU: Menus can be tailor-made or prepared as set menus from the FIRE menus; Cellar offers a customized menu pairing original dishes with the perfect wine. Starfish Bloo menus can also be ordered – choose as mood and tastes suit.

SPECIALITIES: Succulent, sizzling flame cooked, dishes, especially fired prime steaks, fresh seafood and wood-fired pizzas, but also Asian selections (bebek betutu, szz z zates, etc). W’s in-house wine sommelier and unique ‘meat sommelier’ can lend gastronomic advice (no extra cost).

PRICE: No booking fees. Prices depend on tailor-made orders.

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS: For ocean views and al fresco dining, Starfish Bloo, offers a (not so) private, semi-outdoor communal table (seats maximum 16), on the main pool terrace, with adventurous pan-Asian inspired menus. Sea breezes and ceiling fans replace air-con, while sheer plastic drapes lend some privacy – perfect for sunset MICE and wedding gatherings.

LOCATION: Central Petitenget, alongside Seminyak’s upper uber-cool beachfront enclave and within one of Bali’s hippest, daringly different beach resorts.

CONTACT: FIRE Beverage and Food Department; tel: 0361 4738 106 / email: b+f.wbali@whotels.com / W Retreat & Spa Bali – Seminyak, Jalan Petitenget, Seminyak; www.whotels.com/baliseminyak

SIP SUNSET GRILL Following the success of Seminyak’s Parisian, brasserie-style SIP, the second restaurant venture from founder / self-confessed ‘wine guy,’ Christian Vanneque, SIP Sunset Grill (SSG), launched in August and already this New York-style grillery and barroom is firmly established on Seminyak’s dining scene.

Within SSG’s loft-style, open-plan dining space, private dining comes in the form of chic yet casual Wine Cellar. Glass-encased and exposed, guests are still part of the restaurant’s buzzy goingson, but living it up in their own private space.

Contemporary rustic with old-style charm, Wine Cellar features exposed brick-work and long

KayuPuti, St. Regis Bali

Metis

wooden dining table with bench seating, or chairs if you prefer. Wine is of paramount importance at SSG; Cellar guests are surrounded by an impressive display of racked wines, some of Bali’s finest old and new World wines – all attractively priced.

Highly suitable for executive dinners, product launches, cocktail parties and of course, wedding receptions – Métis can bring in wedding planners if needs be and help customize everything from table settings to music.

A perfect spot for private wine tastings and winethemed dinner parties and long corporate lunches but also post-dinner, post-10pm ‘Dessert and Drinks,’ marathons, wine or Mojito (signature 16 varieties) sipping! “Food and attitude are simply genuine and fun and wine is King!” sums-up SSG’s easy-going, fun and do-as-you-like philosophy.

Ideally, this can be co-ordinated with Métis Front Terrace, a gorgeous al fresco space surrounded by lotus ponds set just below the dining patio.

Here, pre-dinner drinks, sunset cocktails and presunset wedding ceremonies can be exclusively hosted (maximum 70 standing guests).

SEATING CAPACITY: minimum 25, maximum 120.

SEATING CAPACITY: maximum 14.

MENU: Sample Set Menus range from US$41 to US$52 ++ per person, or customized options from à la carte menus – all created by chef extraordinaire, Nicolas ‘Doudou’ Tourneville.

Beverage menus are also available.

MENU: Tailor-made set menus dependant on budgets, or à la carte menus (new menus introduced November).

SPECIALITIES: French-inspired fare with provincial Southern twist; main courses come grilled.

Signatures are prime Australian meat cuts and steaks, but there’s also a special vegan range. Todie-for desserts include raspberry, wild honey and lemon soufflẻs. Valet parking (dinner only) and fully air-conditioned environment.

METIS RESTAURANT AND GALLERY Métis magnifique haute cuisine and ambience attracts international celebs, gastronomes and rave reviews. Métis main private dining space is The Function Room, located on the first-floor of a separate wing heading-up the

PRICE: No booking fee. Price depends on customized orders.

main dining patio. The high-ceilinged and

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS: An outdoor private dining space – SSG’s only al fresco area – features a narrow, intimate terrace alongside the restaurant’s outer wall – tables and sofa-seating for maximum 24.

sufficient with its own bar, rest rooms and back-

expansive Function Room is more suited to larger group parties and comes totally selfup kitchen for optimum personalized space.

Cavernous but chic, this dining space features timbered floors and lattice ironwork, beautifully illuminated at night with cocoon-shaped ceiling

LOCATION: Junction of Gang Plawa and Jalan Sunset Road, in Seminyak.

PRICE: No booking fees. Prices as above Set Menus, or customied to requests.

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS: Off the patio, Private Wine Cellar offers a more intimate dining space (seats maximum 12), accompanied by a special six-course Degustation Menu (prices on request), and resident Wine Sommelier. This working, formal Wine Cellar is more evening-orientated – great for wine buffs or birthday and anniversary parties.

lanterns and flickering candle lights. Elegantly decorated seating arrangements feature a choice of round or long dining tables. Full air-conditioning

CONTACT: Ayu Fenny Rahadi (Restaurant Manager), SIP Sunset Grill, Sunset Road 88X, Seminyak, tel: 0361 847 5830; www.sip-bali.com

SPECIALITIES: Gastronomic, acclaimed French Mediterranean cuisine. Signatures include legendary status foie gras and one of Bali’s most impressive wine lists. Métis focus and service orientation is of the highest standards.

or ceiling fans keep your cool.Glass doors can be thrown back, leading to an exceedingly deep balcony (perfect for cocktails and smokers) overlooking quaint rice fields and lily ponds.

LOCATION: in deepest Petitenget; openair dining patio and lounge-bar area overlook rice fields and farm lands.

CONTACT: Sales Co-ordinator, Karina Sasmita, tel: 0361 737 888 / email: sales@metisbali.com; Jalan Petitenget (#6), Kerobokan Kelod / www.metisbali.com

venting in a villa

Katie Truman absorbs a trio of bali's new boutique resorts and villas...

SEMARA RESORT AND SPA Rubbing shoulders with Jalan Petitenget’s other notable newcomers, Semara Resort and Spa has blossomed as fast as its landscaped gardens since opening May 2011.

Australian/Balinese owned and managed, casual yet stylish, flair permeates throughout this deluxe boutique resort – a popular choice for predominately Australian guests. Although relatively small-scale, there are a surprising number of things packed in here, yet they’re all spread out enough to lend an overall sense of spaciousness.

Reflecting the tropical setting, nature plays a key part in resort design. A broad stone path dissecting the grounds is fringed by lofty coconut palms – wild leafy vegetation and calming water wall features.

Nearby, 58 spacious rooms and suites come designed in a chic contemporary Balinese style – light and airy with optimum use of natural woods, glass and stone, leading out to generous-sized verandas.

Eco-friendly smart bathrooms feature bespoke allnatural bathroom amenities with bio systems installed for recycling water to the gardens.

Room must-haves include 42-inch flat screen TVs, international power sockets and laptop-sized safety deposit box – an excellent lateral thought.

Although a quick stagger outside brings you to a boulevard of world-class restaurants and distractions, this boutique outfit offers several decent distractions of its own: like the Atrium Restaurant-Bar, a cavernous contemporary space with vertical wall gardens and glass-encased wall of fine wines. The culinary focus here is modern Australian.

Converting guests to wellness and healthy living, Semara provides a slick gym, early morning lap-pool training sessions, yoga and meditation hosted in a charming, timbered garden pavilion.

Semara Spa promises affordable spa luxury within its 10 treatment suites, including a hair salon and a dedicated Thai massage space. Several of the

rooms have ceiling fans only – avoiding Siberiaesque aircon blasts. Exclusive spa products are by Australian Miranda Kerr with her totally organic Kora range (try the organic facials).

Semara is just the biz for families – kid-friendly without forsaking good taste. The 44 superior suites are especially family-orientated, all featuring interconnecting doors, allowing the munchkins their own space without the worry of not being able to supervise them. Sofa beds help accommodate two adults and two kids in one room (plus there are plenty of available cots). With generously-sized daybed, outdoor furniture, and overhead ceiling fan, the verandahs present an additional space for family downtime.

Nearby, sprawling Georgies Pool Bar and Restaurant offers another playground, with a 25-metre pool surrounded by a timbered deck and plenty of double and single sun-loungers, large kids’ pool and extensive covered daybed section.

The vast dining terrace is de rigueur for relaxed dining en famille, with freshly baked, wood-fired oven pizzas, chilled wines and even more chilled cocktails – an ideal gathering point at sunset. If that’s not enough, Petitenget beach is just a 150-metre stroll away.

Semara’s trump card is arguably Cubby House Kids Club, the largest and best equipped of its kind on the island. This fun playden covers a whopping 364-square-metres, providing premier equipment, imaginative activities and highly trained staff for the most discerning mini-customers. Age-appropriate activities include Mac internet stations, two movie theatres and Play Station 3s, plush kids’ menus and, coming soon, playgroups, leaving parents free to pursue their own peccadillos.

Loved-up twosomes are not overlooked either: deluxe suites are designed for romance, complete with king-sized canopied beds and indoor dining setting.

Already fine-tuning for 2012, Semara’s all-new The Deck is a hip street-side deck space for lounge bar lolling, DJs, and live entertainment.

The Atrium is undergoing its own nip and tuck introducing a more stripped-back fun approach, with value-for-money cocktails and new menus.

All in all, Semara Resort and Spa manages to accommodate everyone’s needs in a tastefully exotic way.

Room rates from US$189.

Semara Resort and Spa, Jalan Petitenget, Seminyak.

Tel: 0361 847 6661 www.semaraseminyak.com VILLA KUBU AND VILLA LATA LIANA Back in 1999, when – impossible to imagine now – Seminyak was still a rice- field domain, Australian Dee Mytton and architect Ross Franklin designed and created one lovely villa. Then another, and another.

And over the course of 12 years, expanding to a total of 15 one, two and three-bedroom villas, resulting in Villa Kubu of today.

Unlike other villa complexes, each villa here is not only different, but reflects the island's ever-changing tastes and trends – from traditional antique Balinese to lavish Mediterranean. Almost off-the-radar down a labyrinth of laneways, Villa Kubu provides a very private sanctuary far removed from, yet within instant access to, central Seminyak.

‘Kubu’ translates as ‘home from home’ and that’s exactly what you feel, holed-up at any of the 15 villas, an organic hotch-potch of private residences in a vast walled compound. No coincidence Kubu was built with long-term living in mind. Ensconced behind high limestone walls, utmost privacy is further upheld by a charming three-flag signal system for staff, stationed at each wooden entrance gate.

Beautifully tended gardens are Kubu’s defining factor: Ms Mytton spent years studying the island’s tropical vegetation – which shows. Each garden reflects the owner’s love of Balinese botanicals and

villa lata liana.

semara resort and spa seminyak.

venting in a villa top and above: maca villas and spa.

displays a distinct Balinese style, with elements like lotus ponds, weathered statuettes and rock gardens, and mature palms and exotic blooms like ginger flowers. And of course, an ample-sized pool with thatched roof bale.

Hearty breakfasts cooked to order by personal butlers in fully-equipped kitchens, luxurious king-size beds with feather pillows, high threadcount sheets and comfy daybeds are just some of the home comforts provided. Kubu’s relaxed living style, with fabulous open-air dining and lounging areas, and in-room dining service, positively encourage private entertaining – villas also supply fully loaded iPods loaded, flat-screen TVs, DVD players and DVD library.

Larger groups can book the palatial three-bedroom villas, or limited side-by-side villas. Committed to wellness and the environment, room service fare is sourced from Bali’s organic farms, while villas maintain all-natural cleaning products and recycle bin systems.

While the private focus dictates no communal facilities per se, there is however Spa Venus, with its excellent detox programmes, holistic therapies and metaphysical treatments.

After deciding to create “something different on a grander scale,” Ms Mytton et al have totally surpassed themselves with their jaw-dropping Villa Lata Liana, debuting August 2011. This exclusive two-bedroom and five bedroom villa is one of Seminyak’s shining new stars. Located in a quiet residential area, a hop, skip and jump from Seminyak Beach and Gado Gado restaurant, it’s a minor miracle they found any land left in Seminyak. With land so scarce, villas tend to come designed ‘stacked-up,’ yet boutique Villa Lata Liana bucks the trend on a truly grandiose scale – an exceptional property decadently sprawled across a vast tree-studded plot.

Managed by Villa Kubu and sharing its concept, five-star standards and Spa Venus, Lata Liana’s totally separate villas are a stylishly modern take on Balinese architecture. The magnificent five-bedroom villa features several pavilions encircling a large freeform pool – stunningly illuminated at nighttime. All five chic guestrooms – including a colonial-inspired Master Bedroom with private garden – are carefully spaced for optimum privacy.

Striking modern tropical architecture contrasts with some unique traditional features, such as antique water features and custom-made furnishings, recycled from the century-old timbers of an Indonesian schooner. Poolside wooden gazebos are in fact a

vintage joglo and rustic, thatched goat pen! Things get up-to-date with dazzling chandeliers made from amber capiz seashells, funky feathered floor lamps, high-tech appliances and uber-stylish bathrooms leading out to sensuous outdoor rain showers.

The smaller-scale, yet no less intoxicating twobedroom villa features contemporary architecture inspired by Indonesian vernacular design, including a lumbung-style dwelling, making a fun but luxurious hidey-hole for families. Again, this features a lovely pool and landscaped gardens. Villas can also be booked together – providing a palatial sevenbedroom option and given the five-bedroom villa’s lavish entertaining spaces, facilities (including a Yamaha electric piano) and swish catering kitchen, Lata Liana is tailor-made for serious entertaining and outside events – anything from wedding receptions and dinner parties to product launches and fashion shows.

Rates from US$245++ (Villa Kubu), US$975++ (Villa Lata Liana).

Villa Kubu and Spa Venus, Jalan Raya Seminyak.

Villa Lata Liana, Jalan Camplung Tanduk, Seminyak.

Tel: 0361 738905 www.latalianavillas.com Maca Villas and Spa Seminyak Yet another fabulous new addition to Petitenget, MACA Villas and Spa Seminyak, opened in August 2011.

This gem of a boutique villa enclave cleverly balances Balinese aesthetics and contemporary international design with a stylish yet homely ambience and competent, friendly staff.

Strewn along a stone pathway edged with luscious foliage and towering walls, the 25 luxe one and two-bedroom pool villas reveal contemporary, understated interiors that are invitingly comfortable – warm woods contrast with splashes of turquoise soft furnishings. Surrounded by glass sliding doors, rooms are airy and sun-drenched. The open-plan living room-kitchen and bedroom lie right beside the pool and deck, almost as if the pool is an interior element: push back the glass doors and you can roll out of bed, literally, straight in for a wake-up call with a difference.

Perfect.

Deluxe villas also feature a ‘floating bale’ with daybed over the pool – an indulgent spot for chilling or utilizing the complimentary WiFi (if you’ve forgotten your laptop, borrow MACA’s iPad). Spacious spa-inspired bathrooms come with stand-alone

bath tubs, rainforest shower (sized for two), but most important, a wall-mounted TV screen for essential bath-time viewing (you’ll never get out). Along with 24-hour personal butler service, villas provide iPod docking station, LCD flat-screen TV and digital entertainment system with music and movies.

Although the complex is small and quite compact, high walls between villas ensure maximum privacy.

MACA also features a 20-metre communal lap pool, complete with rock waterfall and sundeck, plus small spa facility. A totally unexpected find however is MASE Kitchen and Bar, a gourmet fine-diner with French-inspired cuisine and headed-up by the newly-ensconced French chef, plus a passionately committed German general manager with long experience in F and B. This glass-encased, poolside restaurant takes on subtle moods from sun-lit daytime to formal dinner ambience of candle-light’s and starched white tablecloths. Yummy breakfast options include lemon ricotta pancakes with rosemary bacon, or parmesan-topped asparagus with fried egg and parsley croutons and fresh, home-baked breads. Dinner à la carte highlights gastronomic French delights, anything from Caviar Sturia Vintage, and Coffin Bay Australian oysters to escargot mille feuille with fresh tarragon and imported fresh French cheeses. All beautifully executed and presented, washed down with a carefully selected line in wines, cocktails and then exceptional coffee. MASE’s adjoining, casual deck space at the front, Ippolito Coffee Bar, is one of Petitenget’s new must-try treats – a Singapore-brand micro coffee café, and Bali’s first that roasts on-site highest-quality, organic coffees from around the world – especially, estate, micro-lot and single origin beans. Superior lattes and cappuccinos come expertly served by Singaporetrained baristas. But you’ll find your own personal stash of Ippolito coffee beans in the villa kitchen.

Down the same laneway housing illustrious neighbours such as Villa Lumbung and Villa Air Bali, the neighbourhood still feels refreshingly like a traditional Balinese village, yet a shortish stroll (or a ride on complimentary mountain bikes) takes you to Petitenget Beach and all those other local hotspots.

You may however find it hard to extricate yourself from this urban village sanctuary for the senses.

One bedroom pool villa from US$475++ MACA Villas and Spa, Seminyak, Jalan Lebak Sari, No. 7, Petitenget, Tel: 0361 739 090/ www.macavillas.com

the pan pacific nirwana bali resort is undergoing a facelift to beat all facelifts. Fore!

JUST DOIN' IT

THE SHARK'S TEMPLE.

JUST DOIN' IT JOHN Berndt . . . tell us a little about yourself and about how you came to Bali.

I am a career hotelier, grew up in New York, summered in the surf on east coast beaches, enjoy professional challenges, food & wine events and playing golf – the way it was meant to be played. I first came to Bali in 1997 to assist Ritz-Carlton in opening their property in Jimbaran. My wife and I fell in love with the authentic character of the romantic tropical island and the genuine, gentle spirituality of the Balinese people.

We hear there are moves afoot to up the ante at your resort – what are your plans?

The resort has great bones and wonderful potential. Best of all is it’s location at the edge of the universe overlooking Bali’s iconic Tanah Lot temple – the most revered site on the island, on a beautiful 103-hectare tropical garden oasis that would be next to impossible to replicate in this day and age, anywhere and at any cost. Nirwana has frustrated operators, guests and partner suppliers since inception for many good reasons. The resort, designed by one of Asia’s top architectural firms, WATG, is of a similar design to the Ritz-Carlton, now Ayana. The timing of several hardships involving economic crises and terrorist bombings saw that the resort was never properly completed or maintained. It’s a shame really, because now it is so much harder stripping back the patch-quilted bandaides rebuilding from scratch and repositioning it as a niche resort and not a makeover of an old one.

It seems to us the resort has been something of a sleeping giant for a while now . . . we imagine that's going to change.

Oh yes! We have talked to Sade about doing an opening launch event for us in March.

We are working with talented producers and promoters about concert series following our Bloody Mary Jazz brunches Saturday and Sundays with outdoor cliff lawn sunset performances with the Tanah Lot backdrop memorializing the event. Preceding and following Jakarta’s music and Jazz festivals we are targeting artists such as Stevie Wonder, Esperanza Spalding, Jakarta Philharmonic Orchestra, Dianna Krall, Chuck Mangione, Kenny G (a golfer) and Santana. We are hoping to host an annual WTA tennis event as a warm up to the Australian Open in Melbourne. The golf course will be modified to host an annual Asian Tour championship and made-for-TV challenge events involving celebrities, young talents, women and seniors.

OK, it’s always been a great golf course. Why should we play golf with you?

Our 18-hole championship golf course, designed by Greg Norman is his favorite course.

It has never been in better playing condition. It is scenic, challenging with memorable experiences on every hole that begs to be played again and again. Just today we played with Miguel Ángel Jiménez hot off the Singapore Open, last month Pablo Martin spent three weeks here playing every day and Scott Barr is returning in January to get married with golf events entertaining his family and friends. Truly it is the best golf experience in the region. The readers of Asian Monthly and the World Travel awards have recognized us as the best golf resort in the region.

Which are the best holes?

My favorites are the short par fours: 12, 13 and 17 because they dare you to cut the corner for birdie chances that just as often kill the good round you have going! Most golfers prefer the scenic challenges of hitting over the Indian ocean into the wind on par three 14 or our signature hole, 7, with the hundreds of Tanah Lot temple dwellers cheering you on.

And what do you shoot?

I work hard at maintaining a 10 handicap playing client golf once a week and twice a month I treat myself to a relaxing round with my wife or (laughs) beers and small money bets with friends.

The resort…what's the most exciting development going to be for you?

I have always admired the talents of professional builders, designers and architects. I like to build things and enjoy creating something special that will be appreciated by discriminating people for being useful – appropriately contributing to lifestyle and environmental enrichment. All these opportunities are on Bali.

Is it just a refit, or are we talking a total change in direction?

Total reposition appealing to a niche market that appreciates Nirwana’s unique barefoot elegance and one-of-a-kind spiritual tropical setting for special occasions, meetings and leisure travel from Australia, Jakarta, Singapore, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong. We have always been well known for value and incredible sunsets, now with the support of a refreshed facility our product, services and programming will bring the richness of this vibrant very special part of the Pacific World to life. It will not only be seen, it will be felt; engaging and heightening every sense – taste, touch, sight and sound – in an experience that is at once familiar, surprising, reassuringly consistent and delightful.

And now for the important questions…how many types of wine do you stock in your cellars?

Currently we have over 100 selections of premium wine which we sell at incredibly low margins to counter-attack the extremely high tax which plagues all restaurants and resorts here on Bali. We sell retail wine by the bottle in our new “TLC”café bistro Tapas wine bar.

We feature wine by the glass of all our bottle selections in Merica, our contemporary brasserie, Pool Grill and Golfers’ Terrace restaurants. We augment a simple foundation of old world favorites with many peppery boutique new world wines from Australia, New Zealand and South African – blends that we can offer at surprisingly good value.

You have so much land here … and so few rooms by comparison. What else do you do on the property?

We have 27 free-standing, privately owned, freehold villa’s and are preparing ocean-front lots for custom build-outs. We are building strata title golf resort residences to add to the resort homes and timeshare units already on property. We have 278 hotel resort rooms including 40 Pacific Club ocean view rooms, 22 suites and 12 pool villa’s on the ocean and golf course. We are planning on inviting celebrated artists to teach and exhibit in an educational crafts center forum that will provide participatory exhibits with learning opportunities in film, dance, music ceramic, oil, acrylic, photography mediums.

Are you planning any major golfing events in the next couple of years.

We hope to host an annual Asian tour event as early as 2013, as soon as we resurface and complete the golf course renovation in addition to hosting fun and challenging madefor-television events, with celebrities, women, popular young up-and-coming stars, and seniors.

And finally - what are you doing for Christmas!

As a devout Christian, Christmas is more spiritual than commercial for us, and year end is a time for thanksgiving and reflection. New Years we celebrate achievements and set goals for the future. We have family from the states, Cornell buddies from US and Singapore and golfers visiting from Dubai all making a memorable melting pot holiday. We are all decorated in a natural traditional theme organically inspired by the resort grounds complementing our spiritual serene setting featuring children’s choirs, costumed carolers and classical musicians throughout the season with traditional holiday fare in Merica, and alternative popular music in our romantic seaside Pool Grill. We have festive holiday events for the entire family – Christmas and New Years Eve, Christmas and New Year's day.

oral pleasures

WARUNG No waiters, no menu, no joke. . .what the. . .?

Meet the young bloods of restaurant Warung Kayu.

Ryan Simorangkir and Tyler Peek

OK guys, let’s start cooking . . . Ryan?

Ryan Simorangkir, age 23, single, born in California, grew up in Santa Barbara and Jakarta.

That’s a twist – elaborate on that a bit . . .

My dad grew up in Michigan - high school and college – met mom in California and moved to Jakarta for business reasons. I was nine months old at the time and from then on, back and forth, family in both places, international shuffle, but normal high school.

Where did the culinary schooling come into play?

I went to Cordon Bleu School in Pasadena, California, that’s where I met Tyler.

Where did that lead?

From that Tyler hooked me up with an internship in Puerto Rico at the W Hotel, towards the last month there we were figuring out what to do when my dad called – who by the way is a wine supplier here - and he said he would invest in us if we came to Bali.

This is your father’s place?

No, he only invests. The other investor is Dermot Monaghan who owns Soho Diner on Jalan Oberoi.

Before coming to Bali, what were some of your culinary experiences?

I did the Grammy and Academy Awards events with Wolfgang Puck.

Stop right there, working with Wolfgang Puck – top of the pops – that’s quite an experience right there . . .

For sure, but cooking for thousands of people, not my thing, I didn’t like it.

During culinary school, Tyler and I and a few other friends set up a catering company, we did our first wedding – what a mess but we got through it.

Do you have set menus for the days ahead?

No, everyday we sit down and work ideas out and sometimes we get so excited – we usually have more than enough. If we get requests for a certain dish, of course we will extend that. We welcome requests or any ideas – we’re more than willing to go for it.

What’s the deal in the kitchen?

We have three cooks – 18, 19 and 23; a pretty young crew. Our hostess is 18 as well.

One of our cooks started off as a tukang, building houses. He built this place, then he became my dishwasher, we slowly trained him with basics and knife cuts, everything, now we can just leave him in the kitchen and he’ll start cooking.

From the frying pan to the fire, Tyler?

Age 23, born in Tampa Bay, Florida, moved to Tennessee, when in high school started cooking for a catering company, casual stuff, weddings and barbeques.

Tennessee, hmm, yippy-ki-yay kind of thing . . .

Yeah, exactly. I moved to California, needed a job, so working in a place called Kings Highway – prep and line for about a year, then I decided culinary school was my thing. Los Angeles was perfect for cooking schools, big demand, catering to the stars etcetera. That was when I was about 19.

Did you always like to play with food?

Yep, growing up I was always watching Iron Chef. I like putting different flavours together and trying different things. I don’t like conventional flavours: main course with meats and some fruits; lamb with chocolate sauce topping, my thing. We read a lot of books, more idea’s and such.

So you like to play with the public?

I went to Spain to study languages and business and ate a lot of food in Spain, that’s when I decided to go back to California and enroll in culinary school.

Interesting decisions for the both of you at that age, careerwise, especially with everything else coming at you these days.

Bravo, ha, my daughter is still trying to figure out where her underwear is . . . how would you describe your shtick?

Casual fine dining – we like to play

around with dishes; tacos, for instance.

We do a deconstruction taco with different components of the dish, looking like fine dining, but still a taco.

You’ve been open eight months, how have the responses been, reviews, especially given the place is so youth-oriented?

Great! We’re a bit different in that we don’t have waiters or waitresses. We’re the waiters, we greet our guests and we recommend dishes based on their tastes.

Looking around, seating for 36, all well and good, what happens, Ryan, when you get really busy, which you most certainly will?

We want to keep it this way, more personal, maybe more tables in the garden pretty soon for lunches.

No lunches right now . . . so what is the restaurant schedule?

Six days a week, Monday through Friday, 7pm until whenever we close . . .

We actually opened for lunch for a month and it didn’t do well, so in the future with marketing and so forth, we have a large lawn, plenty of space, so parties and events will come, no problem.

What would you call your culinary signature?

Ryan: A lot of people ask me that question; I don’t know what to say about it.

Tyler: I like traditional French cooking, but more of the modern technique, like liquid nitrogen, it freezes foods instantly, spherifcation, molecular gastronomy technique.

What? You sound like a rocket scientist . . .

It’s a new way of cooking.

Tyler, your take on life?

I always have this quote: “life isn’t about finding yourself, but creating yourself”.

Ryan?

If you want to do something, just do it, don’t regret it, you’ll never know or find out unless you do it . . .S.B. Warung Kayu is closed until december 12th.

Small is beautiful.

173

B lo o dy M a ry sarah douglas sees red all over town.

As legend has it, Mary Worth lived a long time ago.

She was a very beautiful young girl. One day she had a terrible accident that left her face so disfigured that nobody would look at her. She wasn’t allowed to see her own reflection after the accident for fear that she would lose her mind.

One night, after everyone had gone to bed, unable to fight the curiosity any longer, she crept into a room that had a mirror. As soon as she saw her face, she broke down into terrible screams and sobs. It was at this moment that she was so heartbroken and wanted her old reflection back that she walked into the mirror to find it. In there she found a bottle of vodka, a tin of tomato juice, a shaker and some spicy liquids and for good measure a pot of salt and pepper. Using these ingredients to create her own concoction, Bloody Mary felt much better.

Okay, so the story doesn’t really end that way but we all know how she felt.

Another urban legend (this one has legs) has it that a bartender at the St Regis in New York invented the drink and made it a classic.

According to Fernando Petiot, the first two customers for whom he made the drink, were from Chicago, and they said, "there is a bar there named the Bucket of Blood . . . and there is a waitress everybody calls Bloody Mary. One of the boys said that the drink reminds him of Bloody Mary, and the name stuck.”

Petito claims a Paris bartender came up with the idea of mixing vodka and tomato juice but he added salt, lemon, and Tabasco sauce – now considered essential ingredients – to the Bloody Mary in order to satisfy requests from American customers for a spicier drink.

The New Yorker magazine quoted Petiot as saying: “I initiated the Bloody Mary of today.

“I cover the bottom of the shaker with four large dashes of salt, two dashes of black pepper, two dashes of cayenne pepper, and a layer of Worcestershire sauce; I then add a dash of lemon juice and some cracked ice, put in two ounces of vodka and two ounces of thick tomato juice, shake, strain, and pour.”

The first legend is based on a popular American children’s game, and may have some relevance to the name of the drink (despite the Chicago waitress claims).

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The game involves calling out the name Bloody Mary three times to coax her into appearing. In Bali, as always we have a twist, we find calling out “bli, bli, bli” perhaps a few extra times is guaranteed to bring it on.

The Bali Mary – St Regis St Regis naturally had to celebrate the anniversary of the Bloody Mary in all of its hotels. To honour the occasion, St Regis Bali departed slightly from the classic by adding lemongrass instead of celery, absolutely lovely. Their King Cole Bar is named after the very bar where Fernand invented the fiery classic and it is indeed a charming ode to times gone by – comfortable lounges, pianist and singer spinning off Cole Porter tunes and a beaming bartender ready with a salt frosted tall glass of the spicy elixir is enough to put a smile on the face any day. Naturally their famous three-hour Sunday brunch begins with Bloody Marys in the King Cole Bar to take the edge off Saturday night and lay the foundations Tel: 8478111 www.stregis.com/bali Just A Little Naughty – Naughty Nuri’s, Ubud . . . and quite spicy too. When Brian met Nuri things started to get a little naughty down the quiet end of Ubud. She can cook and he makes a hell of a cocktail.

More famous for their martinis (lethal), the slippery ribs, the ice-cold beer and the riveting conversations (depending on martini consumption), Nuri’s rates for more. In an exhausting survey of Bloody Mary drinkers, Naughty Nuri’s came out on top – by a mile. It seems the secret to Brian’s mixology success (provided by an American gentleman who is much too modest to be mentioned here) lies in the amount of pure spirits he puts in the drinks. With enough Tabasco, who knows? By the second or third, who cares?

Tel: 977547 www.naughty-nuris.com Feeling Blue? – Cocoon Waking up feeling shocking can sometimes only be dealt with by soldiering on. This doesn’t mean hiding away in a dark room with some Alka Seltzer and TV re-runs. An insider’s favourite for Sunday on the rocks is Cocoon and not surprisingly they do a mean Bloody Mary. They’re not hooting and hollering about it, it

doesn’t even appear on their menu, but a casual request delivered a beautiful, classic version of the cocktail.

Garnished with celery and a stick of cherry tomatoes means you can have your drink and eat it too. Eggs and bacon, a gentle slide into the cool blue pool and then prostrate on a sun lounge and things start to look a lot better.

Tel: 731060 Yak Map Q.13 www.cocoon-beach.com Get A Head On – Potato Head Potato Head is enjoying its time in the sun and for those nursing a serious hangover, this remedy may seem quite frustrating. Not content with a classic, this one comes with more twists and turns than a play station game. Firstly balancing the triangular glass will be a test, especially as it comes precariously placed on a glass tray that features some very interesting embellishments.

You’ll find wasabi, lemongrass sticks, salt and pepper and some things that seem edible but the addled brain may not recognise at first. By the time you’ve got around to having the drink, your mind will have left the room and the alcohol will have soothed the wretched soul.

Tel: 737979 Yak Map N.5 www.ptthead.com Lunchtime Surprise – SIP For those who lunch a lot, there is a trick to getting over yesterday’s and enjoying today’s and that comes in the form of the famous drink we are discussing. So, no surprises that Sip (at both Legian and on Sunset) comes up with a bloody good Mary. Classic to the core, balanced with the right amount of spice, it is a surefire way to forget yesterday and say hello to today.

Naturellement, the French food is very tasty too.

Tel :8475830 Yak Map W.8 www.sip-bali.com Rocking All Over – Hard Rock Hotel This is a leap of faith to assume that Yakker’s will make it this far, especially after a hard day’s night but the Hard Rock Hotel has a wealth of recipes up its sleeve, including a rocking Bloody Mary. Poolside is nice but if you’ve managed the day and enjoy a little music with your cocktail, this is a very respectable choice. With the makeover of the Café at front, you can enjoy a trip down musical memory lane at the same time.

Tel: 761869 Yak Map C.12 www.hardrockhotels.com/bali

Bloody mary, St Regis style. Yum.

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constant wining

T w o ’ s C o m pa n y Katrina Valkenburg knows a nice pairing when she sees one . . .

kayuputi delight.

Recently a spammer who suggested to all my friends that I’d miraculously lost 10kg in four days hacked

overall effect, or flavour, in your mouth.

One of the great wine lists in the world (okay, I’m

into my Facebook page. Whacko the diddly-O, how

biased, but to see is to believe) is at the St. Regis, right

marvellous, I didn’t even know I was on a diet.

here in Bali.

Being vastly overweight in the tropics is akin to

Sommelier Harald Wiesmann has compiled a wine

serving a Puligny-Montrachet Grand Cru (Chardonnay)

list so memorable that the Wine Spectator has awarded

with a steak, or a Romanée-Conti Grand Cru

it the Best of Award of Excellence (two wine glasses)

(Burgundy, Pinot Noir) with asparagus. It just doesn’t

for 2011, after having won the Award of Excellence

feel right.

starting from 2009, just a year after the resort opened

The weight of a wine is an important and valuable tool to have when deciding which wine will best suit the dish you have chosen to eat or prepare.

A great restaurateur in my mind is someone who

and then again in 2010.

So I decided to ask Herr Wiesmann how and why he compiled this wondrous vinous list.

I’m always in a pickle when I come to Kayuputi

considers her or his menu and then designs, or has

for dinner; there are so many wines and so many

designed, a complementary wine list.

choices. Please tell our Yakkers and Yakettes about

Recently, the owner of a leading Japanese

your award-winning list.

restaurant in Bali invited me to dinner, ostensibly to

I personally feel that if a restaurant wants to be one of

look over his wine list. A couple of martinis down the

the best, it has to carry a wine list that has quality akin

hatch in the bar and we moved to the dinner table

to the quality of the menu served. In saying that, as the

where I was handed the menu and wine list. I was

ingredients of the menu come from many parts of the

rather taken aback when I read through the list and

world, so do our wines, thereby creating an extensive

discovered there was not one wine that I thought

and more importantly, suitable choice for our guests.

would ‘match’ the food we were about to order.

How many wines are hidden in the esteemed

The list had seven whites, of which five were

vaults of the St Regis cellar?

low-end, predominantly commercial Australian

We have over 400 different wine labels stored in our

chardonnays, and the reds were similarly low-end

cellar at any given time, of which some labels we

cabernet or cabernet blends. Whilst there is nothing

carry only two bottles while others can range up to 60

innately wrong with these wines, they will not support

bottles.

the delicacy of Japanese food which, I believe, calls for

Is there a wine or wines that you’re unable to

lighter bodied and less aggressive options.

procure in Bali that you would like to see on the

Having just the right martini-bravado to broach

list?

the subject with the restaurateur, I was even more

Yes, there are and one of them would be wines from

surprised to learn that the reason the wine list was at

Priorate in Spain, near Barcelona and also some

the lower end of the scale was that very few people

from an area near my own hometown, Frankonia in

chose wine to accompany their meal preferring sake or

Germany.

beer. My immediate thought – it actually jumped right

What’s your favourite wine on the list and is there

out of mouth – was, ‘but you’re not offering them any

an Oscar Perez special that you would match it to?

appropriate wine’.

My personal best is Montelig from Chile and Oscar

Wine and food matching is all about balance: a

Perez’s special menu that peaks the match is Tataki of

balance between the flavour, weight and texture of

Tuna on Oxtail Ragout.

the food and the wine. Ideally, the flavour components

If you died and went to heaven, what wine would

of a wine need to harmonize with the flavour

you come back as?

components of the dish it is matching. Delicate food

I would want to come back unique in a bottle with 30

requires delicately flavoured wine and, conversely, rich,

per cent Chateau Margaux, 30 per cent Vega Sicilia and

robust food requires bigger, heavier wines.

30 per cent Barbaresco from Gaja.

In all but a very few occasions, it is the wine that should play second fiddle to the food. There is

A good mix if ever there was one. Many thanks Harald…

absolutely no marriage made in heaven if the wine dominates the food. Matching food and wine involves using all the senses, sight, sound, smell, taste and

Katrina Valkenburg is a wine consultant and educator. All

touch – and observing how they interact to create an

correspondence to katrinav@mac.com

179

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oral pleasures

m a m a Industrial colonial meets the modern gent amidst a fanfare of woks, noodles and soups…

M

I

A

!

!

GASTRO urban chic meets gentlemen’s tiffin club in the newly-opened confines of Mama San. This new loft-eatery is taking fusion to a new level. Thankfully the ‘fusing’ has nothing to do with the ingredients and everything to do with the interiors. The food remains staunchly authentic as the menu guides one beautifully from Vietnam to Shanghai, Hainan and Peking to India and beyond. Effortless gourmet travel in mouthwatering seconds…But back to the interiors.

Visible brick and brass, polished cement and brown upholstered leather Chesterfields blend and juxtapose as well as the Dhania Gosht lamb cooked with chana dahl, green chili yoghurt and fresh coriander. Mahjong marble top tables with black chairs are a simple, yet elegant pairing as in the Kway Teow of beef with egg, bean sprouts, gai lan & sweet soy. Glass globe Dutch pendant lights, metal staircases and Shanghaichic art bring the same visual appreciation to the fore as the crispy whole fish with three-flavour sauce, wild ginger, turmeric, pineapple chili and tamarind. Accents of cherry red standing lamps, silk cushions with matt polished cement floors are as a delightful a mix as the Kasoori Korma with chicken, tomato, bay leaf, cinnamon, cashew nut yoghurt and coriander. Then it is the black and white vintage images that offset the on-show industrial air ducts just as the crispy lamb ribs offset the ginger, coriander, lemon and pomegranate sauce they are bathed in.

It is the bringing together of Asian comfort

food that has placed Mama San in the record books of the “reservations are a must” world.

Yes, there are Asian bites and salads for the health conscious and crispy things for those less so; tandooris, woks, curries and soups for the ultimate hangover or hunger cure. There are even set meals for those whose brain is not quite in gear for the Asian gourmet tour that is their menu.

However, more than just a chic, urbanesque gudang for Eastern morsels, Mama San’s loft bar quietly teems with cocktail connoisseurs, amateurs and those who are still in training. As with the ground floor below, the décor oozes old world with new world charm. The boudoir lighting is highly flattering – sets the stage for a fun take on how to ‘mix’ and be remembered.

Choice is king, with a wide range of tipples both ancient and modern. Martini’s come with a dropper of Dry Vermouth giving this classic a conversational twist. The Moscow Mules arrive in shiny, brass, footless chalices, while the humble clay drinking pot pays homage to Cambodia and its road to recovery. The Bloody Mary, a Yak must have, was still undergoing a fabulous Mama San makeover as I write. Now that, amongst every thing else currently in the Mama San pipeline, (and there are rather fabulous things afoot) is something we also look forward to.

Tel: 0361 730436 Yak Map: U7 www. mamasanbali.com

oral pleasures

DREAMING Eat Street's morroccan meeting place is reborn, writes sarah douglas.

The philosophical, dark-eyed Moroccans cast a seductive spell that few can resist. When Khaima arrived on what would become Eat Street, festooned with coloured lanterns and redolent of dimly-lit spice markets, it soon had a crew of diners swooning.

Ten years later, Jl. Oberoi is filled with slick international restaurants and diners have a world of choice, and Khaima has had a change of heart. Entrepreneur and restaurateur, Driss…has finally coaxed his wife Nora from behind the stoves of the Morrocan-based restaurant that was a very personal project for her.

“This was only the second restaurant in Oberoi, after Mykonos, and friends were always asking us to open a restaurant,” Driss says. “Nora has always loved to cook and entertain. This site came up and was quite a lot bigger than what we were looking for, but we went for it. The first night was a disaster, people waited over an hour for food, we ran out of food completely. We didn’t have portion controls and really were out of our depth,” he laughs.

They sorted it out quite quickly and went on to establish Khaima as a quality restaurant before opening Café Bali with a partner and then The Junction, both

in Jl. Oberoi. These days the couple are asked to consult for new restaurants, such is their success.

Khaima’s make-over has completely transformed the site.

The stripped wooden façade is an arresting design that has worked its charm on a new set of diners. A newly appointed executive chef worked with Nora to choose the most popular of the Morrocan dishes and then added his own spin on Indonesian and Western dishes to create a more eclectic menu.

“He is very creative and his pastas are some of the best I’ve ever had,” explains Driss. “The Indonesian dishes are also popular and the chef really shines with the presentation and preparation of some of the best local dishes, it is working really well.” The committed diners keep coming back and have been loath to let go of their favourite elements, including the belly dancer who suddenly appears as if from another planet, in the thoroughly modern dining setting created by local design house, Desain9. With its Japanese sensibility, the new design seems somehow at odds with its former identity, yet closer inspection reveals Morrocan elements. The stripped wood that appears as bamboo is actually strips of natural wood bound together with twine, the lanterns are still there but this time in shiny chrome with clear glass, and the dining room still echoes with middle eastern sounds and smells.

A younger crowd seems to have moved in and women seem to outnumber men at the larger tables.

Young couples seem to be taking advantage of the mixed menu and sharing dishes ranging from Moroccan inspired dips to the Balinese betutu. This is how it works here.

Nora has finally let go of her place behind the stove, reluctantly we are not surprised to hear. “This was her baby,” explains Driss, but he is very happy with the way the new look has been embraced by a new crowd of diners, and the long bar facing the street is a popular meeting place.

Nora has turned her hand to the business and will be visiting the kitchen of The Junction to create new dishes while still keeping an eye on her baby, Khaima. While she may have given up her apron to a new chef, there is definitely a sense of her that remains in the building, a blink of the eye reveals the ghost of the old Khaima. It may be shiny and new but it is not only the guests who remember, the very building seems to echo with the sense of her celebrated days as Bali’s best Morrocan cook. The tagines, the grills served with cous cous and the mint and cumin scents still float to the top in this modern international restaurant, brilliantly situated in the centre of Bali’s now famous Eat Street.

Tel: 0361 735171 Map Ref Q.8 www.khaimabali.com

khaima looks east.

oral pleasures

at potato head big flavours are lovingly matched, writes sarah douglas.

Potato Head, funny name and the kind of place that seems a bit disjointed at first but slowly grows on you.

It has morphed from the early days into an almost complete composite venue, with three restaurants and more menus than you can juggle, but there is much to impress at this spacious beachside venue which, despite its sprawl, has somehow maintained its quirkiness and intimacy.

One man who has been seduced by the sound of the beckoning sea is award-winning Asian chef Gede Susila Yadnya, a homegrown Balinese who hails from Singaraja and is proud of it. His career has seen him working in seven countries for large hotel groups and he came to be an Asian chef because, “well, you can’t see a Western guy being the Asian chef, so I got the job,” he laughs. Classically trained, he has embraced the job at Lilin, where he brings together a wealth of professional and personal experience.

Lovers of Asian food know there is a lot more to the various cuisines than can possibly be lumped together, however it is now the vogue and Lilin is shining a light on some authentic dishes that owe more to street food and home-cooked recipes, but translates them artfully on both small and large plates.

“I have travelled a lot and I always enjoy getting out in the streets to see what real people eat,” explains Gede. “By experimenting myself with various recipes I have created my own tips, and I cook with my instincts based on exploring the street food and home cooking of the places I have visited.”

His colleagues at Potato Head are French Executive Chef, Beau Nicolas, and the latest arrival, Chef Hikaru, who is taking the helm at the much-anticipated Tapping Shoes, their French fine dining room which opened in November 2011.

“Oh, the French and the Japanese can be very tough in the kitchen, but of course not these guys,” he laughs.

Here he has a free hand to bring together all that he

really loves and the results are not for the faint hearted.

There is real spice and a fascinating depth of flavor in his dishes, right down to the sambal menu. He is passionate about his sauces, which is seen in the variety on offer, along with cooking styles to order in true Chinese style.

Highlights are the Asian Tapas menu, made for sharing, with a choice of dishes that travels from India to Vietnam, Malaysia, China and of course Indonesian, and the live seafood.

“At the end,” he says, “much Asian cooking is derived from Chinese, and in a lot of ways this is a Chinese-style menu but the look is contemporary, the taste is very real, that is the starting point, our focus is on authentic recipes,” says Gede.

That said, it doesn’t mean Potato Head can’t take a few risks; like their Asian Sangria menu, created by UK-based mixologist Dre Masso, which meets these big flavours and gets along real well; and European style desserts using Asian ingredients (their banana fritters, served with strawberry sauce are a perfect marriage of East and West).

It is hard to say which menu items have the most appeal, even though small; the menu is full of very eclectic selections, which span the region. The live seafood menu is however a point of difference and the steamed grouper with a fragrant Chinese-style sauce and lap chong sausage is a winner with diners, as is the famous Singapore-style chili crab.

Lilin has plenty of atmosphere. Located overlooking the grassy area of Potato Head, it looks forward and back. Chef Gede is one of an increasing number of local chefs with solid international experience who are coming home to take high profile jobs. This is a perfect position for the former hotel chef who has set his own pace and is determined to leave your taste buds tingling.

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sounds around

innovator, Massive Attack tourDJ and Global Underground top-seller, Nick Warren gives us his bird’s-eye view of the world…

Nick, how did you first arrive in Bali?

The first time I came was not to play music actually.

I came this way to play the Millennium New Year’s in Sydney, so then I came through with the family. On the way back we decided to come for a week in Bali and we stayed in Ubud – I loved it back then. After that, when Supermodified Agency started handling my bookings in Asia, there was an offer to play here which is always fantastic.

What draws you back?

It’s such a mix of styles here and such a wide variety of tourists as well. You know, you’ve got all the high-end hotels and all the private villas as well, and then all the in-betweens. I like the vibe here, mainly because the locals are really, really friendly. I love all the rice terraces and all the clichéd tourist things. . .there’s a really chilledout vibe here.

Growing up – what were your musical pointers or

first inclinations toward music? Family?

Not really, my parents had what I would call an interesting record collection, which consisted of about six good records and 60 terrible ones. But…I think, that one of the major influences for me moving towards electronic music was that my dad had all of the early Jean-Michel Jarre albums. I used to listen to those with headphones – you know listen to them really loudly as a young teenager. It wasn’t the tracks, but what Jean Michel did with all these mad sounds…like ssshhhhhssshhh… you know all these weird soundeffects that he did to make those tracks – that is what really got me interested.

I would also mention that at the age of 12, I had already started collecting music – seven-inch singles back then. About seven or so every two weeks, and I‘d play them over and over and over again. All through my teenage years and into my early 20s, I’d spend all my

money on records, and then it got the stage where I had a huge record collection, and I was good friends with some people at the art college in Bristol, and because I had a large record collection I was able to do house parties. So I was that pain-in-the-arse guy at the house parties. When the music stopped I’d put my cassette in because I thought I had a better selection of music than anyone else. So it evolved from that to me bringing my records to the parties and so on.

From there it went into me deejaying – but then I was never a really strong mixer. But in Bristol we had all of that early Bristol-sound with the Massive Attack and those guys. . .and from there it was into small clubs, and then a Thursday night in a club, and then Massive Attack asked me to be their tour DJ. What was the first concert you attended?

Oh yes! Barry White when I about 14 in Bournemouth, which was about an hour up on the coast from Bristol

sounds around with some friends…and I think my mate and I were the only two males there and all the rest were women.

What do you think it is about Bristol that has born so many talented musicians/groups?

Two things: One; the club scene isn’t very good there.

Although saying that, it’s good…but it’s not big. So all the clubs you get maybe two or three hundred hundred people. But, then again, on a Monday night, it might be Drum & Bass; on Tuesday, hip-hop; and on Wednesday, techno; Thursday, progressive…so the clubs there are very multi-cultural, with a big AfroCaribbean community. We’ve got influences from reggae and stuff like that, and I was an Indie-head – I was into Joy Division, and Depeche Mode, and New Order. . .if you listen to all the Bristol music you’ve got that cross-pollination of Dub and Indie.

How do you see the whole internet versus music industry equation? Pros and cons?

Anybody who is still fighting illegal downloading is just stupid. It’s there, it’s not going to change.

There’s not enough money in music. If you put out the new Harry Potter movie, you’ll probably get back two-billion – so you’ve got a budget there to stop it getting on the internet. If you put out the new Nick Warren single, it’s gonna make a grand or two if you’re lucky, so there’s no budget to try to keep it off the internet. Maybe U2 or Coldplay – they might have the machine to try and stop it going on the internet. But even they don’t win with it, so it’s a waste of time to think that you can control it.

Has parenthood affected the way you operate?

Yeah, I’ve got a 14-year-old daughter. It affected my life completely, but I didn’t change my lifestyle enough because I separated from my wife. I’ve learnt from that, and I’ve got a new partner now, and if we start a family I think I’ll be a lot more understanding. I do have a great relationship with my daughter and ex-wife, and it works really, really well.

When I’m home she stays with me, when I’m away she stays with her mum, so you know it’s a life-changing experience having kids.

Do you ever tire of touring? How do maintain your motivation?

Touring is easy because it’s non-stop. There are pretty much no breaks. But now I can record music on the road, whereas in the old days you’d have to be in a studio. When I make music now, I tend to start ideas, and when I’m running on gas, it’s just BANG and in one or two days I can have it nailed, and then you just have to add production values and stuff. But then there’s other times, when it’s not flowing, and I’ll have to go fishing or something.

What’s the funniest situation you’ve had to navigate as a DJ or producer?

Hmmm…well, I don’t know if this is a funny situation, but I was at this festival in Croatia, and part of the stage had collapsed while I was deejaying. One part had fallen about 30 feet through the scaffolding, and I had gotten cut up. But the DJ platform didn’t

drop and was still playing, so I scrambled back up the scaffolding, got back in there, and managed to mix the next record in before the last one was finished.

What has been your most fondly memorable gig so far – and why?

Oh yes, always Argentina. Fantastic country, love the country, love the food, love the people, all sorts of amazing landscapes, great football, and the club scene is so, so cool. It’s very late night, no one goes to the clubs until three or three-thirty, and it’s packed until nine or 10 in the morning – they just love deep, underground music.

How would you describe your latest album the Balance 18 release – compared to previous outings?

My vibe is always, well, for mix-albums. I always try to do a journey, and not be too based on the dancefloor really – because I think that the secret to creating a good compilation, is something that you can listen to in the car, in the morning, in the afternoon or at night.

So it’s very clubby, but there’s lot of melody and lots of drama and emotion, so it flows.

Do you sort of sketch it out first or does it happen as it goes along?

It’s weird – I get all these tracks from producers, and normally get sent about a thousand, and then I go through them and bring it down to about 60 or 70, and from there on I get 25, so it’s going through all those and seeing what works with what and just the vibe I’m after.

Is there anything you haven’t achieved yet that you’d still like to?

I’ve still not made my best record yet. So from everything I’ve done so far, there’s a few good ones in there… but then I’ve still not made the perfect one yet, and I hope I will do one day.

What’s your favorite footwear?

Sandals or Wellington boots…one or the other. www.djnickwarren.com

raver's review

Artist: Nick Warren Album: Balance 018 Label: Balance Music/Forced Exposure Veteran vagabond and prolific producer Bristol-boy Nick Warren returns with a double-CD selection for Australian DJ showcase outfit, Balance on their eighteenth outing – and the goods just keep getting better. As outlined in his interview with The Yak, Warren’s method for creating compilations starts out with a thousand tracks from various labels and talents, and then starts to hack away with his seasoned ears and fingers, reducing like a sculpture to a final journey of about 25 knockouts.

As intended, this organic ride is designed for all terrains; daytime, nighttime, whatevertime. With such a range talents on tap, we simply must give in to Warren’s selective choice and follow in joy as he continues to carve a path of sonic explorations and lush rhythmic architectures. Beginning softly, the album slowly prepares for lift-off with the stellar offering of Berlin by Underset.

From here the album blossoms through an array of deep

and dark dramatic valleys.

Other stand out tracks include Lank’s Ain’t No Problem and Beat Factory’s Let’s Take A Walk, but generally all of these pieces are part of a larger puzzle that only satisfies when you hear it through completion. Once again, Warren gently tears the roof off with his brand of organic-techrock, but does it so carefully that you can enjoy it over and over again.

Perhaps his recent adventures in Finland have something to do with the sound here. If not there, then the diverse valleys of Argentina, where Warren calls his second home.

To be fair, there are no boundaries at all here. Since touring the planet for so long, Warren now builds a lot of his mixes on a plane in the sky – flying from somewhere to somewhere, always in between destinations – which is where the journey lies. Brilliant adventures are ahead. www.djnickwarren.com

As with any all-star cast productions, in the studio, the movies, the stadium, expectations are high. Such is the case with this outing between musical heavy-weights Mick Jagger, Dave Stewart, Joss Stone, Damian Marley and A.R. Rahman. While this collection of talents is a deep and dizzying experiment, as with all experiments, some combinations work amazingly and some not as much.

Overall, this is a fun and adventurous album that takes you on a rollercoaster of Rock, NuWave, Reggae, Bhangra, Soul and everywhere in between.

Perhaps the victim of too many cooks at times, there is just so much talent in one studio, that each star must take turns in stepping up to shine. Having said that, there are a lot of great moments of classic interplay between true ambassadors of their own musical traditions here, where everyone is just glowing together, flowing together. It is inspiring to see Jagger and Stewart pushing the boundaries, even further at this stage in their careers, and their open-minded-hearted embrace of relative newcomers Stone, Marley and Rahman bringing something new to the table.

It is difficult to rate or rank this album due to its experimental nature. If you shed your knowledge or expectations of each artist, and pretend you don’t know them – perhaps your ears will just listen to the music – which is amazing. There is an exchange or old tricks for new tricks in places, as each of the super-heroes display their special powers, learn from each other and see which powers mix best where. Stone’s and Marley’s harmonies melt so well together as R&B and Reggae vibes so often do, while Rahman’s Hindi epics dance with Dancehall stabs – some fusions work better than others, and there is always the danger of trying to mix different recipes with the same spices, which only happens in one or two places.

One can only guess where a second album might takes things, especially with this one under their belt and a better understanding of each other in the studio. While it is always easy to fall prey to high expectations, we must salute this troupe for trying new things and expanding the realms for more experimental collaborations in the future.

You never know unless you try. www.superheavy.com

Artist: SuperHeavy Album: SuperHeavy Label: Universal Republic

astro yak

moodofthemoment

By Dr Deepak | astro-deepak@usa.net | www.astronlp.com | Skype: drdeepakvidmar

MOOD OF THE MOMENT. This is a year of sudden surprises and deep changes. Good to take responsibility for yourself and not rely upon outside agencies. It is also a time of enormous creativity. If what you are doing is not working, then do it a different way.

To do what you want to do is correct. To do what others want you to do is not. Time to be free. Time to be free from restrictions by others. Time to be free even from restrictions and habits you have imposed upon yourself. This is a time of enormous creativity and going toward something new. It is a time of empowerment. It is not a time to be safe. Be generous with yourself.

taurus Time to be happy with yourself and enjoy the life. Jupiter transit. Happens every 12 years. A lucky time that brings good fortune and desire to expand and travel the world. Paradox though. Saturn transit indicates the people around you are not as uplifting as you are. They may hold you back. The solution is to be happy enough for the two of you. gemini There comes a time when there is nowhere to go and nothing to do and you don’t know who you are or what anything is all about.

Not to worry. It is a natural process of learning to understand that all-is-one and to understand with your heart instead of your mind. It is about seeing the big picture and how we are all part-of-thewhole and brothers and sisters under the skin. cancer

The paradox is that you are the most sensitive of all the signs to the outside world and the outside world is not doing very well. There are changes going on inside yourself to make you stronger to deal with all of this. Things and people not correct for you that you are holding onto will be let go until you find your core of strength. New doors into new directions will open for you.

leo

This is a good time for you in work and relationships. It is a good time for expansion and connection to the world before you. It is a good time to spend the money to help it happen. Not to go too fast though. Keep your feet on the ground and pay attention to your base of support from which this good fortune flows. Live off the interest and don’t touch the investment. Keep your base of security strong.

sagittarius The joy is there but something is in the way. The door is open but your shoes are nailed to the floor. You would rather play but work has to be done. Good to get the work done now and prepare yourself for the near future when you are not going to feel like work at all. Be like the squirrel busy in the autumn gathering his nuts so that he can just be cozy when winter comes.

virgo

Full of energy at the right time to go travelling with. You can travel with your legs or travel with your mind but keep-on-moving should be your motto now. Follow your dream and go to those spaces from the other world that give you beauty and calmness and contentment. Restrictions on money flow will be lifted as soon as you have learned that it cannot buy you love or satisfaction.

capricorn

libra Maybe other people become more unpredictable or unreliable in your life now and they take on a sort of start-stop-here-there-thennow kind of pattern. Relationships change and you are changing and everything becomes new and fresh and creative. Time to stop caring about what other people think and okay to do your own thing. New people will be coming into your life.

aquarius

scorpio Paradox. More and more people want to be with you now, but more and more you have this feeling that you want to be alone. It is a good sign. Lonliness is missing the presence of others, which you are not. Aloneness is being with the presence of yourself. This is the deep secret you have been looking for. It is not about knowing who you are. It is about how to be present with who you are.

pisces Melt away beloved and dissolve yourself in love. May all beings be happy and all-is-one are your mottos now. The chains of the heavy material world lighten up and new dimensions are introduced to you. Logic and proper nouns become gilded cages to you and it is best to follow your intuition and feelings.

Little things don’t make sense now so that you can see the bigger picture behind.

I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes except I am. I am a Capricorn too. This is not the time to play and not the time to hold on. Nothing is wrong. It is just a device to help you find your power and to do that, any kind of crutch needs to be let go. The power you come out with from within is real. Anything from the outside that has given you power was not yours.

It is a loving time with others and you are at your charming best. Good fortune in the homelife, but perhaps demands of work deprive you from spending as much time as you would like. If things need fixing, take the opportunity to renovate and expand your space. Good idea to use your money for spiritual and artistic purposes. Your values are in this area now.

advertiser's directory

CLINIC BIMC Tel: 761263 www.bimcbali.com Page 209 Yak Map F.12 EVENT ORGANISER Pro Motion Events Tel: 287250 www.pro-motion-events.com Page 211 HEALTH, SPAS & SALONS BIMC Beauty Clinic Tel: 761263 www.bimcbali.com Page 211 Yak Map F.12 Fabulously Feet Tel: 283937 www.fabulouslyfeet.com Page 211 Prana Spa www.pranaspabali.com Page 86 Yak Map W.10 Semara Spa Tel: 8476661 www.semaraspa.com Page 157 Yak Map N.5 The Art of Body Tel: 286542 www.theartofbali.com Yak Directory The Private Spa Tel: 731648 www.privatespawellnesscentre. com Page 203 Yak Map U.11 Theta Spa Tel: 755726 www.thetaspa.com Page 41 Yak Map C.14 HOTELS & VILLAS Anantara Seminyak Tel: 737773 www.anantara.com Page 205 Yak Map P.11 Anantara Uluwatu Tel: 2145456 www.bali-uluwatu. anantara.com Page 26 Ayana Resort Tel: 702222 www.ayanaresort.com Page 107 Bali Luxury Villas Tel: 754344 www.baliluxuryvillas.com Page 23 Batu Karang Tel: (0366) 5596376 www. batukaranglembongan. com Page 140 Bidadari Private Villas & Retreat Tel: 9000401 www. bidadarivillasubudbali.com Page 171 Como Shambhala Tel: 978888

www.como.bz Page 179 Conrad Tel: 778788 www.conradbali.com Page 25 Four Seasons Resort Tel: 701010 www.fourseasons.com/ jimbaranbay Page 178 Maca Villa Tel: 739090 www.macavillas.com Page 143 Yak Map Q.4 Matahari Beach Resort Tel: (0362) 92312 www.matahari-beachresort.com Page 35 Nikko Bali Resort & Spa Tel: 773377 www.nikkobali.com Page 34 Padma Hotel Tel: 752111 www.padmaresortbali. com Page 57 Yak Map R.14 Pan Pacific Tel: 815900 www.panfacific.com Page 24 Plataran Bali Tel: 411388 www.plataranbali.com Page 150 Semara Uluwatu Tel: 8482111 www.semarauluwatu.com Back Inside Cover Semara Resort Tel: 8476661 www.semararesorts.com Page 157 Yak Map N.5 Sentosa Tel: 730333 www.balisentosa.com Page 14-15 Yak Map O.6 St Regis Tel: 8478111 www.stregis.com/bali Page 141 The Bale Tel: 775111 www.thebale.com Page 20 The Haven Tel: 738001 www.thehavenbali.com Page 173 Yak Map V.1 The 101 Legian Tel: 3001101 www.the101bali.com Page 116 Yak Map D.12 The Laguna Tel: 771327 www.luxurycollection. com/bali Page 55

Tugu www.tuguhotels.com Page 35 Uma Ubud Bali Tel: 972448

www.como.bz Page 151 Villa Kubu www.villakubu.com.

Page 151 Yak Map W.12 W Retreat & spa Tel: 4738106 www.whotels.com/ baliseminyak Page 30 Yak Map O.4 MEDIA / PRINTING Island Communications Tel: 282010 www.icommbali.com Page 211 Mango Vision www.mangovision.tv Page 207 The Bud Magazine www.theyakmag.com Page 87 Yak Map M.1 Indonesia Printer Tel: 021 6618501 www.indonesiaprinter. co.id Page 157 MISCELLANEOUS Bali Spirit Festival www.balispiritfestival.com Page 202 Bali Cleaning Service Tel: 7803587 www.balicleaningclinic. com Page Yak Directory Behind Bars Tel: 08123828024 E: yos@behindbarsbali.com Page 209 Bespoke Tel: 9003025 www.bespoke-bali.com Page 179 Betelnut Tel: 971426 www.decko.com Page 167 Eco Bali Tel: 7907314/9003344 www.eco-bali.com Page Yak Directory Evo Tel: 730333 www.balisentosa.com Page 14-15 Yak Map O.6 Heineken Page 172 Kinetic Studio www.kinetic-studioindonesia.com Page 96 Rim Cargo Tel: 737670 www.rimcargo.com Page 150 Yak Map T.8

PROPERTY Elite Havens Tel: 731074 /738747 www.elitehavens.com Page 1 Yak Map P.8

RECREATION Canggu Club Tel: 8446385 www.cangguclub.com Page 36 Yak Map N.1 Cubby House Kid’s Club Tel: 8476661 www.cubbyhousekidsclub. com Page Yak Directory Yak Map N.5 GALLERY The Gallery Tel: 731738 contact@thegallerybali. com Page 202 Yak Map W.7 RESTAURANTS & BARS Biku Bali Tel: 8570888 www.bikubali.com Page 185 Yak Map O.5 Cafe Bali Tel: 736484 thecafebali@yahoo.com Page 185 Yak Map Q.7 Cocoon Beach Club Telp: 731266 www.cocoon-beach.com Page 22 Yak Map Q.13 Hu’u Restaurant, Club & Bar Tel: 4736443 www.huubali.com Page 10-11 Yak Map N.6 Khaima Tel: 735171 www.khaimabali.com Page 173 Yak Map Q.8 Ku De Ta Tel: 736969 www.kudeta.net Page 3 Yak Map N.8 Lilin Tel: 4737979 www.ptthead.com Page 29 Yak Map N.5 Ma Joly Tel: 753780 www.ma-joly.com Page 32 Yak Map C.14 Mozaic Tel: 975768 www.mozaic-bali.com Page 31 Queen’s Tandoor Tel: 765988, 732770, 771344 www.bali.queenstandoor. com Page 202 Yak Map D.14, U.10 Sarong Tel: 737809 www.sarongbali.com Page 156 Yak Map P.4 Sea Circus Tel: 738667 www.seacircus-bali.com Page Yak Directory Yak Map N.7 Sip Sunset Bar Tel: 8475830-31 www.sip-bali.com Page 117 Yak Map Y.9

SOS Supper Club Tel: 737773 www.SOSaSUPPERCLUB. com Page 205 Yak Map P.11 Sticky Fingers Tel: 8090903 www.stickyfingersbali.com Page Yak Directory Yak Map O.1 Taman Wantilan Tel: 701010 ext 8223 www.fourseasons.com/ jimbaranbay Page 203 The Junction Tel: 735610 Page 142 Yak Map Q.7 The Shore Tel: 773377 www.nikkobali.com Page 34 Wah Tel:0818349809 www.wahburger.com Page 178 Yak MapN.8 Warisan Restaurant Tel: 731175, 7492796 www.warisanrestaurant. com Page 38 Yak Map U.4 Warung Mie Tel: 701010 ext 8105 www.fourseasons.com/ jimbaranbay Page 178 SHOPS Alabaster Tel: 769007 www.alabasterlightingbali.com Page 156 Yak Map F.11 Animale Tel: 737154 E:info@animale.com Page 16-17 Yak Map Q.8 Aum Rudraksha Tel: 7420937 info@aumrudraksha.com Page 209 Baik www.baik.it Page 49 Yak Map T.8 Bamboo Blonde Page 39 Yak Map S.8, U.11 Bali Liquor Store Tel: 737132 www.bbcwines.com Page 2 Yak Map Z.11 Beach Gold Tel: 737549 wwwbeachgoldbali.com Page 51 Yak Map S.8 Biasa Tel: 730308, 8878002, 0217182322 www.biasabali.com Page 8-9 Yak Map V.12 Body & Soul www. bodyandsoulclothing.com Page 37 Yak Map V.13, V.14 Carlo Tel: 285211

www.carloshowroom.com Page 21 DeLighting Tel: 420512, 7447041 www.de-lighting.com Page 33 Yak Map T.8, V.10 Deus Ex Machina Telp: 3683395, 735047 www.deus.co.id Page 12-13 Yak Map O.8 Farah Khan Tel: 4731789, 736612 ext 7711 www.farahkhan.com Front Inside Cover Yak Map O.4, N.8 Havaianas Page 43 Yak Map W.9 Hatten Wines Tel: 767422 www.hattenwines.com Page 142 Yak Map F.12 Lily Jean www.lily-jean.com Page 158 Yak Map V.11 Milo’s Tel: 8222008, 731689, 735551 www.milos-bali com Page 28 Yak Map O.8 Namu Tel: 2797524 www.namustore.com Page 47 Yak Map O.5 Nico Perez Tel: 738655 www.nicoperez.co Page 6-7 Yak Map S.8 Paul Ropp Tel: 734208, 731002, 701202 www.paulropp.com Back cover Yak Map T.8 Piment Rouge Tel: 8476118/19 www.pimentrougelighting. com Page 97 Yak Map U.8 Platform 18/27 Tel: 738746 E:info@platform1827.com Page 156 Yak Map U.8 Periplus www.periplus.co.id Page 207 Yak Map F.13/P.7 Puravida www.puravidafashion.com Page 45 Yak Map U.12 Quarzia Tel: 736644 www.quarzia.it Page 53 Yak Map O.8 SKS www.sksbali.com Page 18-19 Yak Map T.8 Sunbrella Tel: (021)52897393 www.sunbrella.com Page 140 Warisan Furniture Tel: 701081, 730048 E:casa@warisan.com / living@warisan.com Page 27 Yak Map W.1