there is a purpose to your plate
Most of the ingredients I use are inspired by the tastes of my childhood; the dishes that my parents taught me to make as a kid. I love to combine all of this cooking knowledge with the finest culinary techniques and a modern approach to presentation.
We develop creative, plant-based menus that centre on local products. We also reduce waste by developing recipes that maximise all parts of the produce, such as making Kombucha from pineapple skin, leftover coffee ground, and banana skin, or making our house-made “umami” from leftover herbs and spices. Our smoked vegetable dashi is made using all vegetables, bringing in a umami taste, and our most successful of all meat and protein sauces is garum — which we make from fishbones and poultry using a traditional fermentation process.
The first is Pepes Jamur — a classic dish made from mushrooms. In Buahan, the rainy season is the best time to harvest wild mushrooms. Inspired by Pepes Jamur, we have developed a recipe that preserves our mushrooms, which are treated as premium ingredients on par with any protein in Buahan. The best way is to cook them straight after harvest, preserving them to enrich the taste and flavour. Some of our favourite mushroom recipes are XO Mushroom, Pickle Mushroom, Mushroom Garum, Umami Mushroom, and Mushroom Chawanmushi. Another favourite is coconut, the most important source of ingredients in Bali, also used in ceremonies. We use every part of the coconut for a wide variety of cooking purposes: the milk, oil, fresh young coconut, coconut yoghurt, coconut kefir, coconut ceviche, and, of course, coconut custard from coconut oil reduction. Have you tasted coconut custard yet? It’s so delicious!
We grow mostly local vegetables, along with spices and herbs that we use daily for seasoning, to enhance the fragrance and aromas of our food. We also grow native fruits and rare plants that were almost lost and forgotten, such as Trijata, Kelor, Kasa Kasa, and many more. What we grow on our farm is representative of the local ingredients that you can find everywhere in Buahan — we try to emphasise all local ingredients and develop high-quality wild, organic, and native plants. We also work with different farmers around Buahan to provide us with ingredients, like local fruits, vegetables and mushrooms. Most of our local farms are very close to Buahan. We also love to go on foraging expeditions, showcasing the tastes and aromas of native plants. Almost 80% of our ingredients are immune boosters, and we like to add garnishes to our dishes, not just so they look beautiful, but to also add more purpose to the plate with different tastes, flavours, and textures. Our welcome drink, Tambe Piduh, is made from Pegagan Leaf (Centella Asiatica), which the guests love. A powerful plant, it can be made into a cocktail or mocktail using a slow infusion technique that retains all the nutrients. We do the same with Moringa, creating experiences for the guests by developing different sugar and dairy-free elixirs, like Moringa soup, lattes, and ice cream.
Many ancient cooking techniques can be easily incorporated into home kitchens to enhance flavors and make the most of fresh ingredients. Fermentation, for example, is a simple way to develop deeper, more complex flavors—try fermenting vegetables like cabbage for homemade kimchi or making your own yogurt. Slow cooking is another excellent method to preserve nutrients while bringing out the best in ingredients; a slow-simmered broth or stew allows flavors to fully develop without losing their natural character. Aging ingredients with herbs and spices, such as dry-aging meats or infusing oils, can add depth and aroma to everyday cooking. Smoking, even with a simple stovetop smoker or tea-smoking method, can elevate the taste of proteins and vegetables. Lastly, dehydrating is a great way to preserve food at home—whether drying herbs for seasoning, making fruit chips, or even creating homemade spice blends. These time-honored techniques allow you to experiment with flavors while reducing waste and making the most of nature’s bounty.
Braised local beans create an explosion of flavours in your mouth when combined with our in-house miso, cashew, and fermented soya bean. To elevate the taste further, we add a hint of smokiness by grating cured duck egg yolk on top. This dish is inspired by the way Balinese people use the most important ingredients on offer, bountifully grown in Buahan, and we present it with a fun and refined twist, taking risotto as our inspiration for bringing in modern presentation styles.
It was initially a lot of trial and error, especially since we are working extensively with plants and fruits. We need to pamper them, take care of them, and to treat them the same as one would their loved ones. We experiment with many techniques until we get the right recipe. On the other hand, our team still researches and develops new recipes with different ingredients, a lot of which are seasonal. We believe that if we commit, take care of, respect, and believe in what we are doing and the ingredients we use, then everything can be wonderful. While trials can lead to failures, if you work as a team, never stop, and always love to research and develop something new, then we believe that everything is possible.
Sustainable cuisine for me is the future cuisine. We need to develop this thinking all over the world: being community-minded and learning together to achieve the same goal of reducing our carbon footprint. The fun part, for me, is always emphasising high-quality, local products for our guests to experience, while also creating value for the community, and keeping the nature and environment intact for future generations. We are not only taking but we are also giving back to nature.
We partner mostly with the local community and 70% of our ingredients come from our collaborations within the Buahan village farm area — like vegetables, fruits, spices, grains, freshwater prawns, palm sugar, honey, poultry, and pigs. The rest of the produce is responsibly sourced from around Bali, within a maximum distance of 70 km from Buahan.
