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| more tales of buildings and food | |||
| :: career |
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The Complex Simplicity of The name Bulgari has been a style setter for over one hundred years in making jewelery and luxury designer goods. The family run business is one of the few truly global designer brands. Bulgari Milano, the first hotel by the group, opened its doors in 2004, which marked a new direction for the luxury goods label, and as Francesco Trapani, Chief Executive Officer of the Bulgari group, summed up at the opening of the Bulgari Resort, Bali in September, “I believe that this magnificent resort with its extraordinary location perfectly mirrors and applies to hospitality our concepts of design, elegance and contemporary luxury. It will offer our guests a complete Bulgari lifestyle experience while further underlining the innovative spirit and prestige of the brand all over the world”. Il Ristorante at the Bulgari Resort on the south coast of Bali’s Bukit area could only be described as a destination restaurant. It would be hard to describe it as anything else being up the hill and far away from Seminyak and the rest of Bali and overlooking a solitary Indian Ocean to the south. It’s a long drive from town, but as they say in the classics and most probably, the Italian classics, “It’s well worth the trip.” Another reason it should be called a destination restaurant is the young Chef de Cuisine overseeing culinary activities in the kitchen, Michele Dell’Aqulia. The almost thirty year old from southern Italy has worked in some of the finest restaurants around the world, including learning his trade at Sorrento Italy’s Don Alfonso 1890 restaurant, working with famed chef Sergi Arola at La Broche in Madrid and most recently, the spectacular La Mezzaluna restaurant, on the sixty-fifth storey of The Dome in Bangkok. He’s an impressive chef with an impressive list of tenures and he’s made a menu at Il Ristorante that could well surpass all before it on this island in its complex simplicity. Now, how could the words simple and complex be strung together in any phrase, I hear you ask? “Where I first learnt to cook, at Don Alfonso 1890, they used a slow style cooking method, which was very organic and the taste was exceptional,” says the enthusiastic Italian chef. “I have used this concept ever since and now combined with other nouveau styles of cooking I have found in kitchens since, I serve complex tastes and presentations with the original ingredients, but with the use of simple home style cooking methods. This for me is Complex Simplicity,” explains Michele. The resort is operated by Bulgari Hotels under the umbrella of the Marriott Hotels and Resorts group. The management at Bulgari is also a who’s who of the international hotelier world and they all had a part in Il Ristorante. Cora Stuart, Director of Sales and Marketing at Bulgari, says that the concept of the restaurant was discussed and refined by a select group of three who came together at the inception of the Bulgari Resort, Bali with the aid of a certain Senor Silvio Ursini, the creative director of Bulgari from Italy. “The GM, Robert Lagerwey, the Executive Chef, Andrew Skinner, and I looked for the staff and implemented the concept of Il Ristorante with the aid of Senor Ursini,” says the Singaporean marketing chief. “Michele came to Bali for an interview and cooked for us. After tasting the food, Chef Andrew Skinner was convinced that Michele was the perfect chef for Il Ristorante. Michele then went to Italy to cook for Senor Ursini and he also agreed.” Michele enjoys the challenge of being the chef at one of Bali’s finer restaurants. “Here we have 36 seats, which makes it very intimate,” he says in his rich Italian accent. “The last restaurant I worked in, in Bangkok, we would seat up to six hundred people in one day so for me it’s wonderful to be able to have the intimacy with the guests.” He enjoys the closeness because he can find instant rapport and gratification with the guests. “Sometimes I have the chance to cook a special degustation menu. I speak to the diners at the beginning and find out what they would like, and then present them an amazing meal from the ingredients I have in the kitchen. This, for me, is always the best for any chef and restaurant guest.” The design and feel of the restaurant is relaxed. They don’t appear to want a stuffy or stiff restaurant and the staff are confident and in turn make the diner feel at ease. The music played is a modern mix of chilled tunes, and nothing stuffy is to be found there either. Black is the central theme with light colored curtains between tables that can be pulled across to create separate spaces for shier diners or those demanding more intimacy. Tall stemmed glasses, Bulgari silver cutlery and Italian crockery by Richard Ginori are other classic touches, while the teak tables and chairs, designed by Italian architect Antonio Citterio, create a solid platform for dining. The architectural style of Bulgari Resort, Bali is romanic and sophisticated and the space of Il Ristorante, while not being overly large, still has the same austere refinedness of the Roman Citadel found in the entire resort, but likewise, with Balinese influences such as the two Bale fashioned, dark timber dining areas and surrounding water ponds. The circular flower sculpture created by Thai sculptor Sakul Intakul, made from timber and metal, separates the two dining areas and also incorporates a local Balinese theme of the struggle between good and evil. The experience at Il Ristorante is intimate, contemporary, stylish, and expensive. Prices are not for the light hearted and it wouldn’t be the place to dine every night of the week for many unless, of course, they are parking one’s Maserati out front, but it does have a wonderful and extremely well conceived menu. The wine list too, prepared by Eric Guth, Director of Food and Beverage, is nothing short of outstanding with an excellent choice of wines from Italy, France and the new wine world – some only available in the Bulgari. IL Ristorante |
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