After having tested the two restaurants of the W Bali where I stayed I followed the advice of a friend living there to go to dinner in town. So we went to Mauri, a restaurant located just outside the W and you’ll see that’s not its only interest.
In this article:
- The concept of Mauri
- The setting
- The menu at Mauri
- The meal and the dishes
- The service
- The atmosphere of the Mauri
- Bottom line
The concept of Mauri
Mauri is an Italian restaurant that offers refined and contemporary cuisine. A large part of the ingredients are produced “in house” in the hydroponic garden located on the roof of the restaurant and for the rest the restaurant is mainly supplied directly from Balinese farmers.
The chef, Maurizio Bombini started his career in Italy before moving to France, USA, China and Indonesia where he settled in 2010.
Before opening his own restaurant, he managed the kitchens of the prestigious Bulgari Resort in Bali for 4 years.
The setting
The Mauri is composed of a room of about forty covers. The tables are well spaced for the comfort of the guests.
The whole looks warm and authentic.
But the most interesting thing about Mauri is its open kitchen, which also has a counter where we dined while watching the brigade work under the chef’s orders.
The menu at Mauri
The menu is very simple, which is usually a guarantee of fresh products!
But the restaurant also offers a tasting menu and a tasting and discovery menu. We will choose the first one.
The meal and the dishes
We begin by a nice amuse bouche to get started.
After a beautiful series we return in the heart of the subject.
We start with the tuna
It is very fresh and balanced. You can smell the fennel and surprisingly the olive powder also brings a lot to the dish.
Then the Parmesan ravioli.
The pasta is perfectly cooked and the cheese (parmesan) aged 24 months delicious. The most surprising thing is how it matches with the onion consommé that accompanies it.
And then the chef makes us a surprise and offers us a risotto with parmesan and wagyu beef cheek.
It is good and I am surprised by the cheek which has a very nice consistency, neither fat nor flabby.
Followed by the pizzaiola cod.
The sauce resembles a fish soup in emulsion. Unusual! The fish is covered with a veil of tomato. It is very fine, it melts under the tongue and the whole smells really fish and sea.
I would not hesitate to add to all this the optional dish: the wagyu beef tenderloin.
Excellently presented it was as good as beautiful to look at.
And to finish the Tiramisu whose qualities I had been praised. Its preparation is a small ceremony performed in front of the customer.
Here’s what it looks like on video:
And in the plate!
Definitely one of the best tiramisu I’ve ever tasted, if not the best! A lot of taste and what a finesse!
Some small cakes before leaving…
What to say after this meal? A real delight. Everything is perfectly cooked and balanced and the ingredients are of high quality. Perhaps I would have liked slightly more copious plates but for the rest it is perfect. And very good mention for the presentation of the dishes in itself.
I also really appreciated the originality of the dishes which was real without however overplaying the card of creativity in which many restaurants lose themselves instead of doing simple.
The service
Here we must distinguish two things.
First of all, the service itself was very good without a single mistake. This is notable because in Asia and Indonesia sometimes the great kindness of the staff can struggle to overcome a certain lack of seniority and training.
Then there is the show in the kitchen which impressed me since I had the chance to be installed at the counter.
I was surprised at how methodical and under control everything was even at the time of the shooting. No mess, everything is in its place, everyone knows what to do. Impressive calm and mastery.
The atmosphere of the Mauri
Neither noisy nor overly muffled, a quiet setting that allows you to enjoy your food in peace. A calm that is not even disturbed by the open kitchen, as the ballet that takes place there seems to have been perfected.
Bottom line
A really nice surprise. A beautiful setting, a delicious and well-presented menu, excellent service and the chef who made a few visits to our table.
