Apéritif Restaurant - Fine Dining in Ubud, Bali — Restaurant in Pulau Bali

Upon booking our butler at the Ritz Mandapa clearly advised on allergies, stating one guest is allergic to whole seeds of any kind but crushed seed or oil is OK. I also advised that I have an allergy to shellfish and thus do not eat any seafood out of choice.

This was repeated again as we were sitting at the Aperitif bar and our names were written down so we thought this was being taken seriously as they noted the allergies.

Regarding the seed allergy it is Diverticulitis which means he has small pouches or pockets on the inside of his intestines if he consumes seeds they can get stuck in these pockets in the walls of his intestines and can take days to pass. Meaning hospitalisation for around 5 days and morphine and pethidine are required to treat the pain as it is so severe until the seeds pass.

Dinner started great but then with the pumpkin course his salad came with pumpkin seeds, which were on top and very obvious, which he pointed out again to the staff his allergy and instead of making a new one they just simply removed the seeds with tongs which was surprising. We were certain now this being the third time they were told it would be adhered too.

Another two courses and our guest with the seed allergy was served whole coriander seeds in his food which were hidden under a foam and not obvious at all.. When we pointed this out to the waiter and asked if it contained seeds, he came back and told us NO, NO it is OK it is coconut husk or something. We argued that it was seeds and took one out with our fingers and had to place it on the white menu to show him that it was a seed, which he then took over to the kitchen.

At this point four people including the head chef were looking at the seed and discussing the matter and I had to get up from the table and ask point blank was there seeds in his food or not, knowing the urgency of the situation. They admitted that yes it had coriander seeds and the girl told the chef that he is allergic to whole seeds but whole coriander seeds are ok. Which makes absolutely NO sense.

It is just beyond unacceptable. Three times Aperitif failed to comply with our allergy notifications!

A restaurant and chef of this caliber being told a guest has an allergy to whole seeds and then being told by some stupid girl that apparently coriander seeds are OK (???) The chef should have questioned this or made sure and clarify what the allergy is directly.

Our guest immediately went to the bathroom after I told him that it did indeed contain seeds to induce vomiting and vomited several times to try and remove the seeds before they went down into his intestines. He had stomach pains and was dizzy and returned immediately to the hotel where he was continually being sick till around 2am.

The next day his stomach and throat were raw and he did not eat and was very weak. Luckily he removed the seeds with the induced vomiting and today is just weak.

If he had not immediately vomited or realized that the food had seeds he would have been admitted to hospital last night and had serious issues for the next week ruining a holiday.

Our evening was obviously spoilt and I was very nervous and just wanted to get back to the hotel but was doing my best not to ruin our guests dinner.

On the next day around 1pm I then emailed Aperitif and the GM of the hotel and was very surprised they had not bothered to email me to follow up and see how he was and what had happened and was he indeed hospitalised. My email was answered within 15 minutes though.

We were a group of 5 people and the remaining 4 guests got up to leave before the last couple of courses as we needed to return to our hotel as our friend was still vomiting and not good.

We did not offer to pay for the meal or drinks and we were not presented with a bill. It is so disappointing that a place of this level could not follow simple instructions that were repeated a minimum of three times and this could have led to a person being hospitalised and in severe...

Aperitif is the top fine dining experience in Bali. Every part of the experience is truly five star, with exquisite attention to detail. This was our second time dining here and I have to say it has gotten even better.

The restaurant and bar are located in the Viceroy hotel, a 5 star hotel with a sort of modern colonial era theme. Upon arrival, you are seated in the bar area for a drink and some snacks. The bar bears a slight resemblance to the infoamous Long Bar at the Raffles Singapore, just a bit tidier. There is a full size billiards table and well stocked cigar lounge, if that is your thing.

The more impressive part of the bar were the mocktails. As a non-drinker, a cocktail bar can often be an underwhelming experience. Not this time! Both of the mocktails included with the signature menu were easily the two best mocktails I've ever tried. You genuinely felt like you were drinking a real cocktail. The foam on top added something remarkable to the mocktail experience.

Drinks are served with 3 snacks. These were a potato leaf fish tartare, a martino filo pastry, and a charcoal puff with smoked mackarel cream. The presentation was beautiful and all 3 were divine.

We were then escorted to the main dining room which was quiet when we arrived but got progressively busier as the night wore on. The restaurant has a lovely black and white tile floor. As someone who unfortunately has black tiles at home, I know how quickly dust shows up on them. At Aperitif these were spotless - they must clean them every day.

You have a full view into the open kitchen from the restaurant, so you can see and hear the kitchen team at work. The service staff were extremely well drilled, yet also friendly and engaging at the right time - managing the balance perfectly. Drinks were always topped up.

We opted for the signature menu, sans caviar. Five of the dishes here comfortably make my top 10 dishes of all time. The others would be in the top 20. I don't say this lightly, but this was the best meal of my life. I say that as someone who is fortunate enough to have frequented many top restaurants around the world, including those with multiple Michelin stars.

Why the extreme praise? The combination of flavors in the dishes were masterful. Several times I had a slight tear in my eye from just how brilliant these dishes were. Particularly the Heirloom tomato - that genuinely felt like I was tasting a brand new flavor.

Their signature dish, and one that remains on the menu 3 years later, is the Venison Wellington. Cooked medium rare to perfection, the pastry complements this meat so well. The Rendang sauce pairs perfectly with it.

Sometimes in these places you get one or two great dishes, a number of okay ones, and one or two poor ones. The "worst" dish here would still fall under the great category in my book. That level of consistency is a rareity and the chef has done an increidble job putting this menu together.

There are a few supplements on the menu. I'm glad we opted for the Black Winter Truffle Pasta. It has accompanied by Albufera sauce - I had to look that up but it was magical.

The bread tray was another welcomed surprise. There were three types of bread and three types of butter, including a sourdough butter (yes you read that right). It was difficult to decide if this or the truffle butter was the winner. The waitress offered me a full second serving of bread, which I gladly accepted. The only negative thing I can say about our entire 3 hour experience here was that in the second round of bread, the butter was served too hard. I'm REALLY nit-picking here.

The dessert courses were phenomnial too. The sensionation white dish was my personal favorite. Dinner was finsihed off with a wonderful selection of Petit Fours.

Pricing wise, it's not cheap. But this is exceptionally good value when compared to anything remotely equivilant back in Europe. This was the best dining experience of my...

A very disappointed experience, that made me doubt about the credibility of the comments I read here before booking.

We love the kind of restaurants that have degustation menus, to have a different gastronomic experience, and it was what we were expecting from our dinner in Aperitif, therefore I booked a table to take my boyfriend for a “good gastronomic experience” for his birthday, but it was very far from that, why? When I made the booking, I chose the Prestige Menu, when we arrived there, in the prestige menu there were more plates that if you wanted them you had to pay extra. If a dish is not included in this menu, it should be in a la carte menu. We felt tricked here. The lack of taste and quality distinction for me was the worst, there is not a single dish that we said wow! Everything taste boring, we were expecting more creativity and taste. Except for the Wagyu that the quality was exceptional. The portions are ridiculously small, and of course I was not waiting for big portions, as this is the interesting part of a gastronomic menu; that you experience different dishes and flavors, but believe me, they were tiny and the lack of taste is what makes it even smaller. After leaving the restaurant I had to look for something to eat, but all restaurants were closed, so I went to bed hangry, which is the worst feeling a restaurant can leave on a client. They asked all the time if you want more bread, we had the feeling, they want to fill you up with bread. At the end you get around 8 sweets, which makes it feel like you are in a kind of bakery, or that you got the rest from a buffet, as especially the last chocolates (around 7) you get all them together and on a plate, they even put some to take away, it was just too much. It would be better less and more quality, and more salty dishes instead of sooo many sweets, even we love sweets, we went there to have dinner, not to make as sick with sweets, as they did. Today my boyfriend is sick, because as we were still hangry we ate more sweets than usual. The staff is very professional, but the service was no in the level of a restaurant that supposedly won the awards for “the best restaurant “ in Indonesia. Our food starting coming without being asked before what we wanted to drink. The cocktails arrived with the 3rd dish… we were offered bread after the second dish, and normally it should be the first thing that comes. We paid 5.000.000 rupiahs (300 EUR) for the same or less money we have had amazing culinary experiences in Geneva, Barcelona, Madrid, Singapore, Ibiza, Paris… in restaurants like Fonda España (from Berasategi), Estimar (from Rafa Zafra), Bullí (from Ferra Adria), Estragon, Heart Ibiza…

In their favor I would like to say that the place is very nice and it makes you feel like you will have a good gastronomic experience and the staff is professional and kind, they light up a candle for my boyfriend with a small dessert, it was very nice. Here I’m just judging the food, quality, quantity and price.

Until now we have been eating incredibly well in Bali, in beautiful places, incredible food, extraordinary service and great quality, it’s a perfect place for 2 foodies like us, therefore I think, with all great restaurants here, there is a lot to improve in this restaurant. I definitely don’t recommend it if you want to have a good culinary experience, if you just care about how the place looks then it’s ok. We left with a big disappointment and...