Mozaic — Restaurant in Pulau Bali

We were a party of three. Two of us are regulars, been there many times, totally love Mozaic, but not anymore. A friend is trying for the first time. Honestly, very very disappointed with the new "reopening menu". We knew there is a change in menu and chef, but wasn't expecting it to be this bad.

First course: Blue swimmers crab paired with the pomelo and ginger was so wrong. All we could taste was so much bitterness from the pomelo and the spiciness from the ginger. It overkilled the taste from the crab that we literally could not taste the crab at all. Wrong ingredient mix and proportion. When preparing seafood, never overkill the taste of the seafood with other toppings. The worst was this orange jelly-like sauce on the side that totally tasted so fishy! We had to down our cocktail drink to cleanse the palate. And that bad taste lingered on for the remaining dishes that we would hardly enjoy the entire meal.

Second Course: Kingsfisher Ham hardened in liquid nitrogen! Totally removed the taste of ham and tasted bland like a piece of cracker. Had to soak the hardened ham into some spicy Sichuan broth to give it some sanity bu I don't see the point. This dish has no meaning at all.

Third Course: Seared Foie Gras paired with eel??? Foie gras by itself is such a strong dish, why would you pair it with eel? The eel can be a course by itself. Both foie gras and eel were very well cooked though. On the mark! But don't put both combination on the same plate. Sauce used for foie gras was wrong. Tasted like teritaki sauce. Should have been a fruit sauce like apple or cranberry.

Fourth Course: Main dish. I had Ocean Trout, my friends had beef. We swopped from the original dish of lamb. What was disappointing was the chef did not make an effort to change ANY of the ingredients originally planned for the lamb. The SAME ingredient mix and garnishings were used on our fish and beef! Isn't this no different from a factory production where everything tastes the same regardless of whether you're having fish, beef or lamb. How the fish should be prepared can't be the same as the preparation for beef or the lamb!

Fifth Course: Sorbet Cleanser. Can't remember what was in there. How wrong can you go with sorbet cleanser and I bet you it wasn't memorable.

Last Course: Dessert of chocolate cake coated in green from the outside but with fennel vegetables on top???!!! This was the last straw for us. We had resigned to fate that every dish wad just going to keep getting worse.

Petit Fours: And we thought, finally, we can eat something "safe". How wrong can one go with chocolates. But OMG! The first one was SO salty as if they poured the whole bottle of salt into the filing of the chocolate. The second piece was a sweet jelly that luckily took that painful salty experience away. The third and fourth, we only took a 1/4 bite of each and left them untouched. You be the judge.....

At this point, we were speechless. Disappointment is an understatement. We were such fans of Mozaic and were looking forward to this reopening.

Everything from the enclosed aircon room (we loved the previous open air garden) to the huge dining chairs (that weren't comfortable for leaning back at all) were all so wrong.

We love fine dining. We went to Nusantara and The Sayan House days after. So so much better....

Sadly, I don't think we'll ever come back to what used to be our...

In our many visits to Bali we have never had bad food. So going to Mozaic with all its online praise claiming for it to be a special treat even in the competitive market was an exciting proposition.

Upon arrival staff seems surprised to have interested diners and triple checked that a hefty dinner price is good to go before leading our group to an indoor overly air conditioned space, a room filled with vacant tables where everything seems to lack a loving touch from the elevator music from the 90s to Marriott style interior choices. Chef(s) seem to have abandoned their kitchen a while ago or their taste buds have aged with the 20 year history of the place. Most of the dishes were unpleasant and overly packed with techniques. Overall, the cook was trying to show off his ability to create jelly (featured in most dishes) and dated techniques such as nitrogen food baths. After a huge presentation, the frozen nitrogen fish was unpleasant especially matched with salty broth that lacked depth in taste. Black caviar was a waste matched with a strange jelly (again!) beetroot fish dish. The main course lamb was edible yet over complicated with marinated pumpkin and mushrooms at the same time and featured unnecessary show off foam. Foie Gras was present throughout the evening and well made from a technical perspective yet again matched with sour droplets that took away from the meat instead of adding a touch that might have been intended by its creator. Drinks were offered in the beginning but once both our cocktail and water glasses dried out, the staff never offered another.

Restaurant claims to have local foods and even showcases a platter of local ingredients on each table. Yet, all the tastable ingredients and techniques have nothing to do with Bali.

Could it be that this is an old restaurant struggling to stay relevant in a dynamic food market filled with extraordinary culinary talent? Could it be that the chef(s) or owners are forgetting about this old business? Could it be that its main audience is older client staying at a resort looking for a splurge? Could it be.. that this place has lost inspiration that maybe was once there?

Regardless, I'm happy we went. We now have plenty of stories about a fine dining experience going so...

Truly fantastic experience, one I could say the best I've been in Bali!

It's a fine dining yet the atmosphere is exceptionally warm. I really enjoyed the lush garden, very Ubud. They have few areas which purposes are differ. The dining room is neat and modern, but aside from that room everything else is done in a mixture of modern and Ubud style.

We were greeted at the entrance and showed the menu. I was with a friend and we chose the "Seasonal Set Menu". At the time of our visit there were only 2 menu options, the other one would be the all vegetarian. since we have chosen our menu, staff asked where do we want to be seated for a tapas, which you get for getting the set menu. We decided to sit on the bar upfront and ordered our cocktails. It's a full bar and they have very interesting home-mixes!

One of the PR staff then took us walk around the venue, on to the lush garden, over the dining room even passed the kitchen to see their workshop room. So green and nice.

Dinner was something else. I rarely said this, but their food has successfully made my tounge dance! With every bite of each menu! - at the beginning of dining, they presented a bowl of veggies and herbs and some fruits which apparently are the ingredients used on each dishes. Staff were all well informed and not at all shy to explain them.

As I said on the start of this review that the atmosphere is warm. Added to that the chef, who is a fantastic fun person, presented at least two of the menus on our set menu we met him again after dinner at the bar where we see 3 other couples who were just finished their food and decided to have a drink at the bar. Blake Thornley, the chef, introduced us all and we ended up having a great conversation. That's how warm the place is!

For anyone visiting Ubud and looking for the best dining experience, I could not recommend this place more. Please come!

**reservations are needed (I think). Tables are not that many though so...