Ku De Ta

Photos by Christopher Leggett

Ku De Ta is one of the most relaxing and sophisticated spots I’ve ever visited in my life.

To get there you have to drive out of the busy, tourist-laden streets and western hotels, through back streets and open suburbs, littered with shacks - basically the epitome of modern-day populated Bali, but once you get to Ku De Ta you’re transported into another world.

Nestled right on the beachfront, the bar-cum-restaurant-cum-quasi-hotel-by-the-sea is a home away from home for many seasoned travelers visiting Bali. Away from the crowded pools and bars of most of Bali’s hotels, Ku De Ta offers a slick and relatively high-end oasis for discerning guests.

The restaurant is best experienced at night, when the in-house DJ is playing and the waves are gently crashing on the sand only 30m away. The experience of dining is as fine as you’ll find anywhere on the island, and indeed better than most of your own local hangouts back home. Silver service all the way, but in a cool, refined manner.

The restaurant is laid out so it nestles in between two large bars, and in between the ‘U’ shape that the bars and restaurants make is a large grass areas allowing you an unobstructed view of the ocean.

Closer to the beach is a small area where tapas are served, and the short walk from entry to table somehow creates yet another world of its own: one for more relaxed dining and a younger clientele.

The huge double loungers that look straight onto the beach are perfect for Ku De Ta’s chic daytime clients, and this is where you’ll find the most dreamy drink in the world (in my girlfriend’s opinion, anyway) watermelon gin.

If you go to Bali you can’t not go to Ku De Ta. You’ll never want to leave.

Ku De Ta, http://www.kudeta.net/