Clay Craft embodies fun dining, with great food and special touches that make all the difference.
Gone are the days when eating out only meant looking for good food out of the comfort of your home. Ever since its opening day, Clay Craft at Renaissance Bali Uluwatu Resort & Spa has offered a complete package of memorable dining experiences, comprising a relaxed atmosphere where the staff are professional and as good as friends, the views are picturesquely unrivalled and most importantly, the food is hearty and scrumptious.
As the moniker implies, the restaurant is built around a chic clay studio – with real pottery wheels and kiln, the final products of which are displayed on a shelf that doubles as one of the restaurant’s focal points. Ceramic plates and tableware are not the only eye-catching elements at Clay Craft, as three island kitchens are sprawled along the restaurant, showing the skilful chefs doing their magic.
At the helm is Renaissance Bali Uluwatu Resort & Spa’s Executive Chef Christopher Smith, a culinary man known for his easygoing and cheeky approach, with some serious skills in the kitchen.
“Clay Craft is officially an international all-day dining restaurant. The whole design and concept revolve around the pottery studio, and this is the first one that any Marriott brand has ever done in Asia Pacific or anywhere,” Chris explained. “Clay Craft creates an out-of-the-box dining experience, dining on international comfort food served in a funky way, while watching the ceramics that you eat off being crafted in front of your eyes.”
Clay Craft starts with breakfast, and some breakfast spread it has! The array is bountiful and it features unique dishes that combine classic comfort food with a touch of indigenous flavours. One of the most talked-about and sought-after delicacies at breakfast is the babi guling Benedict, a local twist of the classic eggs Benedict.
The lunch and dinner menus consist of no-nonsense, unpretentious dishes that put flavour and satisfaction above all. The crispy soft shell crab soft buns are a great kick-starter, as well as the babi guling soft buns. The build-your-own cheese melts – with a selection of cheese and fillings – are as fun as they are delicious, and the babi kecap always makes a great choice for lunch or dinner. But the ultimate crowd pleaser is the 200g black Angus beef patty.
“I would say that the signature dish here is the one we call Babi Bali Asli. We’re using local ribs and the real babi guling spices, but here we dehydrate it and do some fun things with it,” Chris mused. “It looks amazing when it comes out in a big pan and the food tastes great, but as you sit down and get it, you’ll also get a set of headphones with some funky folk song about eating spare ribs that we found.”
That dish alone sums up what Clay Craft is all about. It’s not a restaurant, it’s a destination. It’s not tasting flavours, it’s experiencing a fun dining journey – definitely one to remember.
Line-Caught Wild Octopus with Grilled Chorizo, Spicy Tomato Aioli & Pea Espuma
INGREDIENTS
Octopus
- 1kg large octopus tentacles
- 50ml olive oil
- 3 bay leaves
- 20g peppercorns
- 3 sprigs thyme
Spicy aioli
- 150ml mayonnaise
- 2 tomatoes
- 4 large red chillies
- 4 cloves of garlic
Pea espuma
- 400g frozen peas
- 250g chilled chicken stock
- 10g butter
- 100ml cream
- 100ml milk
Garnish
- Spicy cured chorizo
- Sugar snap peas
- Dehydrated beetroot chips
- Baby chard
- Beetroot powder
METHOD
- For the octopus, add all ingredients into a cryovac bag and sous vide at 77C for five hours. Allow to cool in the bag.
- For the spicy aioli, roast garlic, whole tomato and chilli together in oven at 220C for 12 minutes until roasted and slightly charred. Then blend and allow to cool. Once chilled, mix with mayonnaise and season.
- For the pea espuma, blanch peas for three minutes, strain and blitz with chicken stock. Add cream and butter, and blitz for another minute. Pass through a fine sieve, then heat to 60C, and season. Add to isi whip and charge with two chargers and serve.
- Grill the octopus and chorizo on a hot char grill until both have a crisp charred outer layer. Blanch the snap peas and open the pods. Plate as pictured.
SERVES 10
Clay Craft
Renaissance Bali Uluwatu Resort & Spa
Jalan Pantai Balangan 1 No. 1, Ungasan
Bali 80361, Indonesia
T: (+62)3612003588
marriott.com
