Feast Like a Venetian!
Last year, Soleil’s famous Sunday brunch helped kickstart a brunching trend here in Bali, and our Sundays have never been quite so glamorous. And now, it seems the signature beachfront restaurant at The Mulia, Mulia Resort & Villas has gone and done it again with the recent launch of Cicchetti; a Venetian-inspired multi-course dining concept hosted every Friday and Saturday evening.
Luckily for us, Soleil is a restaurant that refuses to rest on its laurels. Tempting the island with a lavish gourmet feast every Sunday just wasn’t enough, so what better way to further its gastronomic reign than with a Venetian dining tradition that encourages friends, families and loved ones to come together and revel in a banquet of sampling delicacies.
Unsurprisingly, the new Cicchetti weekend dinners have been welcomed with open arms—and mouths—by Bali’s foodies. Perhaps it comes down to the extravagant five-star feel that’s reminiscent of the famed Sunday brunch, complete with the familiar, contagious buzz that seems to shimmer through the ultra-classy dining room. Or perhaps it’s down to the world-class cuisine that continually defies all expectations…
A Taste of Venezia—Bite By Bite
In true Venetian style, the Cicchetti menu at Soleil consists of an array of appetizer-style plates structured into different sections, with the idea that you select as many plates as you please, with a minimum order of six per person. This may sound like a lot, but each plate is half the size of an appetizer—not too big, not too small—and with such an incredible selection at your fingertips, you’ll find yourself ordering almost double this number, or in our case, triple.
The signatures are scattered throughout the menu, starting with the Salmone that features sashimi-grade raw Norwegian salmon with cured pork fat direct from the Tuscan coast.
Premium ingredients, beautifully curated
The Ricciola follows suit, starring a combination I’d usually oppose: fish and cheese. And yet, the richness of a few delicate shavings of parmesan make the tang of Javanese citrus and marinated amberjack even more appetising.
Next up, the Crostini variations prove impossible to choose between, so we try them all and of course, we have no regrets. The highlights include the meaty Nero with chicken liver and beef; the light and fluffy Burrata with grilled radicchio and anchovies, and my favourite, the porcini mushrooms with Taleggio cheese.
A cute cone of zucchini flowers then tempts us to dig in with our hands and dunk the lightly fried bites into a slightly spiced sauce before we move on to the “Mare” dishes. The grilled octopus is probably the best version of this aquatic delicacy I’ve ever tasted. It comes slightly charred to give it a fantastic barbecued flavour, while the meat itself is so incredibly tender I have to check that it is indeed octopus and not some kind of buttery scallop.
Similarly, the Pesce Al Saor deserves an encore and earns the title as my favourite dish of the Cicchetti. It’s a very typical Venetian dish of marinated fish in a sweet and sour jus, carefully flavoured with a few raisins and pine nuts. Subtle, yet undeniably tasty.
Each dish wows one after the other, from the Moleche soft shell crab and Salsiccia spicy sausage, to the Roasted Balinese Quail and Satay Lilit that reminds us of the Pan-Asian twists Soleil always brings to the table. But to end the dinner in a truly Venetian way, we just had to save some space for the dessert list. Tiramisu, semifreddo, panna cotta and gelato—all of the big Italian names are presented alongside a selection of the world’s finest cheeses, nothing short of what we’ve come to expect from Soleil.
Once again, the pace has been set for Bali’s dining scene, and we can’t wait to see what’s next on the menu.
The Mulia, Mulia Resort & Villas – Nusa Dua, Bali
Jalan Raya Nusa Dua Selatan, Sawangan, Nusa Dua
Bali 80363, Indonesia
T: (+62) 3613017777
