Located in central Ubud, Uma by COMO, Ubud, is a stand-out boutique hotel by acclaimed COMO Hotels and Resorts, with a strong focus on yoga, super healthy food and immersion in local culture and adventure.
The signature restaurant, Uma Cucina, offers, however, a more relaxed and balanced dining approach located street side at the front of the resort and open to outside guests, is also acknowledged as one of the best Italian restaurants—if not the best Italian—in Ubud.
An Italian-inspired restaurant and lounge bar, elevated above busy Jalan Raya Sanggingan, Uma Cucina mirrors the resort’s chic contemporary Asiatic design but also reveals a semi-open rustic Italian charm and convivial space evoking the typical restaurants of Italy, where patrons can gather for leisurely lunches, early evening bites, pre-dinner drinks or a more intimate, full dining experience. Two spacious open-air terraces frame the open-plan dining floor, and at the heart of the space, the large communal dining table is perfect for family-style or group shared-plate dining.
Uma Cucina is known for its fresh Italian cuisine with a cooking style reflecting the homely kitchen spirit behind its name—cucina means kitchen in Italian.
As throughout the rest of the resort, the menus display a strong reliance on the freshest locally sourced produce, which includes exceptional seafood and farm-fresh organic vegetables, plus local artisanal gourmet products—all bursting with flavours and colours you would expect from an Italian kitchen.
House specialties include homemade hand-cut pastas, cheeses and sausages, delicious wood-fired pizzas (from an excellent selection, house-made pork and fennel sausage with caramelised onions, comes recommended), frutti di mare and succulent meat from the charcoal grill, freshly baked crusty bread and of course, classic Italian gelati and granitas. Signature dishes from the Shared Plates section, feature Fritto Misto, with sublime goat’s cheese stuffed blossoms, salsa verde and pumpkin, and from Pasta and Rice, garganelli (handmade version of penne pasta) with braised yellow fin tuna, confit eggplant, tomato, green olives and stracciatella. The goat’s cheese tortellini, with sage, almonds, parmesan and an unexpected zing of dried orange is also noteworthy, as is the slow-cooked roast pork belly with roast fennel, oregano jam and lemon, a Mains classic that should not be missed.
Even the bar snacks are delicious treats, from pizzetta bread hot from the brick oven, served with a pungent artichoke and green olive tapenade, to stuffed marinated mushrooms.
A distinctive range of Italian and Old and New World wines compliment the dishes, including old school Italian favourites Chianti, Rose and sparkling Prosecco wines by the glass. Alternatively, the contemporary cocktail menu cleverly combines classic Italian influences and local Balinese infusions and flavours, resulting in an unusual exotic twist to the classics; these are shaken and stirred by bar staff trained by COMO’s acclaimed mixologists at the famed Met Bar in London.
Sundays can be sleepy in Ubud, but not here; be sure to book a table for Uma Cucina’s Weekend Brunch (11.30AM to 3.30PM), a laid-back but fun Sunday affair, where a delicious feast of authentic Italian favourites, including homemade pastas, char-grilled fresh fish and seafood, antipasti, cold meats and sweet Italian specialties, can be leisurely enjoyed with family and friends. The all-you-can-eat menu includes free-flow alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage packages, the perfect way to end the week.
For COMO Group Executive Chef, Amanda Gale, her favourite dish off the menu, is the char-grilled squid; the freshly-caught squid deliciously smoky and char grilled, accentuated with white beans, shaved fennel, arugula, red chilli and lemon dressing. “This dish is fresh, tasty and light and the flavours pair well with the squid,” enthuses Chef Gale.
