The Island of the Gods has always been a dining destination but the local mixology scene is also picking up. We delve into Bali’s best speakeasy bars.
Classically styled cocktails and raw, urban rooms are not what most of us associate with the Island of the Gods. However, over the last couple of years, Bali’s bar scene has been inching away from the tropical clichés of beach, pool, palm trees, and cliff-top to an edgier, more urban feel, and even into the contemporary speakeasy craze that’s so prominent in cities like Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.
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A few harbingers foreshadowed the trend. Hank’s Pizza & Liquor opened in Seminyak back in 2014 as a raw, unfussy space that just happened to dish up classic cocktails and do them exceptionally well. Black Shores in Canggu combines a polished concrete and exposed brickwork vibe with a discreet second-floor location and a curated list of classic cocktails. And then there’s Akademi, the anti-lobby bar of Potatohead’s luxe Katamama hotel, where Indonesian-inflected mixes – often based on arrack and exotic local ingredients – pair with a sleek, hard-edged interior that couldn’t get less beachy if it tried.
Chuck a stick over your shoulder in Singapore these days and you’ll likely hit a speakeasy. So, perhaps unsurprisingly, it was a Singapore national that opened Bali’s first bona fide speakeasy back in December 2015. Shasi Dajan created Baker Street Social as a secret bar above a barbers-cum-coffee-shop called Shearlock.
Over a year on – a lifetime in Seminyak hospitality years – Baker Street Social is still cool. The long narrow room is moodily lit, with raw concrete walls and industrial light fittings. In front of a bar lined with homemade concoctions labelled the likes of Kim Jong Un, Fuckensteen, Ugly Juliet, Rambo 3, and Biohazard Umami Amaro, cool Balinese dudes with tattoos craft outstanding cocktails. There’s no menu: just order at will and Komang and his guys will dish up either the drink you request or a concoction tailormade to suit your palate. Think Old-Fashioneds tweaked with spices, bitter chocolate, and cacao, or a Negroni transformed into a Campari-led Tequila Martini.
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Bali’s first homegrown speakeasy, Modicum, was less successful. Papua-born chef Mandif Warokka, the brains behind degustation-only eatery Teatro Gastroteque, opened it in autumn 2016 amid an unappealing patch of over-priced tourist warungs in Seminyak. The formula of locked door, classic cocktails, fancy food, and bling-bling interiors doesn’t seem to pull the traffic it needed. Modicum closed its doors in mid-April 2017, apparently for refurbishment: there’s no news on when it’s slated to reopen.
But the newest entry on Bali’s speakeasy scene, just down the road from Baker Street Social, is going great guns. 40 Thieves is effectively concealed above Mad Ronin, a craft beer and ramen joint. It’s the brainchild of another Singapore entrepreneur, Shah Dillon of Single Cask, and the formula of pumping tunes, late license, raw concrete, and classic plus contemporary classic cocktails seem to be paying dividends.
It’s hard to see that an island with such a high proportion of passing visitors to long-term residents – and such an income disparity between visitors and residents – can make many truly hidden bars work. And clearly, Bali’s speakeasy scene is never going to catch Singapore’s or Shanghai’s. But the couple of Seminyak venues that have run the distance are definitely assets to an island that could do with a dose of urban edge.
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