BALI #1: Room4Dessert

Let's be clear from the off: Room4Dessert is the best dining experience I've had to date. It is the best restaurant, with the best food, with the greatest degree of ingenuity, in the best setting. It is superlative in every sense. 

I had heard of Room4Dessert prior to coming to Bali; Will Goldfarb - the co-owner and pastry chef mastermind behind it - had appeared on the pastry series of Netflix's Chef's Table (one of four pastry chefs to be included). He had worked at El Bulli in its heyday, before coming to Bali via Australia. Here, in Ubud, Room4Dessert sits, a dessert-only tasting experience restaurant and cocktail bar with its own adjacent farm (which was being expanded when I went, to include livestock on the other side of the restaurant).

The fact that Room4Dessert is dessert-only had me all abuzz. I love dessert (although I get somewhat concerned when the dessert is the best thing a restaurant has to offer, as this says more about the main kitchen than it does the pastry station), and was very intrigued as to how a dessert-only tasting menu would unfold.

For this review, it is worth starting at the very beginning. I stepped out of my taxi and walked up to the front desk (which is outside the restaurant), and was seated in the outdoor waiting area, where Goldfarb's Room for Dessert books from Phaidon were laid out in all their glory (a book I also own, as monumental as it is). Before I was seated for my meal, I was taken around the outdoor farm, where a great number of herbs, spices, vegetables, fruits, and edible flowers were being cultivated.

Led then into the first dining area, a well-lit room with a large wooden bar, I took my seat for a 15-course dessert extravaganza.

First up, 'Panda Watch', a soy panna cotta, tomato granita and suji. Ah yes, not all of the courses are sweet. This was a somewhat savory opener, delightfully light and smooth.

Then the second dish came out, and I knew from the first bite that this was going to be an incredibly meal. The rosemarino, consisting of tamarillo gelee, salmon roe, blackened jicama roots and fried pumpkin seeds. A coming together of different textures, salty, sweet and umami, this took the jelly we all know as kids to new heights. A silly, enthusiastic dish that does a great job of evoking memories of the past. Great food should be evocative, not just provactive, and this was certainly that.

Next, the melon "lardo", of honeydew lardo and focaccia sourdough. A lovely bite which, though it didn't reach the dizzy heights of the previous course, was still enjoyable. But fear not; there was greatness still to come.

The prawn tempura. Has there ever been such an enjoyable tempura? Well I can't say, as tempura isn't my go-to at East Asian restaurants, but it was certainly delectable, the tempura batter light and free from clinging oil, the green mango purée to accompany applying a fruity pop.

The final dish in the first dining area (oh yes - there are three in total), was the 'A Roast By Any Other Name'. Being British (for my sins), I've had a fair few roast dinners in my life. Yeah, this is the best cut of beef I've had. Not surprising seeing as it's local wagyu. Mounted on a rawon tart with green oroshi, this was melt-in-the-mouth. A total winner.

I was then led through the kitchen (what confidence to bring guests through a working kitchen and not have it descend into madness!), and into the second dining area, a more dimly-lit affair where food was played up in front of diners, at a station adjacent to the bar. A note on the kitchen: The food provided at Room4Dessert is exacting and seriously accomplished, and yet there is a pervasive relaxed atmosphere not just through the restaurant, but also in the kitchen. Chefs look as though they are enjoying their work, and this is always a good thing.

The next course was the Piñafolia, comprising caramelized pineapple, vanilla cheesecake, and cinnamon. I liked it, but wasn't totally in love with it. I suppose it was that this was a good cheesecake but not daring enough, not the pinnacle of the cheesecake that I would have hoped for.

This one though, and the three that follow. Wow.

'What is Green?', green sorbet, moringa Toblerone, and chiffon, was sublime. A green white chocolate, fruity sorbet - green in food is usually an indicator of earthiness, but not so here. This was light and sweet, a delicious dessert.

Then came the Snake Puff, a snake fruit tatin, air puff, and frangipane cream. Snake fruit - a Bali native - tastes like apple but sweeter, and the fruit here was cooked beautifully, lightly caramelized, going so well with the cream. Utter decadence.

Next up, 'NKD', perhaps my favourite of the dishes for all that it did with one primary ingredient: mung bean. Mung bean pudding, mung bean cracker, mung bean gelato. It was all mung bean. It was all staggeringly delicious.

My final dish in this seating area was brought out by Goldfarb himself, who had earlier not wanted to interrupt my enjoyment of the NKD, which I was very enthusiastic about. Years into his work as a chef, and the man still cares that his desserts are bringing joy to his customers. 'Chocolate, Smoked' is the ultimate chocolate dessert. Chocolate brownies, cocoa soil, samsaman gelato, in a wall of chocolate. I could not get enough.

Then on through to the outdoor third seating area, to wrap up the best meal of my life. A Cornetto with strawberry sorbet and watermelon pickle, and a passionfruit gummy led the way. Both were very good and fun, though I don't quite enjoy these small bites as much as I do the larger dishes that came just before.

And to finish, a triumvirate of small desserts: a desser sandwich of moringa, lemon and pomelo; a macaron of cempaka, fresh longan and raspberry; and a Kennari Guylian. Full disclosure: Guylian seashells were a huge part of my childhood (I'd get a box of the Lidl knockoffs, which I actually preferred, every Christmas from my grandparent's on my father's side. Thanks guys!), and I love them still to this day. So seeing that little chocolate seashell nestled among other seashells made me smile. The taste made my smile broaden. It was delightful, a wonderful creation that is inspired by Guylian but does not seek to strictly replicate it. The other desserts were good, but truly, I had eyes only for the seashell.

Thus came to an end this culinary adventure. I had also elected for a spiritless tasting along with the food, which was efficacious in its own right. I particularly liked the corn mocktail I had in the second dining area - a dessert in its own right!

Room4Dessert then. It is the best restaurant I have visited, and will be the bar with which I judge all others. If you visit Bali, and can only book into one restaurant, for the love of all that is holy, make it this one.

Value for money? 1290000 IDR for the spiritless tasting menu (that's the food + mocktails). That's £65 before service. This is the cheapest of the fine dining restaurants in Bali (when factoring in drink pairings) and significantly cheaper than pretty much all Michelin starred restaurants in London. Insane value for money.

Would I return? I would travel just to visit this restaurant. That is how good it is.