Da Maria Bali gets a new life

Launched by celebrity Australian restaurateur Maurice Terzini of Sydney Icebergs fame in 2016, Da Maria was the first Italian restaurant in Bali to sell proper Neapolitan-style pizzas with light, airy, semi-burnt crusts — pizzas as good as you get in Australia.

But many in Bali know Da Mari only as a nightclub, the place to be on a Sunday night, a supper club-cum-discotheque that gave birth to the infectious sounds of Balinese music collective PNNY and hosted riotous special events. Da Maria’s New Year’s Day party in 2017 was unforgettable, attended by the who’s who of the island and Australia’s jetsetter scene.

But like any nightlife venue, Da Maria got old, losing its lustre over the years to youthful new offerings like Sardine Restaurant’s K Club and Les Toilettes across the road. The last time I went to Da Maria on a Sunday night, the dance floor was nearly empty by midnight. And with new restaurants and bars opening and closing in Bali almost weekly — it’s estimated only 5 per cent of new food and beverage venues on the island go the distance — the fact Da Maria is even still trading is worth studying.

Its longevity, in my opinion, comes down to a combination of professional management, snappy Western-style service and, of course, the food. Whenever I want to treat myself in Bali, I stop by Da Maria or get on one of the food apps and order their house-made pappardelle, a broad flat pasta similar to fettuccine with braised beef shin ragu, or their chicken cotoletta, an Italian version of a chicken schnitzel pounded to the size of a dinner plate. Both dishes are excellent.

But that’s become old too, according to management, who recently introduced a new menu that, according to head chef Lorenzo De Petris, “leans more into Mediterranean, not just Italian”.

And it includes an interesting new novelty: a martini trolley service that sees bartenders come to your table and make dry martinis or fruitier tropical versions made from spirits infused with ingredients like lemon peel, citrus blossom, rosemary, thyme, sage, oyster shells, or sea grapes.

Earlier this month, I went back to Da Maria to see if it still had the Midas touch.

With more than 200 seats, the place is massive and hard to fill, though management creates a buzz by bunching together guests in the area facing the alfresco kitchen. With a playful blue-and-white geometric colour palette and water fountain in the centre, the layout makes you feel like you’ve been transported out of Bali to the 1960s Amalfi Coast.

With around 100 options, the new menu is a bit complicated: a conundrum I solved by telling our waiter to let the chef choose whatever he wanted so long as it included their new lamb skewers with rosemary and lemon, and didn’t include the beef tartare with egg yolk in the middle.

“I’m from Australia,” I told our waiter, who reckoned the beef tartare was the best thing on the new menu. “If I want ground beef, I want it burnt on a grill with a slice of heavily processed cheese and served in a bun with a big dollop of sauce.”

The lamb skewers were as good as you can get, but not nearly as good as half chicken diavola with cayenne, tangerine and rouille. I have no idea what most of those things are, but it was the Rolls-Royce of roast chooks: smooth, silky, springy, and uber moist. I asked the waiter how they cook it but forgot to write it down — something about marinating it for 24 hours, and baking, and something else … whatever … I’ve got Buckley’s chance of recreating it at home but I definitely see myself stopping by to try it again the next time I’m in the area.

As for the martini trolley, I gave it a miss as I’m off the hard liquor. But our waiter wheeled out something even better: a tiramisu trolley. The famous Italian dessert is normally heavily flavoured with coffee and liquor but Da Maria has done what every restaurant should have done ages ago and made a chocolate tiramisu soaked in chocolate with crunchy chocolate bits inside, and then they powder it with chocolate dust on the trolley. My date said she was full and didn’t want any, but ended up eating more than her share.

I sometimes joke I’m not a very good restaurant reviewer because I’m too easy to please, especially in Bali, where 98 per cent of the food I’m served is delicious. Da Maria’s new menu is no exception. Is it good enough to give the place another decade of profitability? Who knows? I don’t have a crystal ball. But for now, I give it five stars.

+ Dave Smith was a guest of Da Maria. They have not influenced this story, or read it before publication.

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Da Maria is on Jalan Petitenget No.170, Seminyak.

Bookings are not essential but recommended.

See damariabali.com or text ‪+62 811‑3859‑666 on WhatsApp.

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