Samantha Brown – Southeast Asian-based journalist and editor

As an orange orb dips and melts into the horizon across a vast Indian Ocean, a DJ plays a set to an adoring, happy crowd alive on life, energy and music. At Karma Kandara’s Nammos Beach Club, this kind of special evening isn’t a rarity any more; it’s fast becoming a norm as the focus on music at Karma resorts ramps up with the spectacular Nammos in Bali the focal point.

Ever eaten a meal at a restaurant, vaguely aware that something is wrong, and then suddenly realised that it’s the lack of music making everyone slightly uncomfortable amid the clinking of cutlery? Or worse still, ever been driven out of a bar because you just can’t bear the music they’re playing?

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BALI, Indonesia, September 1, 2010 (Travel & Leisure Southeast Asia) — They work in sumptuous surrounds, dream up gourmet menus and plate perfectly executed dishes with panache. But where do Bali’s top chefs go in their time off? Here, we ask five for their favorite local eats. By SAMANTHA BROWN

WILL MEYRICK | Sarong

Will Meyrick, the Australian talent behind Seminyak’s salubrious Southeast Asian eatery Sarong (sarongbali.com), is famous for his menus inspired by the region’s street food. It’s no surprise, then, that he favors local Javanese joint Kolega (Jalan Petitenget, Seminyak; 62-852/3794-9778; lunch for two 50,000 rupiah). “It’s an East-meets-West type of place, where the people eating range from Indonesian office workers to local expats getting their rendang fixes,” he says. His dish of choice? The perkedel, or Indonesian croquettes, made of potato and beef or fish dipped in egg white, then deep-fried to achieve a crispy skin; he even serves up his own take, using Wagyu beef, at Sarong.

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They say too many cooks spoil the broth, but at beachside Allspice, the in-house restaurant at the Royal Santrian, quite the opposite is happening: Three accomplished Indonesian chefs, each with their own special focus, are creating five-star cuisine worthy of attention.

Let’s start with the setting: A restaurant with views of both foam-topped Tanjung Benoa surf, parasails curling in the distance, and the Royal Santrian’s own shimmering pool. A separate teppanyaki bar is perched closest to the beach. Allspice is decorated in tasteful, sumptuous, breezy Asian style. It’s a good beginning.

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Karma Kandara Bali

BALI, Indonesia, 1 September 2010 (Karma Chronicles) — Ellie Sand, practising shaman, channel medium and alchemical astrologer, visited Karma Jimbaran a few years ago in a bid to re-harmonise the beautiful Balinese coastal land it was built on.

“There was then a very large open quarry next to the resort. The energy of the resort was draining into the quarry and not staying in the resort, so I stopped the drainage and put the energy back into the resort,” Ellie tells me during an interview from the Canary Islands. “I also released some trapped souls that were there.”

The results? From a business perspective, they were an immediate increase in hotel bookings. more »