Formerly home to only simple eateries, Jl Bumbak on the far side of Bali’s Rural Umalas, now boasts a fine-dining restaurant with a ‘no menu’ concept. WK (Warung Kayu) opened in the first week of March this year, serving good quality ‘fusion’ dishes accompanied by great wines.

Text by Rachel Love

WK is rustic and charming, an antique wooden joglo building bordered by a white picket fence. Dining takes place in the semi-open air ambience of its laid-back setting; tables and chairs spill out into a pretty garden, and flowering thunbergia cascades from the roof.

Ryan Simorangkir and Tyler Peek are WK’s executive chefs. Ryan was born in California and raised in Jakarta, and Tyler is from Nashville, Tennessee. They met at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Pasadena, where they worked with Wolfgang Puck, and they both did an internship at the famed French chef Alain Ducasse’s restaurant ‘miX on the beach’ at the W Retreat & Spa, Vieques Island, Puerto Rico.

Ryan and Tyler believe that fixed menus are restrictive, so at WK they offer a sophisticated tasting menu of à la minute creations, which is changed on a daily basis as dishes evolve, disappear and return in accordance with market availability. Their fusion concept is executed in a vibrant Puerto Rican and Caribbean style with an artful French twist that explores Asian flavours. Using Bali’s freshest ingredients, these enthusiastic young chefs cook whatever inspires them at the time, orchestrating their four-course tasting menus like a symphony, and embellishing dishes with colour contrast and sauce designs. The four courses may be pre-fixed on a daily basis, but a choice of two appetisers and two mains are available, usually one seafood and one meat, plus an amuse-bouche, a soup and a dessert. Asked how they decide on what they are going to cook each day, Ryan replies, “We’ve been working together for three years now, so after arguing for a while, we always manage to figure out something that we can both agree upon.”

The average age in the kitchen is 23; Ryan and Tyler head a team of five, all of whom fulfil the joint roles of being waiters as well as chefs, coming to the table to be close up and personal, discussing preferences, dishes, and ingredients with the guests. Ceviche, for example is a popular, light and refreshing appetiser, typically made from raw fish marinated in citrus juice and spiced with chilli. Another starter could be a chicken liver pate, or vichyssoise for the soup course. A main dish might potentially present Balinese spice-rubbed chicken with shallots, lemongrass, and mashed potatoes with infused sambal mata, or sake soy sea bass with cilantro rice, purple spinach and baby kai-lan. And for dessert? “Well, how about a rosemary lemon tart,” suggests Tyler, “with blueberry sauce and blueberry foam.”

WK Restaurant is open Monday to Saturday from 7pm, and will be opening for lunch very soon. Live music takes place on Saturday nights.

Warung Kayu
Jl Bumbak 41, Kerobokan
Bali, Indonesia
Tel: +62 361 900 2505
www.wkrestaurantbali.com

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