In searching for Bali restaurant recommendations, I happened upon Room 4 Dessert and knew this was absolutely an experience I wanted to have. Why? Three words: dessert tasting menu. Will needed a little bit of convincing but he finally agreed that if we’re going all the way to Indonesia, we should do it.

Room 4 Dessert

The best way to describe Room 4 Dessert is whimsical. How can you not when their menu is focused on dessert? Their playful personality extends from their website to the presentation on the plate. It’s hard not to feel happy when you think about and eat dessert. Dining at Room 4 Dessert takes eating dessert to another level.

Chef Will Goldfarb is the mastermind behind the restaurant. You might be familiar with him if you’re a foodie in New York or have seen the Chef’s Table episode about him. Room 4 Dessert actually started in New York in 2005 and this iteration ended in 2007. Goldfarb decided to get away from the industry structure that he didn’t seem to fit in. He was tired of the critics, the restraints, and the drama. In 2008, he and his family moved to Bali.

After years of re-cooperating, Goldfarb was ready to find a place where he could do what he loved and be as innovative as he wanted. He opened Room 4 Dessert in Bali in 2014 and has been growing the concept and team since. The restaurant was closed from January to April this year for a remodel. It re-opened with additional space, 10,000 square feet in total.

The 21-course tasting menu takes you on three different journeys. The first is savory in their outdoor seating area. The next is mostly sweet in their main dining room. Finally, you’re led to their outside garden for small sweet bites, petit fours. The adventure through three different environments and tasting a variety of flavors add to the charm of the experience. Having 21 courses might seem daunting but know about 14 of the courses were one or two bites.

The menu changes with the seasons and creativity, and we enjoyed Season 10: The Sequel. I won’t go into full detail of every course in case you will be visiting, but I’ll be highlighting my favorite details. Keep reading!

Our Dinner at Room 4 Dessert

Room 4 Dessert was about an eight-minute drive from our hotel on a road that didn’t seem walking-friendly. When we arrived, we were greeted and escorted into the restaurant’s huge garden. Room4Dessert’s garden supplies a few of the ingredients on their menu and they’re working to grow that percentage more and more.

Our first stop was in their outdoor seating area to taste seven savory “snack” courses. This area was like a very fancy backyard patio with a bar and lounge area. We were seated at the bar and the adventure began! On each part of the journey, we were given a paper with the name and illustration of each course.

1. Dancing Flower
2. Gobo
3. Chicken Feet
4. R4D Shwarma
5. Kentucky Mushroom
6. Mc Catri
7. Torchon

After our first seven courses, we took a journey through the kitchen to the main dining room where we were seated at a low bar area facing the kitchen and plating area. The next part of our dinner was the main course. These dishes were the best part of the dinner in my opinion. The flavors went perfectly together! Red, Mango Puff, and Incidente Stradale were my favorites. They were creatively presented and I love the unique plates.

8. Red
9. Na Bro
10. Le Razz Hot
11. Mango Puff
12. Devil Kiss
13. Incidente Stradale
14. Caramel Chocolate Brulee

For the final part of our dinner, we were led through the front door to the other side of the restaurant. This area has a long table surrounded by a trellis and awning with greenery. It felt like we were in a backyard garden, and it was a lovely night and setting to end our dinner. This part of the dinner was petit fours and these bites were easily one bite.

15. Madeleine
16. Aloe vera “Pate de Fruit”
17. Klapertart
18. Hot Bobi
19. Small Mac
20. Tamago
21. Open Alfajores

What I Thought About Room 4 Dessert

Is it that obvious? I loved it! I love dessert so it was an easy sell for me, but what has me obsessed is how the presentation, flavors, and experience were impressive at every point. The flow of the dinner, from different spaces to different types of bites, was a colorful story coming to life and the Ubud setting made it more magical.

While Chef Goldfarb wasn’t present the night we dined, we were in good hands with his enthusiastic team. They seemed young but that made their hospitality and professionalism impressive. Watching them plate dishes, run courses, and present the dishes seamlessly and expertly made it obvious that attention to detail is a high standard. It’s obvious everyone who works there takes great pride in being a part of the restaurant.

This dinner made up for all the times I missed eating dessert because I was too full, tired, or not interested!

Details for Your Visit

Room 4 Dessert is a dessert lover’s dream. Even though the meal is 21 courses, many of them are bite-sized, so I didn’t think it was too much food. For those who are not a big fan of dessert or can’t tolerate that much sugar, you might not enjoy this restaurant as much.

Budget-wise, it can be an investment, especially if you compare it to the price of a typical meal in Bali. But for a fine dining experience with this many courses, it was reasonable.

I made a reservation about three months before our visit, though you should be able to get a lunch or dinner reservation a few weeks before if your day and time are flexible. As they warn, the dinner will take about two and a half hours.

• Ambiance: Whimsical
• Attire: Casual
• Noise Level: Average
• Reservation: Recommended
• Groups: Yes
• Meal: 21-course prix fixe
• Pricing: Our dinner for two (no drink pairings) was about $132 USD

Room 4 Dessert
Jl. Raya Sanggingan, Kedewatan, Kecamatan Ubud, Kabupaten Gianyar, Bali 80561, Indonesia
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 5 to 11 pm
https://www.room4dessert.com/

P.S. Curious about my travel eats? See more restaurants here!

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I didn’t know what to expect from Locavore. I knew it was an award-winning restaurant, easily found through “best restaurants in Indonesia” searches. I had glanced at the menu and photos. What we enjoyed was a creative dining experience that introduced us to the beautiful ingredients of Indonesia!

Locavore – Modern Cuisine, Local Produce

Highly rated in Asia (most recently number 22 in Asia’s Best Restaurants of 2019) and one of the most noteworthy restaurants in Indonesia, Locavore is known for its European cooking style with local Indonesian ingredients. Open since 2013, this restaurant is for traveling foodies wanting to experience fine dining in Bali.

You know I have a thing for local eating, and in a place like Bali, where there seems to be a struggle in keeping up with environmentally friendly practices, Locavore is an example of sustainability. Sourcing local produce and ethically raised animals, decreasing waste by using the whole animal, and re-purposing waste by composting or saving waste to feed pigs are some of the practices the restaurant upholds. Over 95% of Locavore’s ingredients are from Indonesia, which says a lot about their creativity and their passion for introducing the country’s bounty to guests. I think these practices and values enhance Locavore’s noteworthiness, and I’m not alone in my thinking. Locavore won the Sustainable Restaurant Award from Asia’s Best 50 Restaurants this year.

Locavore is led by Chefs Eelke Plasmeijer and Ray Adriansyah and managed by Adi Karmayasa. Both chefs trained in different countries (Eelke is Dutch and Ray is Indonesian) before meeting each other and Adi while working at a hotel in Ubud.

Our Dinner at Locavore

After about a 10-minute walk from our hotel near the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, we arrived at Locavore, located in the central part of Ubud. We were greeted by the hostess who immediately led us to our table. The restaurant is spacious with a slightly raised seating level on one side and an open kitchen on the other. Locavore is thoughtfully decorated with a slate, wood, and green color palette.

The team first presented this colorful display of edible flowers. It’s a canang sari, a Balinese Hindu offering that can be seen outside businesses and homes daily. With a palm leaf tray, the offering symbolizes gratitude. It’s ready to eat after a spray of vinaigrette and a dash of salt. After clearing the dish, we found a booklet with a welcome message and our menu options.

We decided on the nine-course dinner, and Will got the locavore menu while I got the herbivore (vegetarian) menu. We decided against drink pairings because it seemed like a lot of food, but we did get a round of cocktails.

Our dinner was full of surprises. Before the dinner began, we had six snack courses! These, pictured below, were some of my favorite parts of the meal. One of the snacks imitated a monkey’s way of eating. We took the lemongrass stalk, stuck it into a container of honey and then stuck it into another container of a nut mixture.

There was also a fried snack near the end of the savory dishes, a palette cleanser, and an additional dessert at the end.

Here are the dishes from the herbivore menu:
(the first four dishes are pictured below)

1. Savoury Citrus – five different citrus fruits, cashew coriander creme, spiced nuts, citrus oil, chili soy sauce, citrus peel powder
2. Eggplant in its element – baby eggplant, pickled in ginger torch vinegar, smoked eggplant creme, aromatics
3. Bangkuang Loves Passion Fruit – oven-roasted jicama, passion fruit emulsion, turmeric pickled jicama, peanut miso creme, tempered spices
4. Everything Pumpkin – the whole pumpkin, confit in cacao nib oil, charred pumpkin candlenut creme, spiced cacao nib crumble, pickled pumpkin, salted pumpkin seed powder
5. Singkong 17 – cassava garlic mousseline, 17 tasty condiments
6. Banana Blossom 2.0 – battered banana blossom, white mole sauce, lacto fermented garlic, garlic flowers
7. Bubur Beda – three-grain porridge, rawon broth, black rice cracker, soy pickled wood ear mushrooms, button mushrooms, shiitake rawon powder
8. So Much More Than Just Nutmeg – nutmeg fruit gelato, white chocolate chantilly, warm chocolate foam, kombucha pickled salak, cacao nib nougatine
9. Everything Palm Tree – palm sugar caramel gelato, tamarind jam, kaffir lime pickled palm heart, kolang kaling tamarind candy, palm sugar meringue

Here are the dishes from the locavore menu:
(the first four dishes are pictured below)

1. Good Old Squid Noodles… – confit squid, young coconut, compressed cucumber, salted lime kosho, coconut tiger milk, culantro oil, scallop boshi
2. Edi Brokoli (Just Google Him) – marinated broccoli stems, peanut miso, broccoli ham puree, seaweed, cassava ham vichyssoise, left-over broccoli powder
3. Flower Power – lots of marigold flowers, young white corn rice, mud crab, nixtamalized corn miso veloute, toasted corn husk oil
4. Into the Sawah (aka everything that lives, grows and swims in and around the Ubud rice fields) – heritage galuh rice porridge, 64 degrees duck egg yok, snails, frog leg abon, fern tips, wildflowers
5. Black is the New Orange – carrot slow roasted in smoked beef fat, kecap glaze, carrot reduction, spiced carrot puree, smoked lacto-fermented carrot powder
6. Who Doesn’t Like Fancy French Sauce?! – snapper, confit in vanilla cacao butter, black orange sauce, “maltaise”, burned tangerine, temu kunci
7. Ayam Hitam – Jon’s chicken, grilled with black garlic, garlic confit puree, black garlic kecap emulsion, pickled solo garlic, green garlic oil, crispy chicken skin cracker
8. The Real White Coffee (a.k.a. ask Ivan Falls)… – white coffee licorice gelato, mulberries in kombucha syrup, palm nectar licorice syrup, coffee crumble
9. Everything Palm Tree – palm sugar caramel gelato, tamarind jam, kaffir lime pickled palm heart, kolang kaling tamarind candy, palm sugar meringue  

The last dish of our dinner was a clever representation of the Indonesian game congklak with treats in every spot. As you may recognize from the vessel, congklak is a version of mancala, a popular strategy board game using stones or beans.

What I Thought About Locavore

Many of the dishes included flavors that were bright and strong. The menu featured several emulsions and fermented ingredients.

With the off-menu surprise dishes, our nine-course menus turned into 19 courses, which was a lot of food! As you can see, most of the courses were small, so we weren’t too uncomfortable by the end of the meal. Nearly three hours later, jet lag was more of the problem than the amount of food since we were trying not to fall asleep at the table!

Dining at Locavore was delightful because it included so many of the things I enjoy in a dining experience. The service was attentive, informative, and collaborative. The presentation lets your eyes eat first and easily resulted in a “wow” as the dish hits the table. The creativity and flavors played well together in a beautifully executed dish.

Would I return? Yes. Locavore’s menu is seasonal and the team is constantly trying new things, so it would be a new adventure. If not Locavore, I would definitely explore some of their other establishments.

Details for Your Visit

Locavore is nontraditional Indonesian food yet still every bit Indonesian. You might not see the typical nasi or mie goreng here, but Indonesian produce and meats are presented and celebrated in every dish. It’s an inspiring way to think about cuisine.

Budget-wise, it can be an investment, especially if you compare it to the price of a typical meal in Bali. Since you can easily find meals for under $5 USD, this meal could be a week’s worth of meals on your trip. Compared to other fine dining meals, it’s on par for cost, and you should always consider how price aligns with the quality of ingredients.

We made a reservation about three months before our visit, though you should be able to get a lunch or dinner reservation a few weeks before if your day and time are flexible. If I were to go back to Locavore, I’d aim for an earlier dinner time or try it for lunch. We were about one day into our trip, and with our 7 pm dinner reservation, we were fighting to stay awake by the end of the meal. Our nine-course dinner took about three hours.

I preferred the locavore menu to the herbivore menu, and I’d recommend the six-course unless you can eat more. I’d also recommend a drink pairing as part of the experience since those are also beautifully prepared.

• Ambiance: Open, spacious, green
• Attire: Casual
• Noise Level: Average
• Reservation: Recommended
• Groups: Yes
• Parking: Street
• Meal: lunch or dinner times, locavore or herbivore (vegetarian), 6 or 9-course prix fixe menus, optional drink (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) pairing
• Pricing:
  • Locavore menu
    • 6 dishes: Rp 895 ($63.42 USD) plus Rp 500 ($35.43 USD) drink pairing
    • 9 dishes: Rp 1195 ($84.67 USD) plus Rp 650 ($46.06 USD) drink pairing
  • Herbivore menu
    • 6 dishes: Rp 795 ($56.33 USD) plus Rp 500 ($35.43 USD) drink pairing
    • 9 dishes: Rp 1095 ($77.59 USD) plus Rp 650 ($46.06 USD) drink pairing

Locavore
Jl. Dewisita No.10, Banjar Padang, Tegal, Kabupaten Gianyar, Bali 80571, Indonesia
Hours: Monday through Saturday 11 am to 11 pm
https://www.locavore.co.id/

You could also check out the other establishments by the Locavore team:

• Nusantara by Locavore – opened in 2017, this restaurant features Indonesian dishes
• Night Rooster – a 40-seat bar offering fun cocktails
• Locavore To Go – Locavore’s little sister serves more casual dishes like sandwiches
• Local Parts – their cruelty-free butcher shop

P.S. Curious about more travel eats? See more restaurants here!

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This restaurant opened in June 2019 and will be perfect for dining in the fall. Read on for all the details!

(If you like being surprised during a meal, you might want to skim this post. This post gives a lot of details, which is perfect for those who like to game plan their meal!)

What is Shabu-Shabu?

Shabu-shabu is the name for Japanese hot pot. Hot pot is also a style of eating in Chinese cultures. In Swiss and North American culture, it’s known as fondue. The set-up has a giant boiling pot of broth in the middle of the table with dishes of raw meats and vegetables set up around the pot.

Typical dishes include thinly sliced pieces of beef and pork, meatballs, mushrooms, bok choy, cabbage, and noodles. Everyone takes turns throwing items in and each person has a slotted spoon or ladle to fish things out to eat as they’re cooked.

As you can imagine, it’s an interactive meal that’s easy to set up. It’s great for group gatherings and especially popular in the winter.

DipDipDip Tatsu-ya

The same people that brought us two of my favorites – Ramen Tatsu-ya and Kemuri Tatsu-ya – opened a new hot pot restaurant a few months ago and it has been the place to be.

The restaurant is in a strip mall, but it’s got cool food neighbors and they’ve dressed up the outside to catch your eye. If you arrive early, they have an outside waiting area to enjoy a drink before your table is ready.

Inside the restaurant is dark and intimate. The table dividers set you apart from other guests and each seat has its own setup. While each seat can feel a bit tight with all the different plates in front of you, the restaurant design is thoughtful and impeccable. I loved all the custom wood details by A&K Woodworking & Design, from the lighting fixtures to the table tiers. The swivel, backless stool as seats were not my favorite, but they were comfortable enough during dinner and the purse cubby underneath is handy.

Don’t be scared if you’ve never done hot pot before! Your server is happy to walk you through the process and there are cheat sheets at the table to guide you.

You get your own pot, so first, you’ll get to choose your broth flavor.

• Tonkatsu – 50-hour pork bone broth (like the ramen broth)
• Miso Smokey – This is a very spicy and smokey broth
• Kombu Dashi – This is a traditional Japanese broth
• Tonyu Nabe – This is a unique, rich broth

You can get extra spice in your broth. The first time I did this, it was the perfect amount of spice but the second time was a little spicy for me. If you don’t order the extra spice, there is spice on the table you can add.

You’ll get a bowl of Koshihikari rice, citrus ponzu sauce, and sesame gomadare dip at each seat.

Eating the Omakase at DipDipDip Tatsu-ya

The first time I went to DipDipDip, Will and I went straight to the omakase. Omakase is a chef’s choice tasting with a set number of dishes. They have three different sizes: house, tatsu-ya, and baller. Will had the baller with miso smokey broth and I did tatsu-ya with tonkotsu broth and added spice.
All three omakases include a box of veggies to start.

Here I’ve noted the specialties in each omakase: 

• House ($45): Top sirloin, no gyu maki or noodles
• Tatsu-ya ($65): Texas Wagyu, pork belly instead of pork loin, extra dumpling, noodles
• Baller ($95): Keep Austin Dipping Dip (cheese!), A5 Wagyu, Ribeye, buns

I admit – I don’t have a refined palette for beef, so I didn’t taste a strong difference from the A5 Wagyu and Texas Wagyu. They were both flavorful and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. A5 Wagyu is known as the finest beef from Japan, and when you order it here, they’ll give you a card telling you all about the cow. The card even has a nose print!

Not noted on the menu and a spoiler alert here, the Tatsu-ya and Baller omakases come with dessert. We got a honeydew granita, which was light and refreshing.

The Tatsu-ya Omakase was too much food for me! I would have been more comfortable giving more of my pieces to Will and splitting the noodles. Will thought the Baller was the right amount of food for him and his extra order of curry noodles almost set him over.

The second time I went to DipDipDip was with two of my girlfriends. We went the easy route by doing the House Omakase. If you want an intro to shabu-shabu, this is a great option to try a bunch of things. It’s also a great option for the price point if you want to try a chef’s tasting. It was the perfect amount of food, though I liked the type of meat in the Tatsu-ya Omakase more.

Dining A La Carte at DipDipDip Tatsu-ya

For more sophisticated palettes, you may know exactly what type of meat and cut you want to try. Each order of meat comes with about 4-5 slices of meat. Here are my recommendations for dining a la carte:

• Beef – Texas Wagyu sirloin (I preferred the beef to the pork)
• Meatballs – You’ll get five in an order and they’re tasty. I liked the beef and chicken.
• Truffle Sukiyaki Dip – Dipping sauce with a poached egg. It’s AMAZING (pictured below)
• Keep Austin Dipping Dip – If you like queso and spice, you’ll LOVE this.
• Gyu Maki – Find this on the specials cart, it’s foie gras wrapped in beef
• Noodles – Also on the specials cart, these come in their own sauce

Bonus Dessert – DipDipDip Ice Cream

You come here for the shabu-shabu, so I haven’t seen the dessert menu, but they also opened a new ice cream shop next door – DipDipDip Ice Cream. They’ve got a creative menu of picture-worthy creations. They’re open 12 – 9 pm, so you might have to make your ice cream an appetizer if you have a late reservation.

Details for Your Visit

You’ve got me smitten, DipDipDip Tatsu-ya!

• Ambiance: Comfortable, intimate, dark
• Attire: Casual
• Noise Level: Average
• Reservation: Necessary, opens 30 days in advance
• Groups: Yes, a maximum of six people
• Outdoor Seating: No, only pre-dinner drinks
• Parking: Big, free parking lot

DipDipDip Tatsu-ya
7301 Burnet Rd #101, Austin, TX 78757
Dinner: 5 – 10 pm Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday; 5 – 11 pm Friday and Saturday
https://www.dipdipdip-tatsuya.com

Have you tried shabu-shabu? What’s your favorite thing to eat?

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2020 UPDATE: Uroko is currently to-go only. Order temaki for lunch Monday through Saturday and omakase for dinner Friday and Saturday.

The restaurant is thoughtfully decorated with bright blue tile. The tables shift from day to night, transforming from a large side table to a sushi bar.

Uroko presents three different concepts at the restaurant. Lunch features temaki (handrolls), dinner is omakase (chef’s tasting), and sushi classes are on Thursday nights. While I have yet to try the sushi class, I’m excited to tell you about lunch and dinner.

Uroko’s Omakase Dinner

My first visit to Uroko was for the omakase dinner. Omakase is a chef’s choice tasting with a set number of dishes. At sushi restaurants, omakase tends to be lengthy and pricy, but Uroko’s 45-minute omakase for $65 per person is a welcome alternative. With six seats per seating, it’s an intimate yet casual affair. (I found the overall environment more comfortable than Otoko‘s.)

The 12-course dinner is efficient and every course is expertly presented by Chef Masa to feature the quality and flavors. Salmon is always my favorite and madai is a close second, but I loved all the bites! The great thing about omakase is you’re introduced to dishes (and in this case, fish) you might not have picked or aren’t familiar with. We left fanatical about the whole experience!

Temaki Lunch at Uroko

I had to come back to try the lunch I keep hearing about! Uroko’s fast-casual, temaki menu features handrolls with different combinations. Think of it as a handheld sushi roll.

On my visit, I got the bluefin tuna special, the hamachi, and the sake. These handrolls range from $4.50 basic rolls to $9 specials. Similar to dinner, I enjoyed the quality of the fish and craftsmanship of each roll. I was satisfied with three handrolls for lunch.

I also tried the frozen soy matcha latte, which is a similar texture to a Slurpee. It’s very light and airy. Not my favorite because of the texture but I liked the flavor.

Details for Your Visit

I love that Uroko makes sushi unpretentious and approachable. While their dinner omakase requires some pre-planning, popping in for lunch is easy.

• Ambiance: Bright, friendly
• Attire: Casual
• Noise Level: Average
• Reservation: Necessary for dinner
• Groups: Groups of six with prior reservation for dinner
• Outdoor Seating: Kind of, community food hall seating
• Parking: Big, free parking lot

Uroko
1023 Springdale Rd Bldg 1 Suite C, Austin, TX 78721
Lunch: Monday through Wednesday 11 am – 9 pm, Thursday through Saturday 11 am – 4 pm
Dinner: Fridays and Saturdays 6 – 10 pm; Reservations required
Sushi Class: Thursdays 6:30 – 8:30 pm; Reservations required
https://www.urokoaustin.com/

Have you dined at Uroko? What dishes do you recommend?

P.S. Want to read more about restaurants? See my restaurant posts here.

Follow my food adventures! You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Bloglovin’. You can also subscribe to the exclusive email list.

The post Dining at Uroko, Austin’s Newest Japanese Restaurant appeared first on Fearless Captivations.

One of the reasons why Will and I are getting married is because of a restaurant reservation I made when we first started dating.

He didn’t know the ways I loved food. I told him I wasn’t a picky eater and I didn’t help much, so our first dates (planned by him) were to nearby cafes and restaurants for Cobb salads and pizzas. Nothing bad but nothing fancy. A few months into dating, we went on a trip out of town and I was tasked with picking out the restaurants we’d visit during the trip. After the first amazing dinner, he told me I would be picking out the restaurants from now on and here we are.

We’ve accepted that we’re a little bougie. Even though we cook dinner at home on weeknights, look at our bank accounts and you’ll see dining as one of our biggest expenses. We love food and we don’t mind forking over some extra dollars for an incredible, memorable meal. Pujol, for example, cost a pretty, pretty, lots of pennies. Quality also doesn’t come cheap, and we know that if a meal is cheap, someone somewhere is paying for it. 

In my opinion, a dining experience is amplified when you order the tasting menu. This is where chefs love to play. They want the challenge of presenting a cohesive menu and memorable bites. They’ll pick out the dishes meant to impress. Every once in a while, it’s nice to treat ourselves to this little adventure.

Pitchfork Pretty

It had been a long time since I visited Pitchfork Pretty. When I told the waiter I had been for breakfast, he laughed and said, “wow, it’s been a long time. We stopped doing breakfast.”

Pitchfork Pretty opened in 2017, the year I last visited. Focusing on hill country cuisine, the restaurant encourages shared plates in their upscale and thoughtful space. With so many enticing dishes, you’ll definitely want to share the plates to try more of them! The kitchen is led by Executive Chef Max Snyder, a born and raised Texan who worked his way up in kitchens in Austin, New York, and San Francisco.

The dining experience we had proved Pitchfork Pretty deserves its accolades.

The Tasting Menu

After looking through the menu, we decided to go for the tasting menu. I like that we got to try many of the dishes, and they were smaller portions than the typical dishes. Here are all the bites. (I wish I had better photos. I wasn’t expecting to blog this meal in depth but it was too impressive not to!)

Pickled Quail Egg

Pimento cheese, spicy crab crackers

East Coast Oyster, smoky mignonette

Trout roe on rye toast, onion jam and whipped neufchatel

Caviar, smoked egg yolk, cultured cream, potato panisse (favorite savory dish!)

Red snapper, frozen radish, buckwheat and tangerine

Grilled beets, citrus and blue cheese

Roasted maitake, spaghetti squash, coconut

Freshly milled hominy, acorn squash, cow peas and green garlic

Poached king salmon, pecan, beet, and couscous

Granita with grapes

Chocolate and caramel pudding with goat cheese ice cream (favorite sweet dish!)

Mint Chocolate Bark

We each had a late lunch that day, so we were stuffed by the time we were on the last bites. It was all so delicious! The dishes were packed with flavors, and it was hard to pick a favorite dish. If I had to pick a favorite sweet and savory dish it would be the potato panisse for savory and the chocolate and caramel pudding for sweet.

Though the courses came out a tad fast, we enjoyed the leisurely dinner and being able to talk and reconnect with each other after a long week. The service was attentive and excellent.

Conclusion

Tasting menu or not, Pitchfork Pretty should be on your list of restaurants to try. Last year, they were rated in the top restaurants by the Austin American-Statesman (they took the second spot) and made Texas Monthly‘s best new restaurants list. For an upscale restaurant, their dishes are fairly affordable. I would love to come back to try their Sunday brunch and their Banchan & BBQ nights on Mondays, hopefully not years later.

If you do try or have tried Pitchfork Pretty, let me know what your favorite dishes are!

Pitchfork Pretty Details

2708 E Cesar Chavez St, Austin, TX 78702

Website: http://pitchforkpretty.com

Hours

• Brunch: Sunday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
• Banchan & BBQ: Monday 5-10 p.m.
• Dinner: Tuesday – Thursday 5-10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 5-11 p.m.
• Happy Hour: Tuesday – Friday 5-6 p.m.

Parking: They have a parking lot but it was full when we arrived. We paid to park in a lot a block away.

The tasting menu is $65 per person while their dishes on the a la carte menu range from $7 to $37.

Happy hour specials include $3 off cocktails and beer, $12 off bottles of wine, and half price on snacks and appetizers.

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The post Eating Pitchfork Pretty’s Tasting Menu appeared first on Fearless Captivations.

We travel for good food. One of the reasons for our trip to Mexico City was the food and we were not disappointed! We knew we would enjoy many casual restaurants and street food, but I also made reservations at Pujol and Quintonil, which are both on the World’s Best 50 Restaurants list, ranked 20 and 22 respectively as of the 2017 list.

As I’ve noted here before, I enjoy a wide range of restaurants and I’m always curious about what makes a highly ranked and/or award-winning restaurant worth visiting. It’s about the quality of the ingredients, the creativity of the chefs, the beauty of the environment, the preciseness of the service, and how everything ties together for an unforgettable experience.

Our meals at Pujol and Quintonil did give us unforgettable experiences, though not quite in the ways we thought we would have. Read on for more about what we ate!

Pujol

We ate at Pujol for our first dinner in Mexico City. Since it was the first dinner of our trip and we had watched the Chef’s Table episode again right before the trip, we were low-key thrilled about our impending experience.

We were led to a table under the skylight and from my seat, I could see into the kitchen, the bar, and much of the restaurant. I liked that the restaurant was bright and open. They moved to the current restaurant location in 2017.

Pujol only offers a tasting menu, and I like that they present their menu, dated and with a wax seal like it’s a personal letter. They also offer a wine pairing option. One thing I didn’t like was the choices on the tasting menu. Four of the six courses had about three to four choices. It was hard to see all the enticing dishes and only be able to pick one. Also, I enjoy tasting menus because the chefs usually pick dishes and ingredients that I wouldn’t normally be familiar with, but I understand the ability to pick what protein or ingredients you prefer.

Alas, we game-planned and chose different dishes to try more food. Then the tasting part of the adventure began! They timed everything well and adjusted to how fast/slow guests were finishing their plates.

Course 1: We started with street snacks. I was very excited about the smoked baby carrot with chicatana ant mayonnaise in a gourd.

Course 2: Sea bass, cacahuatzintle juice, celery.

Course 2: Octopus, habanero ink, ayocote, vercruzana sauce. Of course, the octopus was cooked perfectly!

Course 3: Softshell crab, cucumber, daiko, shiso. These came with tortillas to make softshell crab tacos.

Course 3: Charred eggplant tamal, chard. This dish was another favorite. Underneath the chard leaf is the purple tamal, the best one I’ve ever had.

Course 4: Duck, black recado, nance, Ixil onions. This dish’s flavors were incredible!

Course 4: Ox tongue, barley, purslane, cactus. This dish was the least impressive of the dinner. While the meat was tender, all the flavors of the dish were very subtle.

I didn’t get any photos of the tortillas that came with multiple dishes but they were very noteworthy. In the Chef’s Table episode, one person notes that it was one of the best things he ate that year. I could see how that could be. You might think it’s just a tortilla. For someone who prefers flour tortillas, I would choose corn tortillas if they tasted like these every time. I never thought corn tortillas could taste this good!

Course 5: Mole madre 1591 days, mole nuevo. The mole is as good as they say. They take their previous day’s mole and add to it, so day by day, the mole madre is getting older. (See the story and recipe here.) There is incredible depth in the flavor of the mole madre yet the new mole also holds its own. The way the moles differ yet interact together with your taste buds was a culinary adventure. The dish came with a green tortilla with a leaf fused to it.

Course 6: The desserts were fantastic! Mango granite, vanilla. Anise infladita, chocolate, praline.

Pujol was everything I had imagined and more. We went in wide-eyed and eager to be enlightened. I knew it would be an impressive meal, but I didn’t know, though I had hoped, it would impact my thinking about the creativity and depth of Mexican cuisine. As good cuisine should, it opened my taste buds to new flavors and made me curious to learn and taste more. Thankfully, we had a whole weekend of eating to go!

Quick Info:

• If you are taking an Uber to the restaurant, the auto-fill address is wrong, taking you to the old location, so it’s best if you look up the address (Tennyson 133) and enter it manually. They’ve been trying to get Uber to fix it but it’s not happening. Thankfully, the staff at the restaurant next door to their old location are on the lookout for confused patrons trying to get to Pujol and will put you in the right direction and contact the restaurant to confirm you’re on the way. The new location is a 10-15 minute drive away.
• The pairings were perfect but a little much with the multiple courses! Next time I would ask if they could do half pours.
• Pujol Chef Enrique Olvera recently opened Molino el Pujol, a tortilleria with a menu of tacos, in Mexico City. He also has a restaurant called Cosme in New York City and is working on a Los Angeles restaurant. Pujol has been open since 2000.

Pujol Website
Tasting Pricing: I don’t have the exact amount but it’s about $100 USD per person. The pairings are additional.

Quintonil

I’m a little embarrassed to share about this fiasco of a meal but all I can do is accept that it happened and hope I get another opportunity to dine at Quintonil again!

First, our lunch at Quintonil was scheduled for our last day because with other activities planned and the weekend hours, it was the only time we could fit it in. They open at 1 pm and our flight was at 5:30 pm. I admit, this was a bad decision on my part and I recommend not doing this! We worried about the time it would take to get to the airport and get through security and figured it would be best to leave the restaurant around 2 pm, making the meal a little stressful for us and maybe even the wait staff. (Funny thing, when we arrived at the airport, we learned our flight was delayed two hours. Urgh!)

That morning, we both woke up around 4 or 5 am with food poisoning. We popped some stomach pills, hydrated, tried to sleep more, and lay in our hotel room until our check-out at noon. We were both feeling terrible but wanted to dine at Quintonil and knew there would be fees if we canceled our reservation.

The restaurant opened right on time and we were led to our table in the front part of the restaurant. The front part is an intimate space, with low ceilings and constant traffic. They do have a brighter and more open part of the restaurant past this front part.

We ordered a la carte because of our limited timing. We got two appetizers and two entrees. Feeling awful, I ate at most three small bites of each dish. After every course, the wait staff looked confused about why I wasn’t eating my food and asked if I liked it. Boyfriend was feeling better than I was and tried to eat as much of both of our plates as he could!

My taste buds were a little off so I can’t say I got the right flavors of the dishes from my few bites. Much of it tasted extra vibrant and rich. All of that said, here’s what we had!

Our meal started with tortillas, salsa, and black beans.

Before our appetizers, we got a palate cleanser.

Starter: Charred avocado tartare

Starter: Salbut with wild mushrooms confit. This was my favorite dish!

Entrees: Mole with vegetable. We also had the braised oxtail in black recado.

They even brought us a complimentary dessert! Soursop rocks with caramelized white chocolate and pink peppercorn. It was a really cool and tasty dessert.

I ended up apologizing to the hostess before we left, explaining that I was sick and leaving full plates of food had nothing to do with the food or service. The service was very on-point and the plates were beautifully presented. I’m sad I missed the majority of this meal!

Quick Info:

• Quintonil Chef Jorge Vallejo opened Quintonil in 2012 and previously worked at Pujol, mentored by Chef Enrique Olvera.

Quintonil Website
Tasting Pricing: $2050 MXN ($99 USD); $3450 MXN with pairings ($166 USD); a la carte menu available

Pujol or Quintonil?

Because of my skewed experiences, there’s no way I can give you a clear answer about which restaurant you should visit. I know people rave and have criticisms about both restaurants. You will certainly experience incredible service and noteworthy plating and creativity at both restaurants.

I will say that when I’m in Mexico City again, visiting both restaurants will be near the top of my list. There are many, many great restaurants in Mexico City and these two deserve the attention they receive.

If you want more fine dining options, check out Sud777, Nicos, Biko, Rosetta, and Maximo Bistrot. You can find descriptions of them here.

Quick Tips for Both Restaurants

• Make your reservations before your trip. Pujol’s reservations are available about six or seven months in advance (I made ours almost four months in advance) and Quintonil’s reservations are available 60 days prior.
• Both restaurants have lunch and dinner options.
• Arrive early. You never know about traffic in Mexico City. These restaurants have 15-minute tolerance policies for tardiness. Your reservation could be canceled and your credit card could be charged.

Conclusion

We savored dining at Pujol and Quintonil and the opportunity to be there. We live for culinary adventures that challenge our taste buds and introduce us to new chefs, and these two meals will be in our minds for a long time!

P.S. Want more dining experiences? Check out our experience at Nahm in Bangkok, Thailand.

P.P.S. Check out more of my Mexico City posts here:

• Mexico City Travel Guide
• Exploring Teotihuacan in Mexico City
• Museo Frida Kahlo in Mexico City
• Best Things to Do in Mexico City
• Eating and Drinking in Mexico City

Keep up with my travel posts and adventures. You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Bloglovin’. You can also subscribe to the exclusive email list.

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The post Eating at Pujol and Quintonil in Mexico City appeared first on Fearless Captivations.

*This post was originally posted in December 2016, and updates were made in May 2026.

About Nahm

As I was researching restaurants for our Thailand trip, I found that Nahm, a restaurant in Bangkok, was number 37 on the world’s 50 best restaurants list for 2016. (edit: they were on this list for 7 years!) I immediately made a reservation for us! Nahm was awarded a Michelin star in the inaugural Bangkok list in 2017 and has retained it every year since.

This Thai cuisine restaurant was opened and led by Chef David Thompson, an Australian trained in classical French cuisine with a long-standing passion for Thai cuisine. In addition to Nahm in Bangkok, he also has Thai restaurants in Singapore and Perth. Nahm in Bangkok was opened after Nahm in London, which once had a Michelin star but is now closed. As of 2018, Chef Thompson has exited the restaurant, and Thai-American chef Pim Techamuanvivit now leads it.

In 2016, the lunch tasting menu cost 1,600 baht per person, which was about $45 USD per person. In 2026, they only offer an 8-course dinner tasting menu, and it costs 3,767 baht per person (about $116 USD) for the vegan tasting and 4,591 baht per person (about $145 USD) for the heritage tasting.

This was easily one of our favorite meals of the trip!

Tasting Menu Experience

Let’s talk about the experience. The service was spot-on! Though we did wait a little longer than usual for our second round of drinks to arrive, everything else was flawless. Their attentive team moved like a well-oiled machine on the floor, serving guests with a keen eye. If they saw a way to serve, it was done without question. The flow of the dishes arriving was also timely.

In November 2016, Nahm offered a tasting menu for lunch, but they only offer dinner now. Here are the dishes we enjoyed on the tasting menu.

Amuse – This bite involved pineapple on the bottom and pork on top.

Egg Nets with Prawns, Wild Almond, and Kaffir Lime

Pork and Lobster with Shredded Ginger and Thai Citron

Scallop Salad with Coconut and Lemongrass

Hot and Sour Soup of River Prawn and Termite Mushrooms
and
Clear Soup of Roast Duck with Thai Basil and Young Coconut
(shown in the bowls below)

Panaeng Curry of Wagyu Beef with Peanuts, Shallots, and Thai basil

Steamed Coral Trout with Bang Rak Yellow Beans and Pickled Garlic

Sweet Thai Wafers with Poached Persimmon and Golden Duck Egg Noodles, Egg Yolk on the side

The soups of this meal made a big impression. They were absolutely incredible. While every dish was a brilliant explosion of Thai flavors, the soups were more complicated and demanded our attention. I also loved the panaeng curry with wagyu beef.

We also enjoyed some tasty cocktails.

This experience was the perfect meal to make my Chef’s Table dreams come true. The food was adventurous yet familiar, fancy yet approachable. The creativity, presentation, and flavors made Thai food shine and will be one of the best meals I’ve had so far. Cheers to more culinary adventures!

• Nahm is located in the COMO Metropolitan Bangkok Hotel. Address: 27 S Sathon Rd, Thung Maha Mek, Sathon, Bangkok 10120, Thailand
• Open for dinner daily 6 – 10 pm.
• See MAP for address and directions.
• Nahm Website Link

Want to see more Thailand eats and drinks? See my post about the best things to eat and drink in Thailand. See all the Thailand posts here.

Curious about other tasting menus I’ve enjoyed? See these posts:

• Dining at Room 4 Dessert in Ubud, Indonesia
• Dining at The French Laundry in Napa, California
• Eating at Pujol and Quintonil in Mexico City

The post Dining at Nahm in Bangkok, Thailand appeared first on Fearless Captivations.