One of Indonesia’s (and South East Asia’s) most celebrated restaurant concepts, Locavore NXT in Ubud, Bali is the epitome of what the team calls “a localised rebellion”. With local communities and sustainable practices at the core of their philosophy, this is so much more than a restaurant. It is a celebration of community, art, design, and above all – provenance.
Terms like “sustainability” have become commonplace in F&B media kits we often receive. But rarely do we come across one that breathes the ideology like Locavore NXT does. Eating local is not just an act of compulsion to this team, neither is it a fad – it is an intentional rebellion against the urge to seek fulfilment from outside or assume that what is foreign, is “better”. Chef-partners and co-founders Eelke Plasmeijer and Ray Adriansyah are committed to proving that all culinary greatness can be achieved by working with the land around them and have taken every care to collaborate with local communities and farmers to find hyperlocal solutions to their culinary escapades. From locally grown cacao and jackfruit to coffee and mangosteen, there is a plethora of ingredients for the chefs to play with. Seasonal 20 course tasting menus take centrestage at Locavore NXT and guests can expect something new every few months.
FOOD & DRINK
Locavore’s approach to food goes beyond simply using local ingredients—it’s about crafting a narrative with every dish. The restaurant reimagines traditional Indonesian and Balinese flavours in a modern iteration, and presents the island’s abundant produce in an entirely new light. What sets Locavore NXT apart is its remarkable ability to elevate seemingly humble ingredients into culinary masterpieces. Courses showcase familiar staples like tempeh, cassava, banana blossoms, and sago, but are reimagined in surprising and exciting ways. The drinks programme at the adjoining bar, where the journey begins, is in sync with the ethos of Locavore, offering cocktails made from locally sourced spirits and ingredients, and created to pair beautifully with the food. The restaurant also embraces sustainability through cooking techniques like fermentation, curing, and pickling, which not only enhance the flavours but also help minimise waste. This commitment to sustainability extends beyond the kitchen, with the team actively implementing an onsite waste management program. By carefully managing food scraps and waste materials, the restaurant reduces its environmental footprint and ensures that nothing goes to waste. From ingredient preparation to waste disposal, sustainability is integrated into every aspect of the dining experience, reflecting Locavore’s dedication to both exceptional food and a greener future.
DESIGN
Conceived by Agency X and Budi Pradono Architects in Bali, Locavore NXT is a creative hub that merges fine dining with cutting-edge sustainability. This new flagship location redefines the guest experience by seamlessly integrating eco-conscious thinking into every space. Inspired by tropical brutalism, the design reimagines the structure’s relationship with its surrounding environment, creating a modular layout that unfolds across three levels—basement, ground, and roof—housing over 30 rooms and specialised facilities. The result is a dynamic, multi-functional space where architecture, nature, and innovation converge and where the lines between nature and nurture are blurred in the best ways possible.
A kitted out fermentation unit on site has a diligent team of chefs constantly at work, developing koji strains, miso, tempeh and all kinds of fermented goodness to boost the flavours of each dish, while the in-house mushroom chamber is a marvel in itself, home to rare and unique varieties, including the highly coveted Lion’s Mane mushroom. The B.I.O Library (Biodiversity Interactive Open-Source Library), a first-of-its-kind 3D digital record of edible ingredients, developed in partnership with Digital Nativ, is a marvel of technology and design, providing an interactive experience for guests to explore the unique ingredients and produce the team works with.
CAUSES & COMMUNITY
Locavore’s commitment to community extends beyond the kitchen, fostering meaningful engagement for charitable causes. In a recent exclusive pop-up dinner to raise funds for the Amisewaka – Desa Les Community Center, ten renowned chefs from some of Asia’s finest restaurants gathered at Locavore to craft a special menu. The catch? They were presented with a mystery box of locally foraged ingredients on the morning of the event, sourced from nearby farms, and tasked with teaming up to create a one-of-a-kind dining experience to support the cause.
10 chefs, 5 teams, 5 mystery boxes.
The chefs and their creations:
TEAM WHITE BAIT
Ray Adriansyah (Locavore NXT, Indonesia) & Prateek Sadhu (Naar, India)
Burnt Heart: Charred palm hearts, roasted banana roots, surinam cherry
We Can’t Fu*k This Up: Lamb shoulder, heritage rice, green snow, lamb broth
TEAM COCKLES
Darren Teoh (Dewakan, Malaysia) & Arnaud Hauchon (Herbivore, Indonesia)
Snails on Bread: Crispy breadfruit, snails, chorizo noni java plum gremolata with herbs and flowers
Tripe& Jackfruit: Grilled jackfruit, cockles stuffed with jackfruit seeds, breaded tripe
TEAM SPARROW
David Lai (Neighborhood, Hong Kong) & Ivan Brehm (Nouri, Singapore)
Into The Wild: Tubers, fermented durian emulsion, fried sparrow and crickety crunch, too many flowers and herbs
Bali Mala: Rock lobster, tropical mala curry, Bali seaweed
TEAM SAGO WORM
Eelke Plasmeijer (Locavore NXT, Indonesia) & Chalee Kader (Wana Yook, Thailand)
Snake & Worm: Mushroom, sago worm curry, snake fruit
Purple Rain: Black sticky rice and mangosteen
TEAM SKATE WING
Richie Lin (Mume, Taiwan) & Stephan Duhesme (Metiz, Philippines)
Wings & Ears: Skate wings, pig ears, leaves, Singapore cherry
Richie & Stephan’s Sweet World: Eggplant spirulina miso, mango, sweet potato and aloe vera
The funds raised from this night were donated to Amisewaka – Desa Les Community Center, which helps young people in Bali develop skills for employment in hospitality. Several alumni of this programme are now full time employees at Locavore NXT. Through the 12 month programme at DLCC, students are provided with intensive education and training, with the goal of graduating with a Certificate III in Cookery, equipping them with specialised skills in the culinary arts. A unique feature of this programme at DLCC is the integration of the Living Values platform, through which students are encouraged to embody and apply values such as mutual respect and teamwork in their personal and professional journeys. You can find out more about Amisewaka – Desa Les Community Center here.
NXT Trivia
550 tons – the weight of soil on the rooftop edible forest, planted to create a livable habitat for over 300 varieties with 30,000 individual plants/seedlings and to allow nature to reclaim the building.
2 – the number of different bee colonies that live in multiple rooftop hives to help with the local area pollination and eventually for small-scale honey production. The bees are Apis Cerana (stinging bee) and Trigona, or as the locals call them, Kele Kele (stingless black bee). The latter make the most delicious, slightly acidic honey.
0 – the amount of waste from NXT that ends up in landfills. Instead, waste is treated by Black Fly larvae that live in the on-site Organic Wellness Center, a custom-designed system to process waste without the use of landfills. The larvae turn the waste into compost and fertiliser,
13 – the number of mushroom varieties currently growing in the mushroom chambers. They include both lesser known varieties from Indonesia, as well as more well known varieties that Chefs Ray and Eelke love to cook with.
257 – the number of local ingredients currently in the B.I.O. Library (Biodiversity Interactive Open-Source Library), an innovative collaboration between the research team, Agency X and Digital Nativ to digitally document the incredible biodiversity of Bali and wider Indonesia. The library’s vision is ‘research you can touch’ and captures the characteristics and application of various ingredients in an interactive and dynamic platform that hopefully one day will allow others to contribute from all over the world.
It is truly special to witness the Locavore NXT team at work to make this somewhat utopian dream come true. As one sits back and savours each course with Bjork and Radiohead providing the hypnotic soundtrack, one can’t help but marvel at the tremendous team effort that went into bringing this vision to life. Locavore NXT is not afraid to push limits and boundaries, and it is this bold stance that creates such a fertile playground for the chefs to push their creative limits and dive into the deepest depths of what the land has to offer. It’s been a while since we immersed ourselves in such an intriguing dining experience and we cannot recommend it enough.
Follow Locavore NXT here.
Make a reservation here.
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