Apéritif

The Verdict

Apéritif is the haute-cuisine restaurant that Ubud acquired in 2019 when restaurateur Yudhistira Harisandi opened it beside the Viceroy Bali resort, in a reconstructed 1920s Dutch colonial mansion. The building is the restaurant's defining feature — double-height ceilings, black-and-white marble floors, crystal chandeliers, leather banquettes in a dining room that would not be out of place in Shanghai's French Concession or Bucharest's Calea Victoriei. It is a deliberately cinematic room, and it is enormous by Ubud standards.

Belgian chef Nic Vanderbeeken — who previously cooked at Peter Goossens's three-star Hof van Cleve and at Jean Bardet in France — runs the kitchen. The cuisine is French in technical foundation but Indonesian in pantry. A Wagyu course is dressed with a reduction of kluwek (an Indonesian black nut traditionally used in Javanese rawon); a river prawn is cooked in a sambal-matah butter; a dessert course uses local cacao from Tabanan. The tasting menu runs six or eight courses and changes quarterly.

The wine programme is kept in a glass-walled cellar that forms the centre of the dining room — a deliberate architectural decision. Apéritif's list is the deepest in Ubud for aged Burgundy and grower champagne, and the sommelier's pairings lean into the French tradition the chef is trained in.

Apéritif has been recognised by Tatler as one of Indonesia's best restaurants for three consecutive years, and the restaurant remains, for visitors who want the full theatrical fine-dining experience, the room to book. The second-floor bar, Copper, is open without reservation and serves an abbreviated menu that has become one of Ubud's quieter destination experiences.

Why It Works for Proposal

Apéritif is Ubud's restaurant for the evening that needs to impress. The building itself does the work before the food arrives. For a client dinner where the atmosphere has to land instantly — or for a proposal that wants the full theatrical register — this is the Ubud address that performs. Request a window table looking into the garden.

Also in Ubud

For travellers building a longer Ubud itinerary, see the full Best Restaurants in Ubud index and the dedicated Proposal occasion page. Related regional itineraries include the full Cities Directory and — for readers planning a longer Asian swing — the Impress Clients and Proposal global lists.