It’s now the middle of August, which means we are in the Bali High Season, and that means the island should be full of tourists and parties going on everywhere. However, this year it seems a little different and besides the KUDETA White Party it looks mostly the same as any other week. Which I must say is kinda weird since there will be a surge of tourist arrivals from around the country and region this weekend. But anyway, let’s enjoy it like we always do and in the end the venues will be glad to see there are not any festivals or beach parties going on and they can keep the punters to themselves.
Last week we had a visit from our Jakarta friend Ms Penny again, which always gets us out into the night with the added blur of liberal amounts of alcohol in the mix. She by no means is an alcoholic, nor am I, but she doesn’t mind a tipple and some experienced friends to join the festivities. That’s where we come into it. One interesting stop we made was at Will Meyrick’s new venture Buzo on Jalan Kayu Aya. The former, vacuous Envie downstairs restaurant has been transformed into something nothing less than superb, which Will told me during the evening that he designed himself. Very crafty indeed. Not only that, but he has also created a beautiful and tasty menu apparently inspired by a recent trip to Tokyo and Kyoto.
The story goes that he found many Italian influences in the small Izkaya restaurants in those cities so he had the idea of pushing the boundaries of these contrasting cuisines and flavours and came up with Buzo! With a name like that you would need to be supplying a decent drink and they don’t let you down. From their own home-brewed pale ales and excellent cocktail list there is no end of tasty drinks and also loads of otsumami, or Japanese small bites, to be wash them down, too. It is actually an enormous menu also featuring larger dishes to choose from. The dining room itself for me was a knock out and hard to believe putting a bar in the middle of an empty room could make such a radical change to the atmosphere. Buzo comes well recommended!
Next night KU was flying in all its glory with the Runway to White Party fashion show presented right in the front of the style and genre defining venue. Running straight up the middle of the garden, it was quite a show, but it seemed some people didn’t get the memo that it was not a white party. I wore a white stripe on my black shirt in homage to the White Party this week, some others could have left their white threads to this week, though.
The idea was to check the latest white garments designed by local designers, which have been available all this week in the restaurant itself. Anyway, as you can see, anticipation for this year’s White Party is just about peaking.
We dropped down to The Orchard again on Saturday night to catch our dear friends and band, Balian performing their classic 90’s style rock originals again and once more they nailed it. They obviously need to practice some more of their own penned tracks to fill up the full slot, as they had to finish off with some covers, but as I said on a post, they were there proving that rock has not died – just yet, again. Later we ended up in the house of the underground, Red Ruby once more. Having my nephew in town to show around kept the party going till all hours.
So, the party goes on…. There is always so much going on around this island. It’s crazy. Tonight, in particular, is nothing less than incredible, with so many classy shows on around town. Check the Events pages above for what’s on this weekend.
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Highlights in the Bali nightlife this week? There are always plenty of parties and shows on around the island…. Bali never ceases to amaze! Check out all the events, both featured and regular, on thebeatbali.com/bali-events.
Happy week to you all.
