UFF will be headlined by Gaggan’s Head Chef Rydo Anton (third from left). Photo: Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna.
Bangkok’s Gaggan was announced as the number one restaurant for the fourth consecutive year at the S. Pellegrino & Acqua Panna Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards in Macao last night. The Ubud Food Festival Presented by ABC (UFF) will be welcoming its Indonesian-born Head Chef Rydo Anton this 13–15 April.
Chef Rydo will be collaborating with Ubud’s Locavore for a sold out special event, and has his own demo showcasing Gaggan’s progressive Indian cuisine on The Kitchen Stage. “I am looking forward to the Festival and the food scene in Bali, to seeing how much it has progressed, and to collaborating with local chefs. I’m also looking forward to the ingredients,” he commented ahead of the event.
“There are lots of Indonesian food cultures with native ingredients that are yet to be explored. These facts need to be taken to the world stage. I’m very happy for Chef Ray and Chef Eelke from Locavore, for showing us some of these cultures already!”
The fine dining Ubud restaurant with a focus on local produce, Locavore made Indonesian history last year when it rocketed up the list from number 49 to 22. This year it inched closer to the top 20, edging up one position to number 21. Locavore remains Indonesia’s only entrant on the list.
Along with the collaborative dinner with Chef Rydo, the Locavore team will present two more special events, at their Research & Development arm LocaLAB, and new restaurant Nusantara. The Nusantara event is a collaboration with Ragil Imam Wibowo, recently voted Jakarta’s Best Chef at the inaugural Jakarta’s Best Eats Awards. Tickets to both are still available.
Previous UFF chefs on the 2018 list include Julien Royer of Singapore’s Odette which climbed to number 5; Dave Pynt of Singapore’s Burnt Ends which climbed to number 12; and Bo Songvisava and Dylan Thomas of Bangkok’s Bo.lan, at number 37 this year.
Ray Adriansyah and Eelke Plasmeijer of Ubud’s Locavore (no. 21 on the list) will be collaborating with Rydo Anton for a sold out special event. Photo: Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna.
“Congratulations to all the chefs on this year’s Asia’s 50 Best list, and especially to Ubud’s hometown heroes Locavore,” UFF Founder & Director Janet DeNeefe commented. “I am looking forward to tasting the results of their exciting collaborations, and to welcoming Gaggan’s Head Chef Mas Rydo back home to Indonesia,” she continued.
“The number of chefs on this year’s list who are friends of the Festival shows that we are Indonesia’s leading international culinary event, and reinforces our role in bringing together Asia’s best culinary talent in celebration of Indonesian food,” DeNeefe continued.
“Just as Locavore do, we put Indonesian produce and Indonesian talent in the spotlight. We’re now just over two weeks away from the fourth Ubud Food Festival, so we hope you’re feeling hungry!”
