Chedi Ubud Fields Organic Menu from Local Fields

(UBUD, Bali) The slow-food movement has crawled almost to a standstill in the lush uplands of Bali where the Chedi Club Tanah Gajah Ubud is now plating lunch and dinner fare sprung largely from the grounds of the resort. While farmto-table movements are on the rise, Chef Khairudin ‘Dean’ Nor is doing the movement one better by cutting out the costs of transportation almost entirely. The resort is rolling out lunch and dinner options every Monday and Thursday with ingredients harvested within 100m of the table. The catfish are caught from a pond behind the garden. The yams grow behind that villa over there. The cinnamon was ground from bark on a tree by the pool.

The 2 - 2.5 hour experience is equal parts horticultural survey, food prep and dining, under the able hand of a Singaporean-born chef who has stood at the culinary helm of the Chedi Club for seven years. The experience begins with a fortifying drink, and a wade into the organic garden where the maestro holds court among citronella, various basils (holy & purple) curry leaves and Vietnamese coriander. Dean explains the story behind each plant, its properties, how it grows, what it’s used for, when to harvest, and other little-known oddities.