Seasalt at Alila Seminyak
Seasalt is unlike any other, rather than choosing a regional culinary genre as its inspiration in creating its menu, the oceanfront restaurant chooses the sea and its biggest commodity – the salt – as its muse. Executive Chef Vivian Vitalis combines fresh seafood and local produce with modern contemporary cooking techniques and adds a twist of Japanese, which result in a state-of-the-art culinary presentation that tastes as delicious as it is innovative. “To combine these elements, from the treasures of the sea that is the seafood itself to the dish on your table, we need to create not only something beautiful, but also something memorable in terms of flavour and presentation,” Vivian explained.
The unique fusion of ideas and inspirations at Seasalt can be witnessed early on, as before you start your meal, you will be guided through the signature Seasalt
Ritual. A centrepiece that portrays what Seasalt is about is served, looking like a lump of sea salt encrusted with shells and surrounded by coral. Right next to it is a tray of sourdough and a little wooden mallet. Your host of the evening will use the mallet to crack the sea salt crust, unveiling a small rilette of mackerel, butter and mayonnaise, wrapped in seaweed – ready to be spread on the sourdough.
While the menu of Seasalt is filled with creative seafood dishes (and a handful of non-seafood selections too), and we understand it can be hard to choose only one or two, Vivian suggests diners try Seasalt’s signature white snapper. The dish is baked in salt crust – a technique originating from Sicily, Italy – resulting in perfectly succulent and seasoned fish.
The snapper comes with five Japaneseinfluenced sides – or as they say, “sea sides” – including potato katsuobushi salad, yuzu cucumber sesame salad and dashi butter lemon sauce. It’s definitely a unique melting pot of culinary creativity.