Come To Mama
There’s a new kid on the block in the Balinese resort town of Seminyak. Chloe Street soaks up the boho beachy vibe at the first hotel by the group behind the wildly popular Potato Head lifestyle venues
ould you like your welcome mojito served here or in your suite, Miss?” And there you have it: this is how all hotel check-ins should begin. I am standing in Akademi, the supercool terrazzo- and vinyllined bar of the brand new Katamama hotel in Seminyak, Bali, where a smiley staff member clad in fisherman pants is prioritising my refreshment over the usual check-in rigmarole of photocopying credit cards and scanning passports. In fact, Katamama has done away entirely with anything so dull as a reception area, instead designating, rather sensibly, the bar as the focal and meeting point of the hotel.
I opt to enjoy the rather excellent arrival mojito in the seclusion of my rooftop suite, where a staff member arrives to make it fresh in front of me while I recline on the balcony. Each of the 58 suites—all the rooms are suites—has a balcony or slice of garden, and they all have vast, white-tiled bathrooms with generous tubs, monsoon showers and locally produced shower products. They’re equipped with everything you might need, from a beach bag and sarong (locally produced and naturally dyed with indigo, of course) to the discreetly hidden charging cables for every phone or gadget you could possibly be carrying. Water comes in large, eco-friendly glass bottles. There
is a pleasing lack of plastic throughout the hotel—even the bar uses paper straws.
The suite’s “maxi” bar comes fully stocked with large bottles of house-infused spirits, spicy homemade negroni mixes and a full cocktail-making kit. The kit and the chestlike snack box are made by local artisans, the latter filled with a selection of delicious and healthy Balinese treats of cashew nuts, cereal bars and dried mango.
I have been in the hotel nearly half an hour before anyone asks me to sign anything, and it is this uber-chilled, no-nonsense vibe that sets Katamama apart from other five-star counterparts. “We got together and tried to pinpoint the things about hotels that we hated, and we eliminated them,” says Andrew Steele, managing director of the hotel division of PTT Family, the hospitality and lifestyle group founded by Balinese businessman Ronald Akili. The group opened its first venture, Potato Head Jakarta, in 2009 and has since added the Potato Head Beach Club Bali (a stone’s throw from Katamama), Jakarta’s Potato Head Garage (a steakhouse), the Three Buns burger and cocktail outlets in Jakarta and Singapore, Potato Head Folk in Singapore, and, most recently, an outpost in Hong Kong’s Sai Ying Pun neighbourhood. The hotel is the first of three planned for the Seminyak area, along with a second beach club in nearby Canggu.
Katamama is directly behind the Potato Head Beach Club, a massive open-air party hotspot with a capacity for 3,500 whose coliseum-like walls are constructed from 1,000 pastel-coloured antique wooden shutters. Somewhat differing in style, the angular, brutalist edifice of the hotel has been built with 1.4 million of the locally handmade red bricks used in the island’s temples. Their dominance is striking, and particularly pleasant when the light dapples and shines through them at different points of the day.
Designed by renowned Indonesian architect and longtime PTT collaborator Andra Matin, the property feels very Balimeets-brooklyn, with geometric patterns and ’60s and ’70s references permeating throughout. Vintage furniture (many pieces from Akili’s personal collection), brightly coloured woven rugs and more than 100 items of Indonesian contemporary art decorate the lofty, airy spaces. The emphasis on supporting Balinese craftsmanship extends throughout. All the textiles and baskets are made with local materials and natural dyes by a business in Ubud, Threads of Life, which supports
Sun’s up
Don’t miss dancing to Disclosure and Mark Ronson at the Sunny Side Up festival, which takes place on August 13 and 14 at the Potato Head Beach Club.
retail the tale
Forgot your bikini? Don’t fret. Seminyak is stuffed full with droolworthy beachwear boutiques. Plenty of opportunities to splash that hard-earned holiday cash about.
shore thing
As fabulous as the hotel is, make sure you toddle through the beach club and onto Seminyak beach itself. It really is a cracker, particularly early in the morning before the other punters arrive.