Mediaboss Marketing

KARA NEWMAN

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LOCAL SPIRIT: Holiday makers enjoy a cocktail at Ku De Ta on Bali's Seminyak Beach.

Pastry chef Will Goldfarb is living every stressed-out urbanite's dream.

After several successful years in New York running a dessert-centric restaurant with a cult following, he picked up and moved to the tropical paradise of Bali and is now executive pastry chef at Ku De Ta, a restaurant and beach club with a cult following.

"[Bali's] local drinking culture is very sophisticated these days," Goldfarb says, adding that there's lots of fresh young talent working hard behind the bar to impress the international clientele.

The iconic tipple here is a spirit called arak. "The ultimate local beverage would probably be... an Arak Madu with honey and lime," notes Goldfarb.

(Not to be confused with arrack, an anise-flavoured spirit popular in some Middle Eastern countries, Bali's arak is distilled either from coconut palm sap or a mix of black glutinous rice and coconut milk.)

Although inexpensive, arak can be found at bars catering to locals and budget-minded tourists, Bali's more upscale restaurants and cocktail lounges tend to promote pricier rum and vodka drinks, mixed with tropical fruit such as mango and passionfruit, and Asian-inspired flavourings like ginger and lemongrass.

Fiery arak is usually available for the asking, though. (Stick to reputable bars though - homemade arak has been linked to poisonings of tourists and locals)

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