Vintage Italy, Courtesy Of Bali

Bali’s Da Maria Italian restaurant is bringing a little piece of the Amalfi Coast to the other side of the world.

- Simon Yuen

Bali’s popularity as a tourist destination means it must cater to a wide range of appetites. Numerous restaurants offering cuisine from different parts of the world operate in busy areas such as Kuta, Denpasar and Nusa Dua. Adding to the culinary landscape in Seminyak, Maurice Terzini and Adrian Reed of Bali’s Motel Mexicola have joined forces to open Da Maria, aided by Carl Pickering of Italy-based architecture and design firm Lazarini Pickering Architects, who crafted the interiors. The result is a taste of vintage Italy in the heart of one of Bali’s busiest tourism districts.

“Terzini, who is proud of his Italian and Mediterranean roots, wanted to bring great, fresh Italian food to Bali along with his style of hospitality and drinks,” says Pickering. “We were inspired by the courtyard restaurants and bars of Capri and the Amalfi Coast. The fresh colours, rubber plants popular in the 1960s, fountains and super graphics were decontextualised and reinterpreted to create something that had never existed.”