We talk with serial restauranteur Mauro Marcucci about Il Locale Produzione Artigianale, his exciting new eatery in Bali’s thriving Berawa neighbourhood.
With a career that spans leading restaurants, bars and cafes across Australia, including Sydney’s popular Baccomatto Osteria, which he still helms, at the heart of Mauro Marcucci’s culinary philosophy is home cooking and hospitality.
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This is something that’s immediately evident at his newest venture, Il Locale, a celebration of Italian flavours in Bali’s bustling Berawa. With its modern, industrial-chic interiors and menu laced with timeless Italian dishes given subtle but enticing twists, the exciting new eatery lives up to the mantra ‘true to Italy, true to nature’.
What inspired your recent move to Bali?
Bali has been on my radar for over 30 years; I’ve been coming here for holidays and always loved the island. I’ve had passed opportunities that never came to fruition.
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You’ve had restaurants in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane: tell us about those
We started with Caffe e Cucina in Melbourne, which became a roaring success, and then we opened Il Bacaro in the city of Melbourne and that was a huge success as well. We went on to open restaurants like Pizza e Birra in Brisbane, Beccofino and Millevini in Sydney followed by Enopizzeria, Italian Street Kitchen and Baccomatto Osteria in Sydney.
Most of these places are still open and are institutions – they are revolving around the love of Italian products and culture. We had cafés, restaurants, pizzerias and wine bars and they all had the same thing in common, which is authentic Italian food created with lots of passion reflected by great interiors and service, and a unique personality.
What makes cities like Sydney and Melbourne such great dining cities?
Melbourne and Sydney have an amazing variety of food at international standards. The produce is fantastic as is the interior design of many places. Mostly, diners in those cities are blessed with a huge mixture of culinary cultures.
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What do you think of the Bali dining scene?
Bali’s dining scene seems to be evolving at the speed of light. In Canggu in particular it’s starting to move to more specialised restaurants that stick to their guns, meaning to their true product rather than mixing every cuisine, which is what used to happen in the past. You’d have Italian restaurants with some Indonesian food or vice versa, leading to restaurants without a real identity.
What most surprised you once you moved to the island?
What surprised me most was the amount of traffic! As for the rest – I’ve known Bali for a long time, so there weren’t many surprises.
What are the biggest challenges to opening a restaurant in Bali so far?
Staff skills training, the climate and the amount of dust.
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Tell us about your chef who moved to Bali with you
Francesco Di Gioia is from Puglia. He’s graduated from the hospitality school there and worked in Puglia as well as around Italy, London, New Zealand and Sydney in some of the best places in town and of course for me for a number of years.
What’s the secret to a great Italian restaurant and how are customer expectations shifting?
The secret to a great Italian restaurant is the quality of the food and the hospitality of the host. As Italians, we are naturally born hosts so in any true Italian restaurant there should be a true host. Customer expectations are about good products and value for money as well as a great ambience, with ethically sourced ingredients and organic products leading to real food without pesticides and chemical interventions.
In Bali, we wanted to do simple, honest Italian handcrafted food in a venue that makes you feel like you’re at home. With chef Francesco, we wanted to create a place where everything is produced by hand. And since the Balinese culture is just as focused on the artisanal, we thought the concept would fit here really nicely.
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Wine is a big part of the Italian dining experience – do you find it hard to source the wines you need in Bali?
The wine supply has improved now. You can get reasonably good wines at reasonable prices; while it’s still a bit far from what you can get in Europe or Australia, it’s heading in the right direction. At Il Locale, we are also serving cocktails and the concept is simple: we’ve combined an Indonesian touch with Italian beverage culture, using plenty of local produce and businesses.
Your newest venture is located in Berawa. Do you find it’s becoming a culinary destination?
I think Berawa has a good variety of places, but I don’t really know if there are enough good ones to make it a proper international destination just yet. Definitely Bali as a whole does.
What are some of your favourite restaurants in Bali?
Indigo, Mason, Shelter, Bonito, Riviera, La Lucciola for its position and probably Mauri for its degustation menu and quality.
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What’s the most popular dish at Il locale so far?
All of the hand-rolled pasta made with semolina water and flour as well as the zucchini flowers and the pizzettas. Antipastos like Carpaccio and Cured Beef Bresaola are becoming very popular as well.
We see you’ve incorporated arak into your panna cotta; will we see any other local touches?
Definitely. There will be more local products used moving forward.
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At Il Locale, you make all the pasta fresh daily. What else are you making from scratch and what message do you want to convey to diners through this effort?
We call it Il Locale produzione artigianale. So we make everything from scratch. That’s what artisan production means. Except for cheeses and cured meats, everything is made from scratch. Eventually, we would like to cure our meats but with Bali’s climate, it will be a bit of a challenge.
What about sustainability – is it harder to maintain green credentials in Indonesia?
Not really. There are some suppliers that we source all of our veggies and fish from that are sustainable suppliers and we try and source most of the other ingredients from equal suppliers.
