Profile: Phil Davenport

You're in Bali and the sun's going down on another day in paradise. The place to be is KuDeTa bar and restaurant on the water's edge at Seminyak - the beach area that is one of the chicest parts of this holiday destination, lined with luxury hotels, world-class restaurants and private villas.

Visitors and locals alike flock to KuDeTa - a mecca of uber-style where the beautiful people congregate for breakfast, lunch and dinner or simply to lie on the daybeds poolside, drinking cocktails. In the height of the season, KuDeTa can turn out close to 1000 covers on a day - and then there are the world-renowned special events.

Planned already for the next few months are gigs by London's The Brand New Heavies, Heather Small of M People, a fashion show by designers Dsquared2 who will visit from Milan to launch their latest swimwear collection, and international DJs such as The Godfather of House Music, Frankie Knuckles, and Dave Seaman who will play KuDeTa's famous White Party.

At the hub of it all is 35-year-old Kiwi Phil Davenport, who as KuDeTa group executive chef runs a kitchen with more than 100 staff, and oversees the different zones - from the open-air restaurant areas to the pizza kitchen and the chic bars including Kuve which runs around the rooftop of the restaurant.

Here people can nibble on premium tapas such as Wagyu beef and Japanese tuna belly sashimi, oysters, caviar and cuts of Iberico pallet jamon imported from Spain, while they drink serious cocktails created by the resident mixologists.

"KuDeTa is like a luxury hotel without the rooms," explains Davenport with an enthusiastic sparkle in his eyes, "and for me it's a real playground for food where really there are no boundaries. I have the luxury of having an incredible array of fresh seafood, fruit and vegetables on my doorstep, and then we import specialty products from overseas like foie gras and special cheese from France, oysters from America."

Davenport was born and bred in Wellington. He trained to be a chef at the local Polytech after leaving school and got his first taste of working in kitchens in restaurants such as Brasserie Flip and the Yacht Club Restaurant.

At 21 he headed off to Australia where he spent nine years, starting out in Sydney's Sheraton Hotel and spending the last three and half years as head chef at Hugo's - one of Sydney's most popular restaurants and a favourite haunt of the city's celebrities.

"It was a great stepping stone," says Davenport, who couldn't resist the call to London when it came. There he opened Aura, an exclusive private members' supper club in Mayfair and ran it for two years, before heading to Antigua in the Caribbean to consult on the opening of the Hermitage Bay Hotel.

"When I got the call, three and half years ago, to come and work in Bali I was thrilled. I had visited and fallen in love with the place back in 2003 and was very excited about having the opportunity to mix my style of cooking - French and European - with the other chefs in the kitchen who come from from all around the world. Plus, there was the opportunity to make the most of the local style of food. Indonesian food is amazing, I eat it every day. In the restaurant we play around with classic dishes and then put our stamp on it.

"For example there's a traditional dish using fish or chicken and spices in a banana leaf - we might do that with quail which we slow cook in the oven but using a French technique to make it a little more gourmet. It's wonderful to be able to help teach the Indonesians that their flavours are amazing and how we can make it a little more gourmet.

"We always use the local spices. There are some amazing peppers, for example, that you wouldn't see anywhere else. And, after all, Indonesia has the oldest spice islands in the world, so there's a lot of really interesting stuff. We use a lot of amazing sugars and salts, which an American couple make in the hills - beautiful flavoured turmeric salts or ginger sugars."

One of the biggest events on the KuDeTa calendar - and top of Davenport's to-do list right now - is the I'm An Angel Charity Dinner and Auction which this year celebrates its 10th anniversary on July 31. The charity aims to help local Indonesian communities with health and education, by supplying fresh water or vaccinations.

Davenport is working with visiting chef Frenchman Manu Feidel of L'etoile Restaurant in Sydney to create a night to remember.

The pair has planned a five-course dinner with dishes such as quail and truffle kiev, bouillabaisse with baby lobster, Perigord truffle with cauliflower mornay pie and pan roasted wagyu sirloin.

In the past two years KuDeTa has raised more than US$100,000 ($145,000) for the charity through VIP events and all-year-round donating of a percentage from some dishes on the menu to the charity.

"We take our events very seriously," says Davenport. "It's not uncommon to spend over US$50,000 on props alone. That's why it's a world-renowned party destination."

Keeping a balance in such a high-paced environment comes easily for Davenport; after all, Bali is a great place to unwind.

"Plus, working with the Balinese has really changed the way I work with people. I'm not always cool, calm and collected in the kitchen, I definitely have my moments. But you see these kind, smiling faces every day, so it helps keep everything in perspective. It's great."

On his days off, Davenport heads to the local markets, checks out other restaurants on the island or goes exploring.

"There's so much of Indonesia than is raw and untapped." But don't expect to find this go-getter lying on a beach for too long. He has plans for a book on Indonesian cooking and a travel show based on the region.

"I just the love the people, the food, the culture. It's great to be able to share it."

* To find out more about KuDeTa and its special events go to kudeta.net and for more information on the I'm An Angel Charity, go to imanangel.org.