The Viceroy Bali was my favourite hotel out of the six that we stayed in on our mini tour of Singapore and Bali. For me it epitomised what a hotel should be with perfect service, food and accommodation. Coupled with the gorgeous tropical location I think The Viceroy Bali made the absolute perfect romantic retreat for a honeymoon or a second honeymoon.
As I mentioned in my last post, CasCades restaurant, located in the hotel, served absolutely incredible food and there’s the opportunity to make it even more romantic with a gorgeous candlelit dinner on your own private table set apart from the restaurant.
Isn’t the set up with the heart cute? And we had a lovely view overlooking pool and into the jungle beyond…
We were so delighted with the setting that Mr S didn’t even mind his name change…
Cascades offers an extensive wine list to go along with their fantastic food and they’ve even received the Award of Excellence by Wine Spectator USA for the quality of the selection.
We began the five-course meal with a beautifully plated starter of tomato carpaccio, and as I included a photo of the menu, you’ll already know that this was paired with beetroot cream, basil sorbet, parmesan crisps and panna cotta. I loved the dish especially the inventive use tomatoes and the perfect pairing with the basil flavouring. The food at CasCades is highly sophisticated coming from Chef Nic Vanderbeeken who trained at Michelin-star restaurant Chez Bru before working in established restaurants across Europe, Vietnam and now Bali.
I simply loved this lobster ravioli in tomato emulsion, the pasta was so fine and the lobster inside beautifully juicy. The Australian family who own CasCades actually source fine produce such as this from across the globe, including the best Australian Wagyu, Canadian Lobster and French foie gras.
I did forgo my duck consomme to Mr S as I don’t like star anise, but he was very happy to have two bowls.
With a choice of main course on the menu, Mr S chose the aforementioned Wagyu with creamed spinach, truffle mash croquette, garden vegetables and rosemary sauce. Big apols for the quality of the photos but it was very dark and we didn’t want to annoy other diners with flashes or lights.
I love Barramundi or Asian sea bass, which I first tried in Australia, and my dish served with avocado tomato salsa, roasted cherry tomato, Sumatran crab and basil mash was totally delicious! As I mentioned previously in some of the hotels we stayed in the Western food wasn’t as good as the Indonesian. But at Cascades, it was as good if not better than the local cuisine. It obviously helps that there’s a European chef! 
With a choice of desserts, the obvious answer was both! My favourite was the deconstructed lemon tart with chocolate, citrus crumble and meringue. The other choice was chocolate crunch with milk chocolate, caramel mousse, honeycomb, meringue and marbled chocolate shards and that was incredible too and I loved the little piece of chocolate with the restaurant’s name on it! It was a really delicious tasting menu and not one where you feel like you need to be rolled home afterwards, though fortunately we didn’t to worry about this as we had the hotel’s buggy service to take us straight back!
Another super romantic thing to do at The Viceroy Bali is visit to the beautiful Lembah spa. I mean we were pretty relaxed already in this gorgeous jungle hideaway but the tranquility of the spa only added to our bliss 😉
We were booked in for a couple’s treatment at the spa which had a beautiful pavilion over looking the gorge and we were offered a dip in the sixty-eight jet jacuzzi before our treatment started. As well as our two hour treatment there’s lots of different packages allowing guests to be pampered and indulged as well as individual treatments such as facials (including their special oxygen Intraceuticals facials), massage, manicures and yoga.
A refreshing cold lemongrass tea, a pair of paper pants and a dressing gown later and we were ready to go, led into the couples treatment room to have our feet washed in lime-infused water.
The treatments at the Lembah spa combine Western knowledge with traditional Balinese techniques that are centuries old. Actually the name Ubud, the location of the hotel, means herb or medicine and the region is known as the centre for healing.
After our foot massage we lay down on the beds for a fabulously relaxing massage, though as you know I find it difficult to switch off so I kept trying to catch Mr Silver’s eye. I stopped bothering when he started snoring…Next we were scrubbed with lulur, a traditional Balinese body scrub and finally we were smothered head-to-toe in a cool and moisturising yogurt.
Finally, the spa therapists had arranged a warm flower bath for us to soak in after our treatment. Isn’t this gorgeous? How on earth do they do it? The spa therapists left us to ourselves to enjoy the warm, sweet-scented flower in the relaxed stillness of this beautiful place.
Did you do any special couples activities on your last holiday?
Our dinner and spa treatment were complimentary but that doesn’t effect my opinion, this hotel and everything about it is wonderful.
