Sustainable Dining in Ubud: Inside Syrco BASÈ Bali's Kitchen
Sustainability in a restaurant is easy to discuss and much harder to practise. At Syrco BASÈ in Ubud, Bali, it is approached as a series of daily decisions: what to buy, who to work with, how much of an ingredient to use, where waste goes and how the kitchen can respond to nature instead of trying to control it.
Founded by two-Michelin-starred chef Syrco Bakker, Syrco BASÈ brings together a restaurant, bar, shop, regenerative garden and KU Culinary Atelier, an intimate chef's counter for a maximum of 12 guests. The entire destination is guided by Traceability, Nature and Transparency. These values give sustainability a practical framework and connect what happens in the kitchen to the land, sea and communities beyond it.
For guests interested in sustainable dining in Bali, the experience begins with a simple question: where does everything come from?
Sustainability Starts Before the Kitchen
The impact of a dish is shaped long before cooking begins. Syrco BASÈ therefore places traceability at the centre of sourcing.
The team builds direct relationships with farmers, fishermen, growers and makers known as the Bali Heroes. Understanding their methods helps the kitchen choose products more responsibly and plan around genuine availability. Oka, one of the restaurant's fishermen, works on supply rather than demand, sharing the fish he has caught each morning. The menu responds to the sea instead of requiring the sea to deliver the same product every day.
Similar attention is given to Mansur rice, a local heritage rice from Bali produced by one of our Bali Heroes, Begawan, as well as vegetables, poultry, heritage pork, tea and other ingredients. When something cannot be sourced locally, origin and production methods still matter. Sustainability begins with information, because a kitchen cannot improve the impact of choices it does not understand.
Cooking with Nature, Not Against It
Nature is not treated as a constant supply system at Syrco BASÈ. It changes, and the kitchen has to change with it.
The regenerative garden makes this visible every day. Herbs, flowers, vegetables and tropical plants grow according to Bali's heat, rain and soil. The team harvests what is ready and adapts when something is not. This may mean changing a garnish, replacing an ingredient or allowing a dish to evolve across the season.
That flexibility requires more work, but it keeps the menu connected to the environment around it. It also protects the identity of each product. Rather than forcing an ingredient into a fixed role, the chefs look at its flavour, maturity and availability before deciding what it should become.
Keeping Green Waste in the Cycle
A sustainable kitchen must also consider what leaves the plate and preparation bench. Syrco BASÈ keeps its green waste in-house, giving it another destination instead of treating it as the end of the story.
Organic waste is processed through systems including black soldier fly composting and returned to the regenerative garden to enrich the soil. Fermentation and preservation allow the kitchen to work with surplus, offcuts and moments of abundance. Rainwater is collected and used within the wider operation.
This creates a working cycle: the garden supplies the kitchen and bar; the kitchen returns nutrients to the garden. It is not completely closed and it is not presented as perfect. It is a practical system that continues to improve as the team learns what works.
Whole-Product Thinking
Waste reduction becomes most meaningful when it influences cooking itself. The chefs look at the whole ingredient and ask how each part can be valued.
Fish selection begins with the day's catch, which encourages flexibility across species and cuts. A whole Balinese duck can be dry-aged, its breast cooked rosé while the remaining meat carries the flavour of betutu inside a roulade. Chicken skin becomes the crisp shell of a tartlet. Ferments create depth from ingredients that may otherwise have a short life.
This way of working does more than reduce waste. It opens new creative possibilities. Limitation becomes part of the culinary process, asking the team to use technique with purpose.
Materials and Makers Matter Too
The thinking behind Syrco BASÈ's kitchen extends into the dining room. Local artisans make ceramics and knives. Recycled glassware gives existing material a new form. The Shop provides a platform for Indonesian craftsmanship, while filtered water systems reduce dependence on imported bottled water.
These details matter because a restaurant's footprint is not created by food alone. Tableware, water, waste, transport and purchasing all form part of the same operation. Working with makers closer to home also keeps skills, stories and value within the community.
Transparency Without Claiming Perfection
Syrco BASÈ treats sustainability as ongoing work, not a label that suggests every problem has been solved. Some ingredients grow differently than expected. The garden responds to the weather. Products run out. Systems need adjustment.
Transparency means sharing those realities rather than hiding them. At KU Culinary Atelier, guests sit directly in front of the kitchen, hear where ingredients come from and see how the team works. A garden walk before dinner shows both what is growing and how green waste returns to the soil. The process becomes part of the experience.
Conscious Dining in Ubud
Sustainable dining at Syrco BASÈ is not about asking guests to sacrifice pleasure. It is about making pleasure more connected: to origin, season, craftsmanship and the people behind the product.
Whether experienced through dinner at the 12-seat chef's counter, a meal at Syrco BASÈ Restaurant, a botanical drink at the Bar or an object made by a local artisan in the Shop, the same thinking remains visible. Sustainability is not a separate programme beside the kitchen. It is part of how the kitchen decides what to cook and how to move forward.