Breeze is beachside at The Samaya, a complex of luxury villas in Kerobokan, just beside La Lucciola. More stylish than its illustrious neighbour, it also serves a much higher level of cuisine.

It offers fine dining, beachside.

An entrée of Pan Seared Foie Gras and Sweetbread-Asparagus Ravioli in a morel cream sauce (below, right)! What a way to begin a gastronomic journey - it is the sort of dish that you savour, eating very slowly, the highly complex combinations just dissolving in your mouth as one total taste.

After such a perfect entrée, what can you have next? A "Duck Tasting" (main picture), that is what! Duck done three different ways, each assembled in their own little mini-serves across the plate. Two generous slices of pink U.S. Duck Breast sit on small pumpkin gnocchis, in a cola-soda-chilli sauce. Stuffed Duck Neck on a perfect mound of vegetable tabbouleh salad with red onion jam, and finally a Smoked Duck and Mushroom Ragout in an open crisp basket sitting on a base of corn and roasted pepper relish.

The effect these two dishes had was unfortunate, as it made it almost impossible to bypass them on subsequent visits.

Other entrées include Maryland Crab Cake baked in a phyllo pastry with tomato-balsamic salad and a basil-chilli aioli, Tequila Cured Salmon Tartar with green pea cakes and arugula leaves, and Baby Backs in a spicy BBQ sauce (super tender fall-off-the-bone pork ribs).

Does any of that whet your appetite? How about a soup with no soup? A large soup bowl is presented with just a lump of lobster meat in the base of the bowl, with a small spring roll of smoked goat cheese sitting above it. Hey, this is supposed to be a Lobster Bisque! The waiter then arrives with a piping hot tureen and proceeds to ladle the soup around the centrepiece. Not as dramatic but just as tasty is their Tomato Tortilla Soup.

The other main courses are just as exotic as the Duck Tasting plate. Roasted Quail on a balsamic reduction with baked ratatouille tacos. An Angus Beef Tenderloin with a spicy black grape marmalade and horseradish potatoes. A Roasted Loin of Lamb with a crisp potato crust on wild forest mushrooms and a yellow pepper juice.

Seafood is always well handled here, the end result reeking of freshness. A fillet of Mahi Mahi is served with a pineapple-red onion relish and pan-fried baby pesto potatoes. Red Pepper crusted Tuna is with a spicy mango glaze and salsa, alongside a cilantro-risotto cake. Alaskan Black Cod with charred jalapeno-basil vinaigrette and a pan-fried yam mash. Curried glazed Jumbo Prawns are served, an apple-vanilla chutney alongside a portabella-risotto cake. But the granddaddy of all local fish, Wild Barramundi, is on the menu. It is just pan-seared and comes with an avocado salsa and a gratin of Sweet Potato and Chipotle (Mexican red pepper).

Is this the best food in Bali? It must go close! Torsten Shubert (right) is one of Bali's great chefs. His attention to detail always extends to the accompanying vegetables, so often forgotten elsewhere.

Just in for a couple of drinks at the beachside cocktail bar? Try the imposing Tapas offerings here. A Taco of Smoked Duck Breast and Mushrooms, Turmeric Shrimp Vol au Vents or Samosas with Mango Chutney.

Breeze's wine list is one of the most impressive in Bali and the Chef likes his little tipple of Single Malt Whisky, so if you are of like persuasion settle back and enjoy your wee dram of 18-year-old Glenmorangie or The Macallan Fine Oak or any of the other 16 single malts available.

The plating, food quality and taste are really world-class, and at a fraction of the cost of anything vaguely similar elsewhere in the world. And that is before you factor in the incredible setting that is only available in Bali.

I know it is very corny but, Breeze will really blow you away!

Breeze
The Samaya
Jln. Laksmana
Kerobokan, Bali
Tel: (62-361) 730.333
Open: Breakfast/Brunch from 7.00 a.m. (a non-Thai menu, modern cafe style)
Lunch/Dinner (Thai menu) till 11.00 p.m., daily
Price: $120 for two (+ drinks)

This is an abridged version of the full review that appears on the BaliEats web site, Bali's comprehensive restaurant guide: www.balieats.com