RESTAURANT SNAPSHOT: Salazón, Bali’s industrial-chic restaurant

Salazón is an industrial-chic restaurant and bar in Seminyak with an emphasis on wood-fired, cured, smoked and grilled meats and fish and leading the kitchen is Australian Executive Chef Paul Lewis.

After learning his trade in Australia, Chef Paul embraced the adventure of cooking and worked all over the world in various luxury hotels and restaurants, developing a passion for creating food that allows the true essence of the ingredients to shine.

His philosophy is to take seasonal, fresh ingredients and create simple, pure and delicious menus. Respectful and modest, Chef Paul has applied his extensive experience and skills from his travels to create the wonderful dining experience at Salazón. His love of barbeque, however, he puts down to his Australian background.

“When it comes to cooking I am a bit of a traditionalist,” said Executive Chef Paul Lewis. “I look for honesty in cooking, like with really great barbeque, where the ingredients speak for themselves. For me here at Salazón it’s all about genuine, old-school cooking, using traditional ageing, smoking and pickling processes. It’s back to basics, but delivered with passion.”

Chef Paul’s team at Salazón make everything on-site; the dry-aged meats, the charcuterie, vinegars, tomato sauces and relishes, chilli sauces, ice cream and pastries – even the sourdough bread and the butter served with it. Chef Paul plans his menu well ahead with the dry-ageing and pickling processes being different in length and process for cold cuts through to duck, fish, pigeon, chicken, pork and beef.

Chef Paul places great importance on the source of his fresh ingredients and the building of trusted relationships with suppliers. All produce, apart from the beef, is locally sourced, including local lamb.