At Hotel Tugu Bali, the mission of bringing to life the art, culture, and romance of Bali and Java does not stop at decoration and interior design. How you dine is not only about food, but it also involves many other aspects such as theme, setting, and ritual of service, atmosphere, presentation, traditions, and history. Possibilities offered are unlimited, as rich as Indonesian culture. When you dine at Tugu, travel back through time up to hundreds of years, and find yourself in different eras, places, as well as forgotten experiences of Indonesia. One of Tugu’s signature cultural dining experience is Royal Rajadom at Bale Puputan Museum – The Last Supper of the Balinese Kings.
Left to right: Jewelries found around the palace, a private collection of Raden Adjeng Kasinem; Knives used in cock fighting (sabung ayam) circa 20th century; Fragments of Ming Dynasty porcelains from 14th-17th century which was transported on the Sri Kumala Ship. It was the Sri Kumala incident that triggered the Puputan Badung War in 1906; Gamelan (Balinese musical instrument) that was used to performed in the palace in 1906.
The Rajadom dining experience was created in respect to a royal Balinese dining, held in Hotel Tugu Bali’s Bale Puputan, a small museum built as an hommage to the Puputan War as a tribute to the Balinese heroes who sacrificed their lives during the “Battle to the Last Man” against the Dutch colonialism, specifically the battles of Puputan of Badung in 1906 and Klungkung in 1908. Bale Puputan houses the last antique treasures saved from the Puputan war. Some of these were personal inheritance from Tugu’s founder’s great grandmother, a personal friend to the last princess of Badung; some others originated from the ship that was the reason the Puputan War happened, and some others were rare artworks that had been smuggled out of the country and had been brought back to the island by the Tugu founder. Amongst the large collection, guests who come can find many historical and important pieces of work that represent many different times, such as the largest whole marble table used by the Dutch general in Bali to host their royal guests and priceless black and white paintings of the royalties of past Balinese kingdoms, to name a few.
The Rajadom experience is a grand ceremonial dining from the Balinese palaces with dishes presented on “dulang” – or Balinese-style wooden offering plates – with authentic recipes, it is a dining ritual practiced by the Dutch plantation masters when they wished to impress their visitors. It allows guests to sit on the antique regal armchairs while they dine at the largest 19th century whole marble table in the country that used to belong to the last Dutch general in Bali, surrounded by antique statues representing the creatures of Balinese mythology. The menu samples the finest of Balinese cuisine with recipes originated from various women of the royal families of Balinese kingdoms. This dining experience is an exquisite array of dishes made with rich spices of the archipelago served by a parade of 12 servers, ready to transport guests into a time of grandeur and history through immersive dining experiences and history within the walls, where guests will truly feel like royalty for a night.
