text by Frankie Miller - image by Foued Kadachi

His culinary journey had taken him from his Australian homeland to the land of his English heritage; to the ski resorts of Austria and France; to a summer resort on the Greek Island of Rhodes; to Andorra in the Pyrenees and to Cyprus. He had cooked on an oil rig and worked on a tiny island on the Great Barrier Reef, yet he had never worked in Asia.

When James Stanton attended a wedding in Bali last September, little did he know that Asia was already beckoning, and that six weeks later he'd be back on the Fabled Isle, as Executive Chef of Amankila (Karangasem, T: 0363 413 33). It was a chance meeting that led to the appointment: James learned that the spectacular Aman resort in Manggis, near Candidasa, was looking for a hands-on chef—a sociable disposition was a prerequisite of the job. James explains, "I had to be a people person as well as being able to cook."

Part of an Aman chef's role is to meet with all the dinner guests, talk to them and ensure that everything is up to standard. "I sit down with my guests and ask them if there are any dishes they would particularly like. My mission is then to source the ingredients, find out how they like the dish cooked and tailor it to their needs. I even had some guests from America who were craving meatloaf and macaroni cheese," James smiles, "They asked if I could do it and I assured them if that was what they wanted then it would be no problem at all. Other guests, meanwhile, are expecting something different: they're looking to be blown away with a little bit of a wow factor."

James was also blown away when he arrived. "I found my team of 36 kitchen staff to be very welcoming and open to fresh ideas. They told me they hoped I would stay for a long time and teach them new things. It was a lovely atmosphere to come into, nothing was too much trouble, everything was laid on." In his first few months James has revamped all of the menus. "We've even changed the Indonesian menu, but I leave the Indonesian food up to the Balinese, they've been doing it all their lives so I wouldn't dream of telling them how to cook it. In fact, it's been a great learning curve for me - my Indonesian cooking knowledge was previously limited to nasi goreng and satay!"

The Aman group, under the vision of founder and chairman, Adrian Zecha, has now steered away from the overkill of fancy fine dining—already a welcome new trend in Bali. James Stanton's philosophy is to source the best local products, the best seafood, vegetables, fruit, indigenous herbs, spices, and premium imported ingredients, and combine them with Indonesian and Balinese cooking techniques.

He maintains, "Our cuisine is unpretentious: we don't claim to create flavours through molecular technology, instead we just present good honest food, prepared with integrity, cooked and served from the heart." www.amanresorts.com