Locavore NXT Ubud: How Asia's 50 Best Restaurant Handles Dietary Intelligence at the Booking Stage
Locavore NXT — No. 44 on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2026 and twice winner of the Sustainable Restaurant Award — runs a 16-course tasting menu where every course is prepared for every guest. A peer-reviewed study found that 45% of food allergy reactions in restaurants happen despite guests having already alerted staff. Here is how Revasi's structured dietary intelligence solves that problem at the booking stage.
Table of contents
A peer-reviewed study published in PMC found that 45% of food allergy reactions at restaurants occurred even when the guest had already alerted staff to their allergy in advance. The problem is not the guest failing to communicate. The problem is how restaurants capture and act on that communication — typically as a free-text note in a booking system, somewhere between a phone number and a time preference, read by a front-of-house team member who may or may not relay it to the kitchen before service.
At a casual restaurant, this gap is a risk. At Locavore NXT — a 16-course tasting menu where the kitchen prepares every component of every course for every guest in advance — it is an operational failure the restaurant cannot afford.
This is the story of how Locavore NXT structures dietary intelligence before a guest ever walks through the door.
At a Glance
- Restaurant: Locavore NXT, Jl. A.A. Gede Rai Gang Pura Panti Bija, Lodtunduh, Ubud, Bali
- Hours: Monday–Saturday, dinner seatings from 5:30 PM; closed Sundays. Bar open to walk-ins 8:00–11:00 PM
- Format: 16-course seasonal tasting menu ("The Source"); no dairy, no wheat, gluten-free by default
- Price: IDR 2,200,000++ per person (≈ USD 135); beverage pairing available
- Full NXT Experience: IDR 4,450,000++ per person (includes overnight stay + dinner)
- Ranking: No. 44, Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2026 (up from No. 92 in 2025)
- Awards: Sustainable Restaurant Award, Asia's 50 Best — won twice (2019 as Locavore; 2025 as Locavore NXT — first restaurant to win the award twice)
- Sustainability: 98.4% of waste diverted from landfill in first year of operation
- Reservations: locavorenxt.revasi.net/reservations
Table of Contents
- What Locavore NXT Is
- The Menu: "The Source"
- Why Dietary Intelligence Is a Kitchen Problem, Not a Hospitality Problem
- How Revasi Structures Dietary Data at the Booking Stage
- The Recognition: A Decade on Asia's 50 Best
- How Locavore NXT Fits Into the Locavore Group
- Practical Information
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Locavore NXT Is
Locavore NXT is not simply the successor to the original Locavore restaurant. It is a different kind of operation entirely — one that Eelke Plasmeijer describes as "more than just a restaurant."
The original Locavore closed in mid-2023 after years on Asia's 50 Best list, including a No. 42 ranking in 2019. Locavore NXT opened in December 2023 on a purpose-built site spanning over 6,000 square metres in Lodtunduh, about ten minutes from Ubud's town centre. The site was designed from the ground up for the concept: a central open kitchen, a food forest, a fermentation lab, a Beverage Lab that produces in-house pairings, and infrastructure for the off-site experiences that precede the meal for guests on the Full NXT Experience.
The restaurant is led by Eelke Plasmeijer and Ray Adriansyah, the Dutch-Indonesian chef partnership that has defined serious Indonesian-focused cooking for over a decade. As Adriansyah describes it: "More than a sit-down dining experience, we offer an experiential one that showcases the different ways ingredients are grown and used."
The concept is built around a principle Plasmeijer articulated to Tatler Asia: "We integrated our documentation of ingredients into the guest experience, which is not only educational but also pushes us to make sure we are recording our research." The menu is the result of that research made edible — seasonal, hyperlocal, built around ingredients most restaurants in Bali would not know how to source.
The Menu: "The Source"
The current tasting menu at Locavore NXT is called "The Source" — 16 courses, no imported ingredients, no dairy, no wheat, gluten-free by default. The previous menu, "Nature's Compass," ran approximately 20–21 courses. The shift to 16 reflects the current seasonal iteration.
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Menu name | "The Source" (current); previously "Nature's Compass" |
| Courses | 16 |
| Default restrictions | No imports, no dairy, no wheat; gluten-free by default |
| Animal protein | Present but minimal; plant-forward by design |
| Beverage pairings | Alcoholic, non-alcoholic, and vegan options — developed in-house by the Beverage Lab |
| Duration | Typically 3–4+ hours for the full experience |
| Tasting menu price | IDR 2,200,000++ per person (≈ USD 135) |
| Alcoholic pairing | IDR 850,000++ (verify current pricing at booking) |
| Full NXT Experience | IDR 4,450,000++ per person — includes overnight stay, mushroom farm visit, fermentation lab, dinner |
Plasmeijer is direct about the format's demands on guests: "We know that our concept is not for everybody and that it can be challenging for some people. Coming here, you need to keep an open mind and be ready for a surprise." This is not a restaurant where guests can easily redirect the meal at the table. The kitchen prepares for the number and composition of covers booked. Pre-arrival information is not supplementary — it is part of the operational brief.
Why Dietary Intelligence Is a Kitchen Problem, Not a Hospitality Problem
Most restaurants treat dietary restrictions as a hospitality consideration — something the front-of-house team manages through attentiveness. At a tasting menu restaurant, that framing is wrong. Dietary restrictions at Locavore NXT are a kitchen problem that needs to be solved before service starts.
The data makes the stakes clear. A peer-reviewed EHS-Net study published in PMC found:
- 34% of food-allergic guests have experienced an allergic reaction at a restaurant
- 45% of those reactions happened even though the guest had already told the restaurant about their allergy in advance (PMC, doi.org/10.1097/FCH.0000000000000143)
The mechanism of failure in almost every case is the same: the guest communicates, the front-of-house records it (usually as unstructured text), and something breaks in the chain between that note and the kitchen's preparation. A note that says "no nuts" does not tell the kitchen whether almond flour is acceptable. "Vegetarian" does not tell the kitchen whether honey, dairy, or fish sauce are in scope. The guest assumed their communication was sufficient. The kitchen worked from ambiguous data.
At Locavore NXT, the kitchen prepares parallel menus for guests with dietary requirements — a fully equivalent course-by-course alternative, prepared in advance. The head chef needs to know, before service begins, the precise ingredient boundaries for every guest. Not a note. Not a flag. Structured, confirmed, unambiguous data.
The question, then, is how to collect that data reliably — from guests who may not know what questions they need to answer — at the booking stage.
How Revasi Structures Dietary Data at the Booking Stage
Revasi was configured at Locavore NXT to turn the dietary collection process from a guest communication exercise into a structured data capture.
Automatic Detection from Free-Text Input
Guests typically describe dietary requirements in their own words. "I'm vegetarian but fish is fine." "My partner is lactose intolerant." "No shellfish for me — bad experience." These inputs are natural language: varied, inconsistent, and not directly usable by a kitchen preparing a sixteen-course tasting menu.
When a guest enters dietary information in free text, Revasi's detection layer reads it and categorises the content into structured flags. The system identifies:
- The core dietary category (vegetarian, pescatarian, vegan, etc.)
- Specific ingredient mentions (shellfish, nuts, honey, dairy derivatives)
- Qualifications on the restriction ("but fish is fine," "honey is acceptable")
The result is a structured dietary profile — not a transcribed note.
Conditional Ingredient Questions
Detection alone does not resolve every ambiguity. When a guest selects or triggers a dietary category that carries common edge cases, the booking flow presents targeted follow-up questions:
| If the guest selects… | The system asks… |
|---|---|
| Vegetarian | "Do you consume honey?" / "Is dairy acceptable?" |
| Pescatarian | "Is shellfish included, or fish only?" |
| No gluten | "Is cross-contamination from shared equipment a concern?" |
| Vegan | "Are there any additional intolerances we should know about?" |
These questions are presented as simple yes/no or multiple-choice selections within the booking flow — not a free-text box. The guest answers before confirmation. The kitchen receives confirmed answers, not interpreted notes.
This shifts dietary clarification forward — resolved before the booking is confirmed rather than chased by the reservations team in the days before service.
Structured Pre-Service Exports
The structured dietary data flows directly into the pre-service view used by both front-of-house and the kitchen. Before each service, the team sees:
- Clear dietary tags per guest
- Confirmed ingredient permissions per category
- Any relevant guest notes (visits, preferences, occasions)
- Organised as a service-ready export — not a raw list of reservation entries
The pre-service briefing at Locavore NXT starts with this data. The kitchen knows, for every cover, exactly what it is preparing. There is no ambiguity to resolve on the floor.
The Recognition: A Decade on Asia's 50 Best
Locavore NXT's standing in the international food world is not incidental to this case study — it defines the level of operational precision the reservation system must support.
| Year | Restaurant | Ranking | Notable |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Locavore (original) | #49 Asia's 50 Best | First entry on the list |
| 2019 | Locavore (original) | #42 Asia's 50 Best | + Sustainable Restaurant Award (1st win) |
| 2023 | — | Closed mid-year; Locavore NXT opened December 2023 | |
| 2025 | Locavore NXT | #92 Asia's 50 Best | + Sustainable Restaurant Award (2nd win — first restaurant ever to win twice) |
| 2026 | Locavore NXT | #44 Asia's 50 Best | Jumped 48 places in one year |
The Sustainable Restaurant Award — won twice, under two different iterations of the same culinary project — reflects the operational numbers: 98.4% of waste diverted from landfill in Locavore NXT's first year of operation, per The World's 50 Best. Over 80% of ingredients are locally sourced.
Plasmeijer on what the project represents: "We hope that our approach at NXT will be a model to inspire others on how to design a sustainable business that doesn't compromise on ideas and creativity. Being the change we want to see in the world."
How Locavore NXT Fits Into the Locavore Group
Locavore NXT is the flagship of the group, but it is not its only venue. For guests planning time in Ubud or Sanur, understanding the full picture helps.
| Venue | Location | Format | Price point | Booking pressure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Locavore NXT | Lodtunduh, Ubud | 16-course tasting menu | IDR 2,200,000++/person | High — book weeks ahead in high season |
| Nusantara | Central Ubud | Pan-Indonesian sharing plates | IDR 250,000–400,000/person | Moderate — 1–3 weeks ahead |
| Night Rooster | Central Ubud | Indonesian-folklore cocktail bar | IDR 140,000–180,000/cocktail | Low — walk-ins welcome |
| Soléa / Mistral | Sanur (rooftop) | Mediterranean tasting menu + cocktail bar | IDR 2,200,000++ (Soléa) | Moderate — book ahead for Soléa |
Practical Information
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Address | Jl. A.A. Gede Rai Gang Pura Panti Bija, Lodtunduh, Kecamatan Ubud, Gianyar, Bali |
| Hours | Mon–Sat: dinner seatings from 5:30 PM; closed Sundays. Bar walk-ins: 8:00–11:00 PM |
| Tasting menu | "The Source" — 16 courses, IDR 2,200,000++ per person |
| Beverage pairing | Alcoholic, non-alcoholic, and vegan options — priced separately at booking |
| Full NXT Experience | IDR 4,450,000++ per person — includes overnight stay, farm visit, fermentation lab, dinner |
| Default dietary | No imports, no dairy, no wheat; gluten-free by default |
| Advance booking | Recommended 2–4 weeks ahead; 4–6 weeks during high season (Jul–Aug, Dec) |
| Dietary requirements | Structured through the Revasi booking flow — confirm at time of booking |
| Reservations | locavorenxt.revasi.net/reservations |
Booking at Locavore NXT
Locavore NXT is fully reservation-only. Walk-in dining is not available — the kitchen prepares for exactly the number of covers booked each service. Book at locavorenxt.revasi.net/reservations. Dietary requirements, beverage pairing preferences, and special occasion notes should all be entered at the time of booking — the system will guide you through the relevant questions. During high season (July–August, December), book 4–6 weeks ahead.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Locavore NXT?
Locavore NXT is a 16-course seasonal tasting menu restaurant in Lodtunduh, just outside Ubud, Bali. It is the successor to the original Locavore restaurant, run by chefs Eelke Plasmeijer and Ray Adriansyah, and was purpose-built on a 6,000 square metre site that includes a food forest, fermentation lab, and Beverage Lab. It ranked No. 44 on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants in 2026 and has won the Sustainable Restaurant Award twice — the only restaurant ever to do so.
How far in advance do I need to book Locavore NXT?
Book 2–4 weeks ahead during shoulder seasons, and 4–6 weeks ahead during high season (July–August and December). The restaurant operates at limited capacity — once a service is full, there is no waiting list. The booking system at locavorenxt.revasi.net/reservations shows real-time availability.
How does Locavore NXT handle dietary restrictions?
Dietary restrictions are captured at the booking stage through Revasi's structured dietary flow — not as a free-text note. When you describe your requirements, the system detects dietary categories and triggers conditional follow-up questions to resolve common ambiguities (honey, dairy, shellfish, etc.) before your booking is confirmed. The kitchen receives structured, unambiguous data ahead of service and prepares a parallel course-by-course alternative for guests with requirements.
What does the default menu exclude?
The default tasting menu at Locavore NXT contains no imported ingredients, no dairy, no wheat, and is gluten-free by default. Animal protein is present but minimal — the menu is plant-forward by design. Guests with additional requirements should still specify them at booking; the default exclusions reduce the surface area of the problem but do not cover all possible dietary restrictions.
What is the Full NXT Experience?
The Full NXT Experience is an extended package that includes an overnight stay, a guided visit to the restaurant's mushroom farm, access to workshops (coffee cupping, tempeh and fermentation), and the full tasting menu dinner. It is priced from IDR 4,450,000++ per person. As Ray Adriansyah describes it: "They are entitled to a backstage pass, giving them access to different workshops." It is the most complete way to understand what Locavore NXT is building beyond the dining room.
Is Locavore NXT part of a group?
Yes. Locavore NXT is the flagship of Locavore Group, which also operates Nusantara (pan-Indonesian sharing plates in central Ubud), Night Rooster (Indonesian-folklore cocktail bar in Ubud), and Soléa and Mistral (Mediterranean tasting menu restaurant and cocktail bar on the Bali Beach Hotel rooftop in Sanur). All venues use Revasi for reservations, each configured to match its specific service format.
Can I walk in to Locavore NXT?
No — for dining. The tasting menu service is reservation-only. The bar at Locavore NXT is open to walk-ins from 8:00 PM to 11:00 PM on Monday through Saturday, but the dining room does not accommodate walk-in guests.
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Regilio
Co-founder, Revasi
Passionate about the intersection of hospitality and technology. Helping restaurants discover digital tools to transform their dining room experiences and turn first-time guests into regulars.
