Gastronomy Leaders 2.0: Bali's Restaurant Industry Unites to Put the Island on the World's Culinary Map

On 3 July 2026, Nuanu Creative City will host Nuanu Future Talks: Gastronomy Leaders 2.0, the biggest hospitality conference in Bali. A full day on a single stage will gather 20+ speakers — restaurateurs, world-renowned chefs, operators, investors, suppliers and international journalists — alongside a dedicated industry partner exhibition, market stall area and a closing industry afterparty at the DOME Garden.

But the event is more than a conference. It is a deliberate move in a much bigger plan for the island's food scene.

A Culinary and lifestyle district that depends on the whole island

Nuanu is building Sutala, a new destination dedicated to food and gastronomy, and supporting lifestyle. The thinking behind Gastronomy Leaders is simple, and the organisers are upfront about it: a food-first destination like Sutala only thrives if Bali itself is recognised as a serious culinary destination. You cannot build that alone.

So instead of building in isolation, Nuanu is convening the industry. Gastronomy Leaders 2.0 is designed to bring Bali's restaurant community into one room — to compare notes, raise standards together, and decide collectively what the next chapter of Bali dining should look like.

Bringing the world to the table

Gastronomy Leaders 2.0 connects Bali's restaurant community with some of the most respected voices in Australia and the Middle East — two of the audiences most curious about where the island is heading. These are people who can carry Bali's story to the world, and who bring an outsider's ambition: a fresh sense of just how far this scene can go.

That perspective runs through the programme. Avril Treasure (Editor, Time Out Sydney) shares how Australia sees Bali and where its next opportunities lie; Cláudia de Brito (MENA's 50 Best; World's 50 Best Middle East) opens a window onto what the Middle East is hungry for; and veteran chef Will Meyrick sits down with journalist Myffy Rigby for a fireside on twenty years of building restaurants across Asia. The throughline is encouragement — an invitation for Bali to dream bigger about what it can become.

Real kitchens, real stories, shared ambition

At its heart, the day is a celebration of the people who built Bali's food scene — the long hours, the risks taken, the restaurants opened against the odds. Personal chef stories from across the island, from beach-club operators to neighbourhood restaurateurs, take centre stage: how they started, what they've come through, and what keeps them cooking.

They share that stage with some of the world's most decorated chefs — Thi Le (Chef-Owner of Anchovy, Melbourne; Chef of the Year 2026), Will Goldfarb (World's Best Pastry Chef 2021), and two-Michelin-star chef Syrco Bakker among them — not as distant icons, but as peers who have walked the same road. Thi Le's talk, "This Is Still Vietnamese — why cooking your heritage far from home doesn't make it any less real," speaks straight to Bali's chefs: your heritage is your strength, cook it on your own terms, and trust that it belongs anywhere in the world.

The belief behind it

"Sutala only succeeds if Bali wins. We're not interested in building a food destination next to an industry that's struggling — we want to grow the whole scene with us. Bring the world's best chefs to inspire ours, bring the journalists who shape how Bali is seen abroad, and put everyone in the same room. We genuinely believe that as one industry team we can change how the world sees Bali, and make this a better place to do business for everyone in it." — Evgenia Golomuz, F&B Curator, Nuanu

The format builds on Gastronomy Leaders 1.0 (March 2026), which drew more than 300 guests and 24 participants to Nuanu, and proved the appetite for a gathering of this kind.

What's on offer on the day

1. Conference stage — a full day of talks, panels, firesides and chef stories on Bali's past, present and future as a dining destination.
2. Sutala Market stalls — a dedicated stall area running alongside the stage for brands, suppliers and producers to showcase and taste.
3. Press tour — international food media hosted across the event to carry Bali's story back to Australia and the Middle East.
4. DOME Garden afterparty — the industry continues the conversation into the night, turning the day's connections into the next collaborations.