Bonito Just Moved to a Rooftop in Seminyak, and the View Changes Everything

After nearly five years in Umalas, Bonito has taken residency on the rooftop at Kleo, Seminyak. Same kitchen, same team, same menu, now under open sky with the coastline in view.

Final service at the old Umalas address was Thursday 6 August. Three days later, on Monday 10 August, Bonito reopened one storey up, on the rooftop at Kleo Seminyak, part of JdV by Hyatt. Nothing about the kitchen changed. The chef, the team, the menu, all moved together. What changed is what surrounds it.

The setting

You reach the rooftop by lift, which already sets the tone before the first course arrives. Up top, the dining room opens into sky. String lights run over the tables, the Seminyak coastline sits somewhere past the edge of the terrace, and the breeze does the work air conditioning used to do at the old spot. It reads as a different kind of restaurant to the one that closed in Umalas. Less enclosed, more theatrical, built for a slower kind of evening. A sunset aperitivo here does more work than it did before. A late dinner feels closer to a date than a meal.

Kleo itself opened in 2025 as the first JdV by Hyatt hotel in Southeast Asia, a short walk from Petitenget Beach and built around a mid-century design language, the same rooftop social energy that made its own launch party a headline in Bali's hotel press. Bonito's new dining room shares the building with Zia Tina, the hotel's in-house Italian restaurant, which is also run by Chef Maurizio and leans into wood-fired pizza and slow-cooked ragù from his native Puglia. Two of his restaurants now sit under one roof.

On rainy nights, service shifts into the adjoining ballroom, so the room can still be booked with confidence regardless of weather. Valet parking runs through the main Kleo entrance or via Zia Tina next door, and KLEO hotel guests can charge dinner straight to their room.

Where Bonito started

Bonito opened in Umalas as Bali's first fish and seafood delicatessen, a concept restaurant with a chilled counter display where guests could pick out fresh fillets and shellfish to cook at home alongside the regular dining room. The fish itself was never an afterthought: roughly 80% of it came from sustainable catches around Bali, Lombok, Flores and Timor. The original space, designed by Caroline Usher of Bali studio UBD, ran over two floors with an outdoor terrace built for aperitivo hour. That version of Bonito built a loyal following over five years, and it's the same food, the same sourcing standard, that's now serving off the Kleo rooftop.

It started smaller than that, according to Chef Maurizio Bombini himself. "It was an idea to do a small thing just for the Umalas area, because Umalas was growing," he says. The original plan was something closer to street food, simple and easy. "And then it became a proper restaurant with a proper menu, with a set menu, focused on fish and seafood." The rooftop version at Kleo is the third stage of that same growth, not a reinvention of it.

The chef behind it

Bonito was founded by Chef-Owner Maurizio Bombini, who also leads Mauri in Seminyak, Bonito's sister restaurant under his own group, La Famiglia. Bombini grew up in a family that ran restaurants on Italy's Adriatic coast in the Puglia region, and that heritage runs through everything he cooks, from Mauri's tasting menus to Bonito's grilled plates. His career took him through kitchens across Europe and Asia before Bali, including a Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris and executive chef roles at Ritz-Carlton properties in China and Ubud.

Mauri carries the weight of that résumé: it holds status as Indonesia's first restaurant recognised by the Dom Pérignon Society, an honour reserved for chefs and sommeliers the champagne house considers exceptional. Bonito was always the more relaxed sibling. As Bombini has put it, Bonito is his own emotional connection to seafood, the same easy way his family enjoyed it back home in Puglia. The rooftop move doesn't change that instinct. Same food, same restraint, new room to serve it in.

The food

Bonito was never built as a seafood-only room. The menu is seafood forward, handmade pasta at its centre, but it carries meat and vegetarian options with equal weight. The signatures tell you where the kitchen's confidence sits: Bottoni in Brodo, mascarpone and ricotta ravioli in a seafood consommé with charred prawn. Gnochetti al Ragu. A Chicken Yakitori that keeps the menu from reading as one-note. Fresh oysters, grilled octopus, and a fish and chips that plays it straight rather than dressing it up.

There's also the Bonito Rosetta, a sandwich built on naturally fermented, no-yeast bread and filled with anything from tuna and stracciatella to soft shell crab, poached lobster or crispy octopus, a holdover from the Umalas menu that's become one of the kitchen's more talked-about dishes.

Bombini says the menu is built to move the way a meal moves in Puglia's own fish restaurants, the kind of place, he says, "you go and you only eat fish and they have nothing else." Start raw: carpaccio, tartare, kept to simple seasoning so the fish does the talking. Move into fish through the pasta course. Finish with it as the main. It's less a fixed order than a logic, one that A Taste of Bonito is built to walk you through in a single sitting.

What to order and when to go

For a first visit, A Taste of Bonito is the easiest entry point: a set sharing menu at IDR 450,000++ per person, minimum two people, with a wine pairing available for IDR 380,000++. It's built to move through the range of the kitchen in one sitting rather than commit to a single dish.

Earlier in the evening, Bonito Happy Hour runs daily from 5pm to 7pm: IDR 12,000 oysters alongside wine by the glass and snacks, a good excuse to catch the rooftop as the light starts to change. KLEO and Alila hotel guests get 15% off dinner with a room key at the table.

Bonito is open daily for dinner only, 5pm to 11pm, on the rooftop at Kleo, Seminyak. Children are welcome, though there's no dedicated kids' menu yet. Reservations run through bonito-restaurant.com or WhatsApp.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Bonito now?

Bonito has moved from its former Umalas location to the rooftop at Kleo Seminyak, part of JdV by Hyatt, on Jl. Taman Ganesha, Jl. Petitenget No. 9, Seminyak. The rooftop opened Monday 10 August 2026, three days after final service in Umalas.

Is Bonito the same restaurant as before?

Yes. The same kitchen and the same team run the rooftop, serving the same menu that built Bonito's name in Umalas, including sourcing built around sustainably caught fish from Bali, Lombok, Flores and Timor. The address and the setting are what's changed, not the food.

Who is the chef behind Bonito?

Chef-Owner Maurizio Bombini, who also runs Mauri in Seminyak, Indonesia's first restaurant recognised by the Dom Pérignon Society, and Zia Tina, the Italian restaurant inside Kleo. Bombini grew up in a family restaurant on Italy's Puglia coast, and Bonito is his own tribute to that connection to seafood.

What should I order at Bonito?

Start with the Bottoni in Brodo (mascarpone and ricotta ravioli in seafood consommé with charred prawn), the Gnochetti al Ragu, or the Chicken Yakitori. The Bonito Rosetta sandwich and the fresh oysters at happy hour are also worth building a visit around. For a full introduction, A Taste of Bonito set menu covers the range in one sitting.

What happens if it rains?

Service moves into the adjoining ballroom, so a booking on the rooftop still goes ahead as a full dinner regardless of weather.

What are Bonito's hours?

Daily, 5pm to 11pm, dinner only.