If you are going to hatch a nefarious plan to take over the world, there are worse places to do so than poolside at Villa Skyfall Lombok. There are shades of super-villain hideout in the position, teetering on the top of a mountain like a spinning plate in a circus act. The clues are there in the tropical minimalist style – imposing and uncluttered, open-plan and in thrall to the view. They are also reflected in your own dedicated staff who provide security, appear from a sliding door next to the kitchen to whisk away mess and can materialise private chefs and personal drivers with a single text.
By the pool, the cloud-height outlook across Kuta – the twinkling lights of this surf town flickering on at sunset as a melodic call to prayer is carried on the wind – can go to your head. All I need is a white cat on my lap. But Villa Skyfall is far more hero than villain, the name and the decor honouring the world’s most famous fictional super spy: James Bond.
“As a young boy growing up in Scotland, my father would take me to the cinema every time a new Bond film was released,” says Melbourne-based property developer Joe Cairns. “I was particularly captivated by Sean Connery’s swagger, sophistication and unmistakable Scottish charm. I wanted to create a villa that embodied the same elegance, intrigue and sophistication of the Bond films in a location that offered breathtaking natural beauty, stunning vistas and dramatic sunsets.”
Daniel Craig’s Skyfall silhouette greets you at the front door, the master bedroom has art dedicated to Bond’s famous Aston Martin, and a youthful, cheeky Roger Moore sips and smokes in a black-and-white photographic portrait in the hallway. Spend a few days at this most indulgent of Indonesian villas, the highest and brightest in Kuta, and you will emerge both shaken and stirred.
“The island offers a relaxed pace, genuine local warmth, and amazing restaurants,” Joe says. “Every time we visit, there are new places to explore – boutique villas, vibrant cafes and commercial developments – a sign of the area’s momentum.”
Live and let dine
Instead of world domination my mission is to wring as much fun out of Kuta as I can with my wife and two teen boys from this luxurious base and discover why this once-sleepy surfers’ paradise is seeing such an upswing in international visitors.
Kuta is on the south of the island, just a short ride from Lombok airport but quite a distance from the more resort-heavy Senggigi to the northwest. You will still see plenty of surfboards strapped to the side of scooters as you zip through the streets, but you will also find upmarket restaurants and TikTok-worthy cafes, and you might walk past the secret entrance to a speakeasy that will make you forget you are a few hundred metres from the sand.
It’s like someone took the best bits of Bali and hid them from the scooter hordes. That said, scooters are the main form of transport here, too, and they have been provided for us by Villa Skyfall. They are an easy way to explore, once you conquer the daunting Skyfall hill and its switchback road.
Kuta is essentially a few intersecting streets with traditional warungs (family-run restaurants) jostling for space next to chic burger and pizza joints and modern marts towering over markets selling knock-off t-shirts on bamboo poles. Our first scooter excursion sees us giving way to a local street parade with families dressed in traditional outfits banging on hand-held drums.
Milou Vermeek, partner in Kenza Hospitality Group, is at the forefront of Kuta’s burgeoning food scene. The group started with just one restaurant, El Bazar, in 2014 and now boasts multiple venues up and down Kuta’s main drag. Japanese-inspired cafe Kenza, the casual diner Pizza Shack and party spot Cantina Mexicana are just some of their offerings.
“Kuta’s food scene is changing rapidly at the moment in response to the changing nature of visitors to Lombok,” says Milou. “Before we had backpackers and surfers and in the past five years we have more families, more luxury travellers and older travellers.”
Milou traces the explosion in popularity back to the arrival of the Moto GP, which saw Lombok beamed onto television screens that showed the circuit’s proximity to the island’s beautiful beaches.
For me the attraction is that Kuta has hit its development sweet spot. Like the second or third season of a TV show, it has ironed out the kinks of season one but has not yet become bloated and over complicated (no evil twins or waterskiing over sharks). You can get dropped off anywhere along Kuta’s dusty main street and be metres from a killer night out.
Night one, we hit Cantina Mexicana, a shed-like space strung with colourful bunting and fairy lights. Early evenings it caters to younger families, but we arrive later and things are starting to heat up, and not just on the chilli rim of my michelada.
Milou says this venue came about by accident: a friend who cooked great Mexican just happened to be in town when they were looking to open a new place. He trained the staff and is now back in Bali. But the quality remains in a smoky mushroom-birria-topped nachos and chipotle chicken. The Baja fish tacos with chipotle mayo and mango salsa come ridiculously stacked and we enjoy a soundtrack of Latin tunes from the DJ booth, peppered with the toots from passing scooters like random whistles at a rave.
After dinner we walk to Captikus Bar, a speakeasy decorated in bordello-red and black with an opium-den theme including some unique art that sees Benedict Cumberbatch transformed into a grinning geisha. Cocktails are Asian-themed and bold, so I forgo a martini and try a Rujak – tequila, sherry, pineapple, peanut, tamarind and chilli – made to taste like the local “salad” of the same name that sees fruits and vegetables tossed in a funky, shrimp-paste-and-peanut dressing.
Night two we start at Pawon Nusantara, Kenza Group’s upmarket Indonesian restaurant with ornate tiles, tall doors framed by coloured glass and two huge carved wooden masks standing guard. We sit out on the terrace in the heavy Lombok night and order margaritas, Kura beers and softies. Milou says this type of restaurant was a missing piece in the dining scene and she has local chef’s researching meals from Bali and Java to ensure authenticity.
We order her two recommendations: the beef rendang and ayam taliwang, a charred chicken dish with fried peanuts and sambal that is indigenous to the island. My youngest son goes sambal mad, ordering three small dishes of the chilli paste off the separate sambal menu – sambal balado from West Sumatra, sambal matah from Nusantara and a bright green sambal ijo – and happily stirs them all into his rice.
Both times we end the night at Ketapang Beach Bar, a luridly neon-lit open-air drinking spot metres from Kuta Beach that has a live band every night on a rickety-looking stage and service that makes sure you always have a Bintang in front of you. Ketapang invokes the Asian travels of yesteryear for my wife and I with simple, cheap beers by the beach and the quirky covers and incredible musicianship that these house bands embody. Our music-loving kids are kept happy by the diversity of covers and happily shout out requests, with the eldest finally sneaking away and finding more youth-friendly surrounds.
From Kuta with love
When back at Villa Skyfall, life falls into lazy holiday rhythms with a welcome touch of domesticity you don’t get in hotels. We scooter down for pastries in the morning, the teens make use of the gym, which comes with a sauna and an ice-cold plunge pool (I only manage to pop my head into the freezing water from outside the pool and still get an ice-cream headache). We read books on couches large enough for a football team and watch the flatscreen the size of a dining table. It’s both homey and crazily luxurious, a perfect mix for a family getaway.
It’s the personal touches at Villa Skyfall that make you feel like you might be on her Majesty’s secret service yourself. The warm welcome where we are presented with fresh coconuts stamped with “Skyfall”, cracked open so you can drink the fresh coconut water; the assistance we get with working the scooters and the driving lessons in the villa courtyard before taking on the daunting hill; the team also organises in-house massages for us by the pool.
The villa is so large we virtually have a wing each, but the various house factions come together around the infinity pool where the kids bomb their unsuspecting parents and we all take in the Kuta view. We are having one of our early-evening swims on our final night when we are treated to dinner by a local private chef.
The team arrives in the kitchen, splicing and dicing as we dress for dinner and staff serve the adults a bottle of white wine on the terrace off the master bedroom. When we are called to dinner we find the table filled with whole fish grilled with local spices, beef rendang, fried tempeh and coconut rice, and we all tuck in and share holiday stories.
“I see Kuta as being the next great destination for those seeking luxury without the crowds,” says Joe. “It’s a place where adventure, culture and nature’s beauty come together.” We agree and – just like the famous tagline at the end of every James Bond film – we hope that we too “will return”.
