I first discovered La Lucciola 25 years ago, when holidaying in Bali with some close friends. It was the dining highlight of that trip, so I was excited to discover La Lucciola is still operating, is still one of the highest rated restaurants on the island, and that it was just 200m from our hotel in Seminyak.  La Lucciola is a large, open sided and impressive timber building sitting next to the beach and is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with a mostly Italian menu. Our hotel made a dinner reservation for us at La Lucciola (recommended but not essential).

The restaurant was full and buzzing when we arrived at 7pm; we were taken to our table straight away, but ‘walk-ups’ had to wait at the bar area. The menu looked good and there was a broad international wine list.

Our first two courses came very quickly – I guess they were rushing to turn tables. I started with Black Angus Carpaccio, with aioli, artichoke, rocket, shallot, parmesan, capers, green beans and a soft quail’s egg. It was a tasty dish, but it really was rather busy, with too many elements overpowering the flavour of the Australian beef. 7/10

It wasn’t just the beef that was Australian; Bali, especially its south cost, is incredibly popular with Ozzies and they’re easily the most numerous of its tourists. To make them feel at home, La Lucciola and other restaurants label their starters as “Entrees”, which always gets my goat. The Australians bring with them their very casual dress code, which I wish restaurants would tighten up on at dinnertime. Most people were in shorts and Ts, which is fine in the tropics, but some were wearing their swimming shorts and no shoes.

My main course was stuffed Pork Tenderloin, with an olive oil whipped mashed potato and an apple and red wine salsa.  The pork had been flattened too thinly and rolled around far too much wet mascarpone. So the whole dish was too soft in texture, very wet and very disappointing. 4/10. Mr A’s pork ribs were much better.

Luckily I’d ordered a beetroot salad on the side, which included house-made ricotta, a walnut pesto, and watercress. This was a refreshing chilled plate of tender beets and easily the best plate I had that evening. 8/10

We had a sharing “platter” for dessert: there was a tiramisu, a mango sorbet in a gingersnap ‘basket’, coconut panna cotta, chocolate fondant and a passionfruit meringue. The sorbet was the best, but the rest could have been shop bought. 6/10

It took just an hour to when we finished our mains, but a more leisurely 1h 50m to the end of dessert; they no longer needed to turn tables!

Overall I think La Lucciola is a lovely place with a good ambience and cute friendly staff.  7.5/10 The kitchen tries hard, but could improve the execution of its dishes.  As I stood on the beach looking back at the magnificent wooden building I wondered if La Lucciola had gone downhill, or if I just have a more sophisticated palate these 25 years later.  I asked an Australian couple what they’d thought of their dinner and the lady loved it, but the man was disappointed. It turned out he had the same pork dish as I did.

The dinner for two, with water and a nice pinot noir from New Zealand cost INR3,000,000 (c£163), with the wine being almost a third of that.