Icebergs' Maurice Terzini opens Da Maria in Bali, plans bigger project

With Australia's restaurant export stocks at a high in Bali due to lower operating costs and strong visitor numbers, Sydney restaurateur Maurice Terzini is poised to crunch a game-changing mega deal to open a beachfront club and hotel.

Later this week Terzini opens the doors at Da Maria, a restaurant he describes as "North Bondi Italian food on steroids". But it's merely an appetiser to his next Bali project – Terzini and his business partners are negotiating to take a prime surfside site.

"If everything goes to plan, it'll be our first Icebergs Beach Club with Hotel Terzini behind it," says Terzini. "[Designer] Carl Pickering is already working on the plans. The inspiration for the pool isn't resort; it is urban swimming pools like Icebergs. It'd also have its own amphitheatre."

Bali-based former Pier head chef Steven Skelly will oversee Da Maria as executive chef, and Terzini has nabbed an Italian pizzaiolo, otherwise backing a local crew. "A problem we've found with produce is some of the things are picked unripe. We're growing our own tomatoes, and we're using some great local asparagus from up in the mountains."

Terzini is just the latest Aussie to land, MoVida's Frank Camorra and Melbourne restaurateur Geoff Lindsay having also recently joined the Bali party.