The Story of The Spot: How a Belgian Ended Up Running a Café in Kuta Lombok
The Spot started as a café in 2014 and grew into a full hospitality business — coworking, accommodation, and an all-day kitchen. Here's how it happened.
Bart grew up in Belgium and spent years traveling before landing in Kuta Lombok in 2014. He wasn't planning to stay permanently. He was planning to keep moving.
Kuta changed that. The south coast of Lombok had a rhythm he hadn't found elsewhere — surf in the mornings, quiet afternoons, a community of people who'd made the same decision to stop moving for a while. The island was beautiful and relatively undiscovered, and there was almost nowhere to eat well.
So he started a café.
SAME SAME to The Spot
The original café was called SAME SAME — a nod to the Southeast Asian phrase that means roughly "close enough, works for me." It fit the vibe: not perfect, but genuinely good.
Over time, it grew. Bamboo bungalows were added for guests who wanted to stay. A coworking space was built as remote work became part of the picture. The kitchen got bigger and the menu got better.
By the time the coworking space was well-established, the name SAME SAME had accumulated too many associations. The rebrand to The Spot was a practical decision: one clear name for a place that had become three things — a café, accommodation, and a coworking space.
What The Spot Is Now
The Spot occupies a garden setting in central Kuta Lombok. The café serves Belgian and Indonesian dishes from breakfast through evening. The coworking space runs fibre internet with Starlink backup, a quiet focus room, and flexible passes for remote workers. The accommodation ranges from standard garden rooms to private bungalows.
The approach hasn't changed from the original: build something genuinely good, keep it honest, and let the place speak for itself.
Bart still runs it. Still in Kuta Lombok.
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[Visit the coworking space](/cowork) · [See the food menu](/food) · [Accommodation options](/stay)