Best of the Maldives: Dessert Menu – W Retreat

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W Retreat desserts

Shocking as it may seem, not everyone wants chocolate for dessert. If you want as much variety in your flavours (and then even more variety in how those flavours are presented), then the restaurant Fish (which has a clever double pier design so twice as many tables are water side) at the W Retreat is the place to go. The pastry chef Sanjit Gupta (see above) has concocted a broad array of taste collections…

  • Strawberry – marinated strawberries, lavender ice cream, vanilla crumble
  • Mango – Swedish toast, grilled mango, mango sabayon, mango sorbet
  • Passion Fruit – passion fruit parfait, passion fruit toast, passion fruit syrup
  • Chocolate – bitter chocolate sorbet, white chocolate coulis, bitter chocolate mud cake
  • Coconut – coconut cheese cake, candied coconut, coconut sorbet, coconut milk jelly
  • Rum – classic rum baba, rum raisin ice cream, lime rum syrup
  • Caramel – walnut nougat, banana parfait, molasses ice cream, toasted brioche
  • Carrot – orange carrot soup, carrot spaghetti, apple dumpling, orange zested yogurt sorbet

Even with the portfolio option to hedge your bets, still choosing is a challenge. They are priced at $18. Sanjit is adding new items regularly and was experimenting with White and Black sesame when we were there.  My personal favourite flavours are cherry and cinnamon so I would love to see what he would do with those.

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Best of the Maldives: Chocolate – Soneva Gili

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Soneva Fushi Chocolate Cave 1

Happy Valentines Day!

A meal out in a romantic venue. A box of chocolates. How about a meal of chocolate?? In paradise.

Soneva Gili has an Underground Chocolate Cave.  A chocolate lair!

“Our unique underground wine cellar, showcasing more than six hundred varieties of wine from more than thirty regions around the world, has recently had a truly unique experience added. In addition to our artisanal cheese and deli room, you may now also experience our handmade, gourmet chocolate cave. Our Executive pastry chef has created a chocolate menu using only the finest chocolate, with some very interesting and unusual flavours… Have you ever tried liquid milk chocolate with earl grey tea and mango, or dark chocolate with chilli? What about chocolate truffles flavoured with coconut and coriander, passion fruit and caramel, orange and cardamom, to name but a few…?

A fuller list is provided below, but to extend taste sensations, Soneva Gili also couples bottled treats with the boxed ones…

“To further the experience even more, our Sommelier would be delighted to create a fantastic chocolate and wine pairing which may be enjoyed before or after dinner. Wine and chocolate are natural companions; they both have very complex flavours and matching these flavours is half the fun! ‘Sip the wine, let it fill your mouth, note the wines complexity and which flavours come to mind. Now take a small bite of the chocolate, let it sit on your tongue, when it just begins to melt sip the wine again and swirl together with the chocolate.’”

  • For dark and bitter chocolate – Full bodied reds (eg. 2006 Shiraz Coriole, McLaran Vale, Australia, 2006 The Chocolate Block, Franschoek, South Africa0
  • For dark and bitter sweet chocolate – Sweet fortified (eg. Starboard Batch 88, Quady’s, Madera, California USA, Pedro Ximénez, San Emilio, Lustau, Andalusia, Spain)
  • For milk chocolate – Lighter, fresher (eg. 2007 Viognier, Kumkani, Stellenbosch, South Africa)

A sample of the confections includes…

  • Sambuca chocolate
  • Lemongrass chocolate
  • Passion fruit caramel
  • Coconut coriander
  • Fennel seed chocolate
  • Mango ginger
  • Malibu chocolate
  • Cardamom chocolate
  • Cinnamon apple
  • Irish coffee
  • Orange chocolate
  • Green tea chocolate
  • Whisky caramel
  • Star anise
  • Yoghurt lassi
  • Chilli chocolate
  • Mint chocolate
  • Hazelnut chocolate
  • Roasted almond
  • Rum & raisin
  • Calvados chocolate
  • Olive oil chocolate
  • Goats cheese
  • Salted caramel

Travelscore Magazine’s blog has a great comprehensive review of the place (where the pictures are from).

Soneva Fushi Chocolate Cave 2

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Best of the Maldives: Infiniti Pool – Dusit Thani

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Dusit Thani infiniti pool

Welcome to the neighbourhood, Dusit Thani.

This week, Dusit Thani opens its doors to its first guests…

Their announcement highlights one of their first distinctions out of the blocks, their infinity pool…

“The resort’s centrepiece is the expansive infinity swimming pool, the largest in the Maldives, a full 750 square metres designed around an ancient banyan tree.”

There is a magical dimension to infiniti pools. The way they seamlessly insinuate themselves into the surrounding landscape. Our most memorable was the Filitheyo pool whose pool edge faces the west making for the most soothing dip at sunset pina coladas in hand. Dusit Thani’s sheer scale amplifies that trompe de l’oeil and it’s island banyan tree adds just that extra touch of magic.

One a side note, my heart goes out to all Maldivians facing this current unsettled period and my hope is that sensible minds and caring hearts prevail quickly.

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Best of the Maldives: Ex Pats – Hulhule

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Hulhule bar

 

 

Oxymoron – a word that appears self contradictory. Like ‘losing Patriots’ or ‘local foreigners’. In a world championship every bit as ‘Super’ as the hype (which is a tall order in the USA), the ‘Pats’ (my hometown team) fell short of the mark in the final minutes on Sunday.

For anyone perplexed by why ‘American Football’ (aka ‘NFL’) is bigger than all other sports combined in America, I highly recommend (for those who have access) the BBC iPlayer’s recording of Super Bowl XLVI for an illustration of what makes American Football the sport with the most drama and athleticism in the world at minute 2:17.

For those players making this pinnacle game their career denouement and looking for a place to chill in the Maldives, Hulhule is the place to go for ‘Ex Pats’.

‘Expatriates’ that is. Hulhule Hotel is a popular watering hole for various Male and other island ex-pats and resort workers who converge on the big city. But as Male is dry, the foreigners seek a place to imbibe and the hotspot of choice is is Hulhule hotel which has a liquor license.

So if you want an insider’s view with an outsider’s perspective of life in paradise, then stop on into Hulhule for a chat with some of the semi-locals. 

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Best of the Maldives: Squash – Palm Beach

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Palm Beach - squash

 

Also a bit longer swim away are the world junior squash championships in Chennai, India. Reethi Beach, with its surperb racket sports centre, is a top contender for Maldives squash honours. But Palm Beach features not only a brand new court, but also their own squash pro, Romel Diaz (see photo above) who provide free instruction or playing partner.

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Best of the Maldives: Ocean Swim – W Retreat

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W Retreat ocean swim

Sometimes you want the local island to be just that bit further away…especially if you are an open water swimmer.

Swimming in a lagoon is like have your own, gigantic, tropical fish stocked super-Olympic sized pool. In the morning, it is common to see a guest or two having an early swim to work off the pina coladas from the night before. But of course, you have the entire ocean at your disposal and some ocean-faring swimmers quite savour a broad expanse of open water. A good friend of mine travels across the world for ocean swims with a London group, Swim Trek.

The place to go in the Maldives for an open water swim holiday would the W Retreat. They have already sponsored several ocean swim events including one to ring in the New Year most recently (see poster below). The distance from the resort island to the neighboring deserted island is a marked mile (see photo above). And the route has relatively little current being within the atoll. After the swim, a boat picks them up for a more leisurely return segment.

Peter Foreman of the W describes…

“The swim is about 1.3KM (one way).  I don’t know what that is in miles – sorry.  When we do the swim, it is always one way, we stop on the island and return by speed boat. We do not do this swim regularly for guests – we have always done it just for hotel staff.  On 30th December 2011, we did an event with guests – however, this was a pre-arranged fund raiser event [see flyer below].  So, we would not do this for a one on one swimmer – due to the number of our staff that would be required (doctor, support, etc).  If you had a group staying with us and they were keen on doing the swim, I am sure that we could put it together for them.”

 

W Retreat ocean swim flyer

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Best of the Maldives: Nearest Local Island – Kandooma

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Kandooma local island

 

 

As for intimately close rocks, many islands are just a wade away from each other. Other resorts, companion resorts, deserted islands. But the closest island where Maldivian locals live and work is adjacent to Kandooma. The picture above shows me a few metres into a 50 metre swim to the local island Guraidhoo. The resort will arrange visits a taste of Maldivian life…probably the most convenient ‘local island excursion’ in the country.

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Best of the Maldives: Floor Decoration – Anantara Veli

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Anantara Veli floor decoration

Bed decoration, with petals and blossoms from local gardens, is a longstanding tropical resort tradition practiced with great panache in the Maldives. Kuramathi has innovated on the concept with towel sculptures. And Anantara Veli provides another twist with coral floor decorations (see photo above). They create a variety of artistic greetings to guests using coral bits from the beach.

This distinction seemed appropriate to call out today with the passage of another romantic rock flirtingly brushing by the earth more closely than it has in over three decades – Asteroid 433 Eros (‘Eros’ of course the ‘God of Love’). Mind you, that intimate encounter is still 16 million miles away.

So today in Anantara Veli you can get romantic signs from above in the heavens or below at your feet from possibly the most romantic rocks in the Maldives.

Asteroid 433 Eros

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Best of the Maldives Online: Kids Site – Kuramathi

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Kuramathi kids site

Kaki is not alone in bringing the marine delights and insights home to young guests on the web. Kuramathi’s web site features its very own ‘Kids Corner’ online. Anyone on the Internet can join in the maritime fun and curiosity with material like their interactive ‘Marine Life Alphabet’…

  • “In here, you shall find all those familiar fish you often see swimming about in the ocean in Alphabetical Order, each described in a playful manner. From Angelfish to Zebra Moral Eel, learn the names of the fish and their unique characteristics in a snap! Little guests, have also the chance to experiment with colours, with the new Marine Life Colouring Book which comes as a downloadable PDF booklet. Learning was never made this easy! After absorbing the interesting bubbles of Marine Life, test your skills by going snorkelling and prove yourself the winner when you can name the fish you see!”

Actually, seeing a baby Zebra Moray Eel, at Kuramathi’s sister resort Kurumba, was the underwater highlight for my wife Lori during our last visit to the Maldives. There were wonderful reef sharks swimming all around us, but all she wanted to look at was this shy little black and white stripped critter ensconced in a crevasse.

Kuramathi Kids Corner Zebra Moray Eel

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Best of the Maldives: Kids Marine Biology – Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru

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Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru kids discovery room

It’s not just the wee turtles and anemone fish that get special nurseries for their development at Four Seasons, but the littlest guest get their very own special area inthe Marine Discovery Centre.  Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru has put in its trademark attention to detail to a special young kids area of the Discovery Centre with colourful decoration and a hands-on ‘discovery’ tank.  It even has it’s own special mascot, ‘Kaku’ (short for ‘kauni’ which is ‘crab’ in Dhivehi).  Kaku has his own email address, postal address (“3rd Hole on Landaa’s Palm Tree Road”), and Facebook page where he posts his ‘Reef News’ articles.  So kids can keep engaged and keep learning even after their family stay.

“Hi, I’m Kaku – Landaa Giraavaru’s resident journalist hermit crab. Join me on Facebook and I’ll keep you informed of all the pioneering conservation projects underway at Landaa’s Marine Discovery Centre.”

Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru Kaku

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