One of my most memorable exotic breakfast concoctions has been Huvafenfushi’s tropical twist on a breakfast crepe. They also infused their batter with coconut, but then added carmelised banana, palm sugar and lime syrup.
Délicieux!
Best of the Maldives: Coconut Waffles – Vilamendhoo
Waffle, waffle, waffle! There’s a day for everything, it seems, and today happens to be Waffle Day (a Swedish tradition).
I always wonder why more resorts don’t add a touch of the exotic to ordinary dishes. Which is why when I like to fuss over the exotic soupcon added to the soup, or the delicate tropical ingredient added to the delicacy.
One example is Vilamendhoo’s coconut waffles. All resorts have a breakfast buffet and most serve have a pancake and waffle station. Just a touch of coconut turned Vila’s from an ordinary offering to an extraordinary extra.
Läcker!
Best of the Maldives: Pain Perdu – One & Only Reethi Rah
Let them eat eggy bread! A toast to Bastille Day today.
I’m a bit of a breakfast aficionado. Most important meal of the day. My tastes range from the refined (eg. Eggs Benedict) to the profane (eg. grits with maple syrup). Lori makes a superb version with cinnamon and vanilla. Most resorts will have variation on ‘French Toast’ on their menu or buffet. But One & Only Reethi Rah’s was truly sublime. Coconut Banana Pain Perdu sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with whipped butter and a fruit coulis.
Magnifique!
Best of the Maldives: Jams – Constance Halaveli
And what goes with peanut? Jelly!
It is also a tasty spread for one’s morning toast and a regular fixture on all Maldives breakfast buffets. But Constance Halaveli stands out with 12 varieties on offer including – Passion Fruit, Strawberry, Apple & Cinnamon, Lemon Marmalade, Apricot, Banana, Pineapple, Mango & Papaya, and Mango.
Just jammy!
Best of the Maldives: Digital Breakfast – Lily Beach
As Apple announced today, sometimes you just need a little iPad.
Even sequested on an exotic ‘no shoes, no news’ island. Some people do miss their daily news tidbits, sports scores, and Facebook cat pictures over coffee in the morning. Lily Beach has its own offering for people who need a little iPad fix with their ‘iPads at Breakfast’ offering. They keep a selection of iPads at the restaurant that guests can borrow and use in the dining area in the wifi hot spot.
Thinking different!
Best of the Maldives: Breakfast – Waldorf
Happy Mothers Day!
Maldives doesn’t have an official national Mothers Day, but this is the day it is celebrated in neighbouring India as well as the country which started it, USA. A number of the resorts have taken the occasion to honor the maternal guests with special celebrations and well wishes.
In the Lynn household, all Mothers Day celebrations start with a traditional breakfast in bed. But, in our new home of the UK, ‘Mothering Sunday’ is more conventionally celebrated by taking your ‘mum’ out for a Sunday dinner.
If you want to take you mum out to breakfast, then Waldforf Astoria Maldives is the place to book. This is an ambitious category to award a best of. The 5-star kitchens across the Maldives are of exceptional quality, they just seem to get higher and higher gourmet standard, and breakfast is a big deal at most resorts with extravagant buffets. There may be other breakfast menus as good as the Waldorf’s, but I cannot imagine what one would do to surpass it. I’m a bit of a breakfast connoisseur (one of my entrepreneurial fantasies is to open a restaurant that serves breakfasts from all over the world). All set on their over-water restaurant facing the sunrise. Here’s a sample of the daybreak delicacies on offer…
- Lobster Omelette ($19)
- Foie Gras on Toasted Brioche with Vanilla-Pear Chutney ($24)
- Eggs Benedict with Truffle ($18)
- Scrambled Eggs with Caviar ($17)
Sure beats Corn Flakes!
Best of the Maldives: Traditional Sailing Breakfast – Soneva Gili
If you want a traditional floating breakfast with even more traditional mode movement (and more natural and quiet), then you want Soneva Gili’s sailing breakfast (you can rinse your hands naturally too by just reaching over the side). For a price of $100 per person (exclusives of 10% service charge and 6% GST)…
“We offer Continental breakfast selection for this dining experience. The selection can be offered as per the guests choice and availability and feasibility to serve on the sailing boat.”
Best of the Maldives: Breakfast Juice – Soneva Gili
This is photo of Soneva Gili by Six Senses is courtesy of TripAdvisor.
If you prefer your revitalising fluids inside you rather than around you, then you might want to start you day off at Soneva Gili. I was first alerted to Soneva Gili’s exceptional juice array by Sakis in a Trip Advisor Forum post where he noted proposed Gili as one of the best breakfast buffets in the Maldives: “One of the best is Soneva Gili for breakfast buffet, the choice among 60 fresh juices makes it also unique.” Few people have seen more Maldive resorts than Sakis so it’s a pretty compelling endorsement to me.
Their juice menu is full of healthy and tasty concoctions like…
- “Ocean Basic” – Apple and Carrots
- “Morning Berry” – Raspberry, Apple, Orange, Spirulina
- “Bloody Carrot” – Carrot, Beetroot, Celery, Lime).
- “Green ‘n Pear It” – Broccoli, Celery, Pear (great name for anything with broccoli in it).
As you can see, their offerings include veggie juices as well as fruit. Each item on the menu also has a complete nutritional breakdown as well as notations on benefits to Energy, Detox, Immunity, Degestion and Skin.
Best of the Maldives: Lagoon Breakfast – Mirihi
If the lure of the Maldives is the pervasive surroundings of water, then after your morning bath or shower similarly encircled. If you want to have breakfast in the water rather than on the water, then you can enjoy your breakfast completely immersed at Mirihi. They offer a ‘Feet in the Water Breakfast’ for $68 per person which covers whatever the guest wants (not the ‘caviar’, but normal breakfast fare). Assistant Front Office Manager Bastian Singer describes…
“As you can see the table is directly set up at the shoreline and the guests really have the feet in the water during the breakfast. It’s mostly used for special occasions like birthdays or wedding anniversaries as there is as well a bottle of champagne included.”
We love the beach dining concept. From the beginning of our family’s trips to the Maldives, we loved to eat right out on the sand by the ocean’s edge. In the go old days, years ago, the resorts were pretty laid back and were happy to move a table out to the beach for you. Now, many of the resorts are even more happy and set up to do so, but they usually bill it as a special meal or service. I don’t begrudge the resorts for doing so. It is both a bit more of a kuffufle that would impede their operations if everyone did it every day. And it is definitely extra value. Now Mirihi takes beach dining a step forward from water’s edge to water itself.
Best of the Maldives: Custom Breakfast – W Retreat
The ultra-5-stars will do anything for you at the drop of a hat and W Retreat is certainly right up there with obsessive service. But usually, breakfast is a fairly self-service situation at most resorts with a smorgasbord of morning delights on offer to provide more than enough choice for most people to craft their own well suited breakfast. Some things are prepared to order especially the ubiquitous ‘Egg Station’ and often a ‘Pancake Station’ (which will do waffles too).
But the W Retreat has taken the preparation stations to a whole new level at their breakfasts where everything is made to order custom to your requirements. I certainly pushed the Egg Station to limits I hadn’t yet experienced at a resort getting myself fresh Egg Benedict (with freshly made, not pre-prepared, Hollandaise Sauce). For beverages, I had a custom made Fruit Smoothie with fruits I hand picked from their literal cornucopia. For the Japanese visitors, the popular breakfast item of Miso soup was custom prepared (not sitting simmering in a big vat) and you can choose your own spices and added ingredients to include (see photo above).
But the quintessence of personalisation is their coffee mugs. They offer a vast assortment of unique, colourful mugs (see below). When you choose one, that mug becomes YOUR mug for the entire stay. They keep track of whose mugs is whose and serve you in your OWN personal mug.
