Something that you won’t find on any all-inclusive package, in fact you won’t find hardly any where else that I know of in the Maldives, is a Lobster Burger.
How my New England raised palette loves a good lobster culinary concoction. Apparently so does global celebrity Shilpa Shetty. Who engaged in a bit of lifestyle food blogging of her own during her visit to Taj Exotica…
“We tried the biggest lobster burger available in Maldives and licked it clean,”
Today is International Failure Day! A day to celebrate turning adversity to advantage. There might not seem to be anything flawed about the Maldives paradise, but it just so happens that this subject is my “other” pastime that I research and write extensively about.
Today’s embracing failure award goes to Sun Siyam Irufushi for their inspired kids play area in the main dining restaurant. Under 6’s are welcome to join this colourful and well equipped area right near a group of the tables. That way, Mom and Dad can enjoy their dinner and linger over an extra serving from the buffet while the little ones can frolic in sight. Irufushi also features delightful (and sturdy) kids’ placeware to put a smile on their faces when they do eat (see below).
For those worried about the sounds of happy children disturbing their own meal, Irufushi also provides a few separate dining areas so peace-and-quiet seeking adults can eat there.
I always feel bad for kids in fancy restaurants or holiday spots being under pressure to be extra well-behaved especially at the table. Doesn’t sound like much of a holiday for them to me. I love that Irufushi has decided embrace the failure to bottle up kids natural energy and exuberance and catered for it instead.
China’s “Golden Week” is a time to visit family. Sort of like the Chinese equivalent of America’s Thanksgiving weekend. Many American’s don’t necessarily “go home” for Christmas, but they definitely do for Thanksgiving (hence the phrase “Homecoming Queen” for the celebrations around the football game played on Thanksgiving).
China’s Golden Week involves a cluster of holidays (Mid-Autumn Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Qingming Festival) coming close together. Similarly, America’s Thanksgiving and Veterans Day come within a fortnight of each other. Most people take their Veteran’s Day leave on the Friday after Thanksgiving (which always falls on a Thursday) to make an elongated 4-day break. Furthermore, the central holiday is the Mid-Autumn Festival (starts on the 6th October) which is very similar to Thanksgiving in its roots and practice. It is celebrated in the autumn, a time of reaping and harvesting, and it centers around “gathering, prayer and giving thanks” (sound familiar?).
Because Chinese are visiting their families, most won’t be venturing so far as the Maldives. But when the Chinese do travel abroad, they characteristically do so as an extended family as well. At most resorts, the largest group at dinner will almost always be a Chinese family. I can appreciate this practice. Some of our family’s most memorable holidays were the Lynn clan coming together as we gathered in Monte Argentario (Italy), Paris (France), Lake Winnipesake (USA), etc.
Centara Ras Rushi has added a delightful touch to their main restaurant which is just perfect for such larger family groups. It is sort of a birds-nest/bird-cage inspired metal structure which carves out a bit of segregate space at the carvery. They were an inspired way to break up the expansive space without taking up space or closing up the space.
???? (Happiness to the whole family!)
Book your tables now for tomorrow’s World Vegetarian Day. And the hot table in the Maldives is at Atmosphere Kanifushi’s “Just Veg” restaurant. Pretty much all Maldivian restaurants in the Maldives have vegetarian options (especially with its India proximity), but “Just Veg” is the only all vegetarian restaurant in the Maldives.
“A pure Vegetarian restaurant, a FIRST in the Maldives, serving delightful vegetarian cuisine from the Mediterranean, Arabic, Indian regions along with a special menu specifically for Jain Cuisine. JUST VEG redefines contemporary non-meat cuisine by experimenting with original and surprising flavor combinations. It aims to elevate 100% meat-free cookery to a new high, which will delight the discerning palates of all tastes, whether it is a devout vegetarian or a committed carnivore!”
In fact, tomorrow, Just veg will be celebrating the World Vegetarian day with an in-residence Michelin Star Guest Chef – Mr.Fabrizio Marino, one of the very few Vegetarian Michelin Star Chefs in the world.
World Mushroom Day today (who knew?).
As part of its intense focus on sustainability, Soneva Fushi has its own mushroom hut for cultivating a wide varieties of Basidiomycotae and Agaricomycetes. Oyster and other varieties grown from tubes of mulch made by their resort’s recycling plant. The hut interior is kept cool and moist with a light spray of water on constantly.
Putting the “fun” into “fungi” and the “eco” into the “enoki”.
I love Maldives lagoons. The whole magic of the Maldives centers around its unique shallow and calm waters. In my “Haven’t Seen” series, a recurring theme is resorts not doing enough “in water”. A few resorts are starting to move tables into the shallows for some wet-piggy-toes dining, but Centara Ras Fushi has made a bolder move with a thatched-parasol table set permanently in its lagoon.
You can even pre-book the table for your lunch at no extra charge (the seafood platter is appropriately the most popular). Mind you, you do need to think about the tide timings (see below).
I have now added the “In Ocean” category tag for all of the examples of exploiting this unique resource.
Often it is the little touches that turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. I had to start off my Best of the Maldives posts on Coco Bodu Hithi with their creative pancake station. I already featured the special Maldivian flag pancake made for the 50th anniversary celebrations a fortnight ago. But that was just a sample of the creative concoctions the chef Endro (see photos below) makes.
He uses three types of pancake batter – (a) Red (strawberry), (b) Brown (chocolate), and (c) White (plain). He made the above “Love” heart for me to give Lori and a special “Maldiv” flapjack for me.
In fact, this post made me realise that I didn’t have a “Breakfast” category tag…yet.
Fusion is blends one culinary tradition’s recipes with another locale’s ingredients. The Maldives is no stranger to a range of fusions incorporating fresh reef fish, tropical fruit and Indian spices into familiar concoctions from around the world. Hideaway Beach’s “Samasara” restaurant goes a step further infusing the cultural show and drama of Teppanyaki with indigenous flavours. Their chef, Rahul, performs twice weekly at their over-water prime location. He yields the knives with characteristic dexterity, but the climax comes with the flaming grand finale not just in pyrotechnic drama, but dazzling flavours – the flambé fruit (watermelon, fruit, banana, vodka, anise star).
Glass floors have become a signature design feature in Maldives water villas, but Six Senses Laamu has literally raised the concept to a new level. Their Lagoon Water Villa has transparent portal into the colourful lagoon below, but by making it a table, it’s easier to sit down and enjoy the spectacle with a tropical cocktail.
Today’s post has triggered the addition of a new category tag of the best “Tables” in the blog.
Jumeirah Dhevanafushi let’s you have you drinks in the water too. The inset seating is found at its Johara (“Jewel”) restaurant itself located out in the water with the Ocean Pearl villa complex. The pool in which it sits was awarded one of the “Best Pools of the World”. Soneva has one of these sunken tables but for exclusive use of a particular villa while the Jewel on is available for any guest.
Drinks in the pool without getting wet!