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: Spontaneous Sweets – W Retreat

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W Retreat sweet spot

Talk about ‘hitting the spot’.

For those who don’t want to go far at all for their refreshment, then the W Retreat’s ‘Sweet Spots’ are the place for you. Dotted around the tiny resort are small unmanned stations where you can help yourself to a fresh towel, sun lotion, and drinks like iced coffee. But best of all…free ice creams – Magnums, Soleros, Cornettos, vanilla and strawberry ice cream tubs.

It’s not like there is far to go anywhere in the island. If you were on the complete opposite side of the island, the apex of the further point away from the restaurant, then it might take you 5 minutes to get there. But such is the extremes of indolence inspired by the soporific Maldives, that the W has astutely catered for. Completely in keeping with their ‘Whatever/Whenever’ service ethos.

Speaking of ‘Sweet Spots’ and ‘resort strengths’, I have to share a piece from my friend Mike Pegg, who is one of the UK’s top executive coaches who has written a number of books on exploiting one’s strengths, Mike Pegg – “3 Tips for Hitting the Sweet Spot.”

 

W Retreat swet spot frig

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Best of the Maldives: Deserted Island Lunch – Kanuhura

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Kanuhura Jehunuhura

If you want to really get away from it all, including the resort itself, then Kanuhura offers a deserted island restaurant, Kandu.

“Kanuhura has opened a new restaurant, ‘Kandu’, on Jehunuhura, its own private Robinson Crusoe like-island. Kandu means “blue sea” in Divehi. This exciting new outlet, the first resident restaurant set on a private islet in the Maldives, will enable guests to discover a totally new concept of Grill restaurant on a tiny getaway island a few minutes away by boat transfer from Kanuhura.”

Most resorts offer special ‘excursions’ for meals on nearby deserted islands or even sand bars out in the ocean. If you wanted a lunch, then you typically got a hamper-style picnic. If you wanted dinner, then you typically had to pay often hundreds of dollars for a rather elaborate production of chef, waiter and supplies all being shipped out to the venue. Kandu provides an established dining area with comfortable seating and stylish touches of décor. The prices aren’t cheap ($20 – $30 for starters and $30 – $40 for mains), but they are at least menu based rather than a set cost.

 

Kanuhura Kandu

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Best of the Maldives: Japanese Restaurant – Adaaran Vadoo

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Vadoo Kitajima 2

And another Happy Birthday…today to the Emperor of Japan.

To celebrate, it’s time for another doff of the kabuto once again to all things Japanese in the Maldives, Adaaran Vadoo. This time, in this season that puts the ‘feast’ into ‘festive’, it is the Kitajima restaurant. Many resorts feature Japanese fare like sushi and tempura and some even have full fledged Japanese restaurants. But none as extensive and authentic as Kitajima. The materials used in building the restaurant, supplies used in preparing the dishes (except for the hyper-fresh seafood), and the staff straight from Japan (including the manageress who has been there since the opening).

“Adaraan Prestige Vadhoo is unique in the Maldives to offer a Japanese specialty restaurant. For those wishing a change of taste and scene you can try traditional Japanese meals ranging from fresh sushi to succulent tempura at the Kithajima restaurant. Our staffs have had many years of training and experience in the preparation of Japanese cuisine and will endeavour to prepare your selections to suit your preferences. Traditional Japanese favourites ranging from edamame and spring rolls to sushi, tempura and sashimi served with specially made sauces and accompaniments are just some of the dishes on offer to satisfy your cravings. Only the freshest of seasonal sea food and best ingredients are used in the preparation of the dishes. Many Japanese beers and Sake is available to enhance the dining experience.”

Vadoo Kitajima 3

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Best of the Maldives: Chocolate Dessert – W Retreat

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W Retreat 7 Layer Chocolate

Happy Birthday Lori!

Today my companion in all my adventures celebrates the major milestone of her 50th birthday. Lori was the one who was initially responsible for my immersion into all things Maldives. After living in the United Kingdom for nearly a year, we hit the dreary, grey winter months. After many weeks without seeing the sun, Lori confronted me with the ultimatum, “Bruce, either you pay for a tropical holiday or you pay for psychotherapy. Either way you are going to pay, but might I suggest that you might enjoy the tropical holiday more.” My friend Andy Lees insisted that the only place to take her was the Maldives. And the rest was history.

On this day, the thing to celebrate is cake. There are a plethora of spectacular chefs in the Maldives so I am typically very hesitant to ascribe any ‘Best of Maldives’ for specific foods. Most of the ‘Best of Dining’ accolades go to distinctive experiences or venues. If I am going to accord a kudos, it needs to be quite a narrow area (like Sheraton Full Moon’s Gazpacho).

While I couldn’t whisk her away to the Maldives, I do have special gourmet treats planned for her tonight, including a special chocolate cake which evoked one of the most memorable desserts we ever enjoyed in the Maldives – the W Retreat’s ‘7 Layer Chocolate Cake’. Like Lori’s birthday surprise, the cake was two months in development by Pastry Chef Sanjit Gupta. It mastered that paradox of rich flavours with exceedingly light feel to it.

The 7 layers were…

  • Sacher sponge
  • Chocolate marquis
  • Chocolate Brule
  • Hazelnut custard mousse
  • Chocolate jelly
  • Milk chocolate mousse
  • Cocoa powder

Exquisite…like Lori.

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Best of the Maldives: Buffet Vista – Hulhule

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Hulhule Buffet

 

Everyday is an air show in the Maldives. One of the most exciting parts of a trip there is the arrival. When your plane first touches the edges of the sprawling archipelago you are treated to an other-worldly vision of a blue kaleidoscope. Always do whatever you can to get a window seat for flights in and out of Male airport.

This view was formally recognized this week by the website PrivateFly.com who surveyed their members for the ‘Top 10 Airport Approaches in the World’ and Male came in #5…

"It is an Island Airport, on its own island..The airport is surrounded by deep blue seas, turquoise reefs, white sandy beaches and palm trees…approaching over the Maldivian Atolls where you often see turtles and dolphins on approach."

The airport touchdown isn’t the only thing at Hulhule with a great vista. The Hulhule Hotel features its restaurant buffet on its 4th floor with the best mealtime vistas in the Maldives. Most buffets are relegated to the interior of the island without even a glimpse of the ocean, but at Hulhule the entire expanse of blueness is spread before you as copiously as the delectable items before you with big picture windows on both sides of the room.

Sometimes there are less attractive tankers in bay, other times some of the glitziest yachts. One of the sights, obviously, is the Male airport, so the restaurant also would have made a great grandstand for this week’s airshow.

Enjoy the approach yourself with some of the videos on YouTube…

Male airport

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Best of the Maldives: Sand-Between-Toes Dining: Velassaru

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Velassaru beach dining

Dining on the beach is pretty standard now, but dining ‘in’ the beach? There are ‘beach chairs’ and then there are ‘beach’-chairs. As in ‘made out of beach’. And I don’t mean ‘beech’.

If you like getting down for dinner, then Velassaru takes ‘sand between your toes’ dining to a whole new level. A level down into the sand for sand between your toes, legs, and anything else.

I’ve always been a big aficionado of beach dining in the Maldives and have been frustrated when resorts sequestered guests off into to cinder block dining halls for meals.

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Best of the Maldives: Dining Times – Palm Beach

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Palm Beach sushi

Also considering dubbing this distinction ‘Best for Grazing’.

Lots of top resorts offer all sorts of custom services, but even there the meals are most often confined to specific serving times. When we are plotting our holiday days, we do often pivot around meal times. Getting up early enough for breakfast before an excursion, fitting in a bite for lunch, leaving the bar before the buffet closes.

If such dining schedule constraints weigh on you, then Palm Beach is the resort to consider. They have the longest standard serving times of any resort I have come across.

  • Breakfast 8:00 – 1:00 (!)
  • Lunch 1:00 – 2:30
  • Tea 4:30 – 7:00 (crepes, cookies, cakes)
  • Appetizers 7:45 – 8:40 (Italian antipasti, sushi – see photo above at sushi station)
  • Dinner 8:30 – 10:00

Only 2 hours and 45 minutes when food not available during the day. Inclusive that is. You can always order a la carte from a number of places throughout the day. The generosity of serving times reminded me of cruise boats who have mastered this approach for year offering food pretty much non-stop throughout the day.

Fancy a bite? No problem.

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Best of the Maldives: Custom Breakfast – W Retreat

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W Retreat breakfast 2

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.

W Retreat mugs

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Best of the Maldives: Traditional Floating Breakfast: Kanuhura

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Kanuhura traditional floating breakfast

The iconic Maldivian dhoni inspires many features at Maldive resorts beyond the arrival lounge. In fact, you can even go to the eponymous Dhoni Island (well, used to be able to…now it is shut down). If you want to start your day with such a maritime cultural inspiration, then go to Kanuhura for their ‘Dhoni Breakfast’. The elegant morning meal is served by a personal waiter on a Kuda Dhoni (a small Maldivian traditional boat) while you enjoy the sun rise over the water.

When we visited Conrad Rangali with my parents, we took the Goma (which was still in active service) for a breakfast cruise and found it a refreshing experience which evokes one of his favourite blessings is from Winslow Homer…

“The sun will not rise or set without my notice and thanks.”

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