Best of the Maldives: Sizzling Food – Meeru

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Meeru Hot Rocks Restaurant

 

If you’re looking for hot foods instead of hot drinks, then Meeru’s Hot Rock Restaurant’s delicacies sizzle all the way to your table and then some…

“Featuring seafood, steak, chicken or exotic game cooked at your table on volcanic “hot rocks”.  Located on the Pavilion Bar Pool deck.”

For a full, detailed review check out this comprehensive write up complete with plenty of pictures by ‘Humble Jim’s Pam’ on the Meeru forum…

“By day you can get the impression the Hot Rock is 'just’ a snack bar. But that would be so very misleading. We were bowled over by the service, quality (and quantity for that matter) of the food. We had a beautifully laid out table and were positioned just by the infinity pool with another couple nearby at another table… There was Kangaroo as well as Ostrich on the main menu but we both had decided to go for the Brazilian beef fillet…Even though we were new to the whole Hot Rock thing we soon got going with it…I can honestly say it was the best beef I have tasted anywhere and as a Yorkshire girl I can tell you that's saying something really profound. Before too long it was 'Mission Accomplished' on the lava front!”

 

Meeru - Hot Rocks restaurant

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Best of the Maldives: Ingredient Theme – Club Med Kani

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Club Med Kani buffet

 

Happy Thanksgiving Pilgrims!

The spirit of the day is appreciation and gratitude (which must come relatively easy for anyone who finds themselves in the Maldives today), but the centrepiece of the American tradition is food. In particular, one main ingredient – turkey. Dubbed ‘Turkey Day’, meals for the next weeks revolves around various poultry combinations from the big bird…leftover turkey, turkey sandwiches, turkey curry, turkey soup, etc.

In this spirit, Club Med Kani has such a food theme every day! In stark contrast to a typical Thanksgiving feast, the focus is on healthy eating. When I visited, the theme was ‘Cucumber’ and the buffet featured…

  • Cucumber Spring Rolls (hand made a station)
  • Cucumber and Mango Kebab
  • Cucumber Oliver Tapanade
  • Cucumber Sushi with Fish Roe
  • Cucumber Salad with Vinegar and Honey
  • Cucumber Thai Salad
  • Cucumber and Smoker Fish Sandwich
  • Yogurt and Cucumber Soup
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Best of the Maldives: American Breakfasts – Kurumba

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Kurumba Henry Jordan

If you want something a bit more substantial than OJ to start your day, then there is not much more substantial than an ‘American’ breakfast. Yes, the ‘British fry up’ is a noble effort with its variety and grease content, but most ‘full English’ would rank as a ‘bit of a starter’ for an American morning meal. In fact, Americans had to invent their own term ‘brunch’ to describe a meal so big it’s two meals in one.

And if you want the ‘American Breakfast’ experience, then the closest I have found in the Maldives is Kurumba’s spread…

  • Blueberry Pancakes…with blueberry syrup! IHOP staple (putting the ‘International’ into the ‘IHOP’). Lots of resorts have pancakes, but blueberry is the true classic. W had delicious Blueberry Waffles, but not served with the blueberry syrup.
  • Fruit Loops. Junky, high sugar, ‘kids bouncing off the walls’ with a cartoon character on the box. That’s American breakfast cereal. Fruit Loops is an old-school classic and I can’t even get those in the UK
  • Fresh cooked ‘proper’ doughnuts. A lot of resorts provide ‘donuts’, but few get it right. Most are stodgy, doughy, heavy and not even that sweet. These were freshly made at the resort because Lori and I smelled them cooking.
  • American chef. Perhaps one secret to Kurumba’s Yankee delicacies is their staff chef Henry Jordan from Narragansett, Rhode Island (see centre of photo above) who provides a real authentic expertise.

 

Kurumba donuts   Kurumba froot loops

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Best of Maldives: Green Cooking– Six Senses Laamu

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Six Sense Laamu Carbon Free Dining

If BBQ isn’t quite environmentally friendly enough for you, then maybe ‘Green Cooking’ would be more interesting.

No not ‘greens’ cooking. ‘Green Cooking’. Eco-friendly cooking. ‘Carbon-free Cooking’. As opposed to some of my BBQ’s where there is nothing left of the cooking except for the charred remains of a collection of carbon atoms.

Six Senses Laamu has introduced ‘Carbon Free Cooking’ (thanks Sakis)…

  • “Zero-carbon cooking is the buzz phrase among chefs and diners who care about the environmental impact of the catering industry. The idea that you can cook a meal without contributing harmful greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere – whilst still making it delicious! – presents quite a challenge but is certainly one that will be inspiring Six Senses chefs over the years to come.”
  • “At Six Senses Laamu we have now introduced a zero-carbon menu at Deck-a-dence, our amazing over-water, under-the-stars dining and chilling out decks. All ingredients are sourced from within the Laamu atoll and served raw, so no need for any energy to be consumed in cooking. A truly sustainable culinary experience.”

Just to add to the experience and bring you even closer to nature, Six Senses Laamu serves the environmentally savvy savouries at a special over-water, glass-floored table (see above).

To start with, one way to reduce the carbon emissions from cooking, is to leave out the ‘cooking’ bit.  Or at least the ‘fire’ part.  The ‘cooking’ as in combining ingredients into delicious concoctions can carry on.  Salads and sushi were about the only ‘raw’ cuisine most people will eat, but Cordon Bleu chef Diana Von Cranach has pioneered a whole range of ‘raw cooking’ which she is bring to Six Senses Laamu (and Soneva Fushi) this coming week.  She will be featuring such dishes as “Mixed Mushroom, Oriental Herb & Calamansi Ceviche on Lotus Root, Fresh Living  Coconut & Fenugreek Green Soup with Angelhair Choko Noodles, Living Chickpea Chappati.”

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Best of Maldives – BBQ – W Retreat

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W Retreat bbq

The recently passed Summer Bank Holiday (UK) and Labor Day Weekend (USA) are traditionally celebrated with a grand finale BBQ (or ‘barbeque’ or even ‘Bar-B-Q’ for you southerners) of the season. And if BBQ is your thing, one the W Retreat’s signature restaurants is devoted to the cuisine of the flame. Dubbed ‘Fire’ in W’s characteristically succinct style, guests help themselves to one of 4 BBQs complemented by a range of side dishes on offer…

  • Mongolian
  • Spit-Roast
  • Grill
  • Tandoori

Like most of the W’s food, everything is prepared to order from a range of ingredients that you customise to your liking.

“Primal meets epicurean with spit-roasted whole suckling pig or lamb and BBQ-grilled marinated meat and seafood. Spice it up with Tandoor-cooked nan bread, chicken, fish or seafood accompanied by a variety of curries. Who’s feeling creative? Mix and match ingredients at the Mongolian BBQ where you choose your fave ingredients. Or opt for the à la carte sharing items like succulent whole fish, mezzeh and meat dishes.”

The central fire pit and pervasive tiki-torches fill the evening with a flickering glow for an ambience as inviting as the savoury delicacies.

W Retreat fire bbq

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Best of the Maldives – Nautical Restaurant: Meeru

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Meeru - Goma restaurant 2

 

 

The wooden deck of a classic schooner…the perfect romantic complement to a ocean adventure. Many resorts offer various boat trips for sunrise and sunset cruises with a whole range of boats. But if you don’t want to pay a supplemental excursion fee and or if your sea legs are not the best (though with the calm waters of the Maldives, seasickness is rarely an issue), then Meeru offers a nautical evening for its guests without any extra costs (aside from the food consumed in its restaurant) and without leaving the dock.

It has turned the Goma sailing ship into one of its resort restaurants. As it happens, my family took a sunrise cruise on the Goma back when it was part of ‘Rangali’ (then known as ‘Hilton Rangali) before its retirement into stationary culinary service.

“Goma was built by Philippe Laurella, in 1992, on Velidu, a local island in Noonu Atoll, in the northern Maldives. In Dhivehi, the local language, Goma is an ancient royal title, reserved for a princess. Philippe, a Frenchman, arrived in the Maldives in 1978, fell in love, marrived a local woman and works as a boat builder, fisherman and artist. Goma is 22 m (70 feet) long by 7 m(23 feet) wide. Her built up area is 196 cm and she displaces 39 tons. Her hull dimensions reflect the traditional dhoni design that the hull is 1/3 the length, providing better stability. In 1993, Goma was purchased by Afeef, the Owner of Meeru Island Resort, and operated as a safari boat.”

It’s complete menu and further background is available here.

 

Meeru - Goma restaurant 1

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Best of the Maldives – Fusion: Anantara Veli

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Anantara Veli Gekko

My fortnight tour of the Maldives identified 89 potential new ‘Best of Maldives’ features (to add to the 169 I have already posted and the further 94 that I have drafted in the wings). Over the upcoming fortnight, I will be featuring the first ‘Best Of’ pieces stemming from the trip. They might not be the biggest or most dramatic, just a sample of some my favourites.

Speaking of favourites, our favourite food of the trip was hands down the Italian-Fusion restaurant on Anantara Veli, Geckos. When I first was told about it, I was a bit sceptical. ‘So what is it? Pizza and sushi? What’s the fusion?’ And it is indeed the ‘fusion’ that makes it special. Executive Sous-Chef Ken explained that they use indigenous ingredients from both Japanese and Italian cuisine and do indeed ‘fuse’ them into novel renditions of familiar dishes and styles.

Yes, they have Sushi Pizza (the sushi is put on after it’s cooked and the pizza base is a thinner style). They have Italian pasta made with Japanese togorashi and nouri. Even the Italian garlic bread is accented with Japanese spices. I had the Teppanyaki pork on lemon grass and crab meat sauce which was stunning. The chef’s specialty is ‘Ebi Pizza’ made with prawns, crab, dry roasted seaweed, Japanese spices, Mishima yaksri

Ken even offers the guest recipes of any of the dishes you crave (my wife wants the recipes for the ‘Roasted sesame seed ice cream’ and ‘spiced salmon on Tagliatelle with wafu sauce’).

buon appetito in Japanese

‘buon appetito’ in Japanese

Anantara Veli Gekko 2

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Best of the Maldives: Sore Feet Dining – Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru

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Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru Blu pool dining

Ooohhh…sore feet. Whether it yesterday’s marathon or tenderness from overly hot sand, Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru has the pedi-treatment for you.

Their Blu restaurant is a lovely place with a rustic, understated elegance fashioned from unpolished concrete and distressed wood. To extend the soothing comfort of its Italian delicacies, it also offers diner in the pool. Many resorts have ‘pool-side’ bars, but Landaa is the first ‘pool-in’ dining. I thought that the sensation of warm sand between my toes during dinner was distinctive, but warm water soaking my feet while a crisp Sauvignon soaks my palette is sublime.

Landaa’s piscinary gourmet uniqueness may be somewhat short-lived, however, as the upcoming Ayada resort has a published designs which show even more extensive catering to this no-shoes style of dining.

A final note to add an inspiring follow up to my post-script of the last post. Mark Deakin not only completed the London Marathon, but started a new life marathon at the same time as he stopped at the Tower Bridge to propose to his girlfriend, Ilona. So Landaa’s pool dining can not only soothe Mark’s weary feet, but also provide the perfectly romantic celebration to their new life together. Maybe this post should be ‘Best Post-Marathon Marriage Proposal Romantic Dinner’.

Mark and Ilona proposal 1  Mark and Ilona proposal 2  Mark and Ilona proposal 3

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Best of the Maldives: Dining Choices – Kurumba

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Kurumba pool side dining

The Lynn family enjoying one of Kurumba’s many dining delights.

Perhaps this post could also be called ‘Best for Americans’. Americans love choice and Americans love food. Living the UK for two decades, people ask what I miss from the States. There is not much at this point, both because I have grown fond of the UK’s own offerings and because the UK has more and more stuff from America. The one answer I always respond with is ‘choice’. USA is the land where places like Starbucks pioneered the triple-shot, skinny, extra-hot latte with a hazelnut and cinnamon as a form of a ‘cup of coffee’. In our local Waitrose store, they offer 3 types of cake mix…in America, there is a cake mix aisle. As it happens, this week I in the apotheosis of dining choice…Las Vegas. I woke up the other night from jet lag at 3:00 am and felt a bit peckish and I had 3 restaurants that were open to choose from…without leaving my hotel.

If you want that kind of decadent dining variety, then the unsurprising winner is the resort I found to have the ‘Most Choices’ overall – Kurumba. When it comes to dining, they have 10 options

which is the most culinary variety you will find in the Maldives…

  1. Al Qasr – Arabic/Lebanese
  2. La Cucina– Italian
  3. Hamakaze – Japanese
  4. Kurumba Mahal – Indian
  5. Ming Court – Chinese
  6. Ocean Grill – seafood
  7. Kurumba Cafe – variety
  8. Pizza Piazza – poolside pizza (brick oven baked)
  9. Vihamana – buffet restaurant for breakfast and meal plan meals
  10. Beach Bar – lunches served a la carte and buffet

Also, the resort offers room service which offers an impressive selection of dishes from each of the restaurants. See my blog post on ‘Meal Plan’.

Kuramathi also has 10 restaurants, but they don’t have the diversity of styles and menus as a couple of the restaurants are just different areas serving the same fare.

Technorati Tags: Kurumba,Maldives,Kuramathi
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Best of the Maldives: Sweet Tooth – Six Senses Laamu

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Six Senses Laamu Ice

 

Anantara Kihava’s crown as the new kid on the block didn’t last long as Six Senses Laamu opened last weekend. SSLL has a lounge called ‘Ice’ which specialises in the sins of the sweet tooth.

“Ice is for all those with a sweet tooth. From the crepe bar and cocoa kitchen to the 40 flavored ice creams, the choices are endless. With daily cooking clinics, just leave room for the tasting.”

Even the ice cream icon Baskin and Robbins only had 31 flavours. And a ‘Cocoa Kitchen’. Yum.

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