Haute cuisine has reached the Maldives, as well as 30-page wine lists, and even Snow Rooms.
The Tavaru Restaurant & Bar of Velaa Private Island offers a distinctive dining experience that merges architecture with East Asian cuisine, a premium wine collection, and, above all, that rare thing in the 1,190-island Indian Ocean archipelago– a panoramic view.
The ADR-designed, 23-meter-high, three-story futuristic structure uses reinforced concrete and innovative construction techniques to meet the region’s hydro-geological challenges. A spiralling console staircase connects the lower-level 1000-label wine cellar with the award-winning restaurant.
The owner of the island, Czech entrepreneur Jiri Smejc, teamed up with Prague-based architect Jan Kolar to create the exclusive 47-villa vacation resort, where a night’s stay can run anywhere from $1,500 to $30,000 USD.
Teppanyaki grill is the default cuisine served in the highest architectural building on a resort island in the Maldives. Exclusive Japanese tasting menus combine “a grand theatrical show with culinary delights such as the Teriyaki Black Cod and Kagoshima A5 Tenderloin.”
The restaurant has also launched a special $550 a head Sake pairing menu, starting with Dassai Elegant Tipsy with oxtail suimono, braised eggplant, and Sher Wagyu soup, followed by: DASSAI BEYOND with Yellowfin tuna, hamachi, ocean trout sashimi; KATEUYAMA KEN with crab okonomiyaki, kabayaki sauce tempura; 2019 TANAKA 1789 BLEND 001 to accompany marinated seabass, green tea soba, greens, and kombu soy. DASSAI 39 with skewer chicken and presa, shiitake mushrooms, edamame, scallions, and egg yolk. IWA 5 ASSEMBLAGE 2 KAGOSHIMA A5 and Teriyaki-glazed Kagoshima A5 beef, eringi mushrooms, leeks with porcini sauce, and DASSAI UMESHU DESSERT with the passionfruit, chocolate tart, coconut sorbet, and acacia dessert.
The luxury Indian Ocean destination has gone gastronomic. The Maldives has become a fine dining and fine wines destination. Because of its location, it has always been an expensive one. It’s always had the jetties, the thatched roofs, and over-the-sea or undersea dining. With close-up and friendly views of the local Manta rays and sharks.
Now, it boasts top chefs working with everything from banana leaves, Irish oysters, Tasmanian salmon, and Chilean sea bass, and the best Japanese sake.
The pioneering star of modern Maldivian gastronomy is Sri Lankan Gaushan De Silva. Culinary Director of the Velaa Private Resort on Noonu island. His menus are based on “Simplicity”.
“It’s always the hardest and most challenging thing to make. It’s easy to add all sorts of ingredients to make a dish more refined and elevated, but to keep it simple and make sure each ingredient is of top quality – that’s what talented chefs do. Ingredients are the heroes.
“When creating a dish, I always put the local land, water, and community first. It’s my way of giving back to the place and people. Local Maldivian flavors and ingredients inspire me, and I continually seek an elegant and refined way to spotlight them. My menus are also built on respect. We support all our fishermen and have our own fishing boat.
“More than a resort, Velaa is the passion project of a couple to create the world’s perfect home. It’s a place where you are truly carefree and able to indulge in the best the world has to offer, such as food, wine, adventures, and delights.”
116 miles north of the capital Male, accessible in 45 minutes by seaplane, barely 500m across and circumnavigable by foot in half an hour, the island (or ‘huraa’) resembles a turtle—velaa, in Dhivehi, the language of the Maldives. 150 guests are looked after by some 450 staff, including 26 gardeners!
Following refurbishments, there is a gym, a kids’ club, a yoga pavilion, a Pilates studio, a spa, a wellbeing village, and even a Jose Olzabel Golf Academy. There are guest chef collaborative menus and also cultural evenings. A production of Carmen featured soloists from the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
To satisfy the increasing demand for wellness holidays, Velaa Private Island has designed a ‘winter in paradise’ cryotherapy experience. Everything from the “Snow Room”, blood analysis profiles, and sound baths to ultrasound facials and personalised diet plans crafted by trained nutritionists is available on-site.
De Silva presides over a cosmopolitan brigade, creating eclectic menus based on the cuisine of different nationalities, though many local dishes also figure prominently. Faiy is a healthy food restaurant offering a wholefood and unprocessed food menu, and Athiri is the resort’s all-day beachfront restaurant.
90 percent of the wines available on Veela’s impressive desert island wine card are sourced directly from the producer. They include 2014 Clos Rougeard Saumur Brezé, 2016 Evening Land Seven Springs Chardonnay, 2002 Chateau de la Tour Clos de Vougeot Vieilles Vignes, 2020 Schloss Gobelsburg Riesling, 2018 Château de Meursault Clos du Château, and 2016 Kaesler Old Bastard Shiraz.
During one stay, one guest came all the way to the Maldives to drink 36 bottles of Parr Sandhi by the sommelier-turned-wine producer in Oregon and California.
At the end of a long wooden walkway sits the resort’s Aragu Signature Restaurant and Cru Champagne Bar. The wine list is 30 pages long, offering wines like Vacheron Les Romains Sancerre, Domaine Dugat-Pÿ Bourgogne Cuvée Halinard, and La Dame de Montros.
The choice of 70 Champagne cuvées is headed by Delamotte, the “signature” house “fizz”, while its equally exclusive sister house, “Salon”, is well-represented. Vintages range from a 1970 Delamotte Collection Blanc de Blancs in magnum and the 1971 Salon in magnum.
You can choose between Left (Ausone, Cheval Blanc, Figeac, Petrus, Le Pin, and Vieux Chateau Certan) and Right Bank Bordeaux, some dating to the 1920s. The largest Burgundy collection in the Maldives includes the Bouchard Père & Fils, Dugat-Py, Dujac, Lafon, Leflaive, Leroy, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Chambertin, Chambertin-Clos de Bèze, and Gevrey-Chambertin Clos St-Jacques.
Famous names from Italy include Altare, Biondi-Santi, Dal Forno, Gaja, Masseto, Solaia, and Terlan. Spain (Roda, Pingus, Alvaro Palacios and Descendientes de J Palacios), Australian Kaesler and Torbreck, and New Zealand Felton Road and Dog Point.
If you prefer your Champagne prestige cuvées to your Bordeaux first growths, Burgundy grands crus, and the generally recherché, the resort’s sommelier and Food & Beverage Director Fabian Etienne recommends :
Delamotte Blanc de Blancs NV with Yellowfin tuna (raw, stuffed with olives and walnuts, goat cream, truffle caper dressing)
Delamotte Blanc de Blancs 2014 with Spanner crab (steamed, avocado, yuzu, caviar)
Salon S 1997 with Maldivian lobster (slow-cooked tail, cauliflower, spinach, sesame emulsion, puffed rice)
Delamotte Rosé NV with Barbary duck (ragù, Parmesan tortellini, rosemary oil, redcurrant reduction)
Tiano & Nareno 2015 with Japanese Ohmi A5 (chargrilled tenderloin, potato, porcini sabayon, foie gras jus)
And Salon S 2012 for the cheeseboard.
Finishing with Delamotte Blanc de Blancs NV with Citrus saffron jelly (espuma mandarin and lemon sorbet)
Fabien holds an Advanced Certification from the Court of Master Sommeliers (UK) and a Gold qualification from the Association de la Sommelier Internationale. He studied in Saumur, France, and Hospitality Management in Brittany. As founder of Somm Escape, Fabien advises luxury hotels and restaurants globally, offering bespoke wine experiences, curated wine lists, and specialized staff training
Shellfish and “kurum-baa” (coconut) remain at the heart of traditional Maldivean cooking.
“Mas Huni” is a breakfast staple made with fresh tuna, grated coconut, onion, chilli, lime, and served alongside “Roshi” rounded flatbread.
“Garudhiya” and “Baiy” are rice and fish soup dishes served sometimes with fried fish, boiled yam, sweet potatoes, and “theluli faiy” (fried moringa leaves).
“Bon’di Baiy” (sweetened sticky rice) is a common dessert, accompanied by “kulhi mas” (chili fish). “Hedhi’kaa are local snacks (literally, ‘short eats’). The most popular are “kulhi boakibaa” (fish cake/pie), “Bajiaa (mini samosas), and “mas roshi (tuna and grated coconut cakes).
Adds Kandy-born de Silva: “I am fascinated by the historical, the allure of classical soul foods. The art of classic European cuisine and Asian cuisine are two of the vast culinary repertoires that have influenced many of my dishes. All the dishes from the Maldivian tasting menu are unique. The Tuna Egg yolk is a Maldivian contemporary take on sushi, with raw sliced local yellowfin tuna served on aromatic ‘theluli fai’ drumstick, leaf-fried rice, topped with confit local egg yolk
“I was born with love and respect for food. As a child, I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with my grandmother, who helped me learn to use all five senses in the kitchen.”
“In 1996, as a 16-year-old, I began working at Kandy’s Swiss Hotel as a trainee. Then at the Rangali Hilton. I was appointed as a Chef for the Royal family of Jordan, for whom I worked for a year before getting a position at the Huvafen Fushi island resort, where I became Chef de Cuisine. “
De Silva spent time at the three-Michelin-starred Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée in Paris, Copenhagen’s three-Michelin-starred NOMA restaurant in Copenhagen, Edouard Loubet’s Bonnieux restaurant in Bonnieux Prague’s Kapa Park. His idols include Thomas Keller and René Redzepi.
Logistics is the main problem. But I have built up a network of suppliers from Japan to France, which allows me to offer dishes such as a tartare of lagoon prawns in young coconut bisque, blackberry pigeon with red cabbage, and yellowfin tuna with roasted eggplant caviar and tomato confit.
But we are still dedicated to honoring the produce that the Maldives has to offer. And good eco-practices. We have the best seafood, all line-caught, and local vegetables such as pumpkin and nuts like kanamadhu (sea almonds).
From the service, the choice of wines, the ingredients, and the setting, everything should wow the guest.
The pinnacle of the “High Life” can now be found in the Maldives.
