As the Middle Eastern ambassador for Soneva, its my delightful duty to showcase this uniquely fabulous brand from the Maldives and Thailand. It’s not just about the beautiful properties, excellent service and sustainable ethos but also the food that’s available at all three resorts.
Soneva live by farm to table cuisine, healthy recipes and cater for each individual’s dietary needs. When you book your stay at Soneva you are sent a quick Q&A to make your stay personal to you. Not only do Soneva provide you with the pillows you prefer to rest your head on of a night and your favorite scent on the pillow but they request to know everything about your dietary requirements. Be your needs allergy-related or rooted in your religion or culture, all plant-based, vegetarian, gluten-free, nut allergies, low-carb etc are all taken care of. So rest assured staff will know exactly what to serve you when you’re on their island.
Soneva also invite Michelin star chefs to their resorts to cook for their guests providing yet another unique experience. These include some of the worlds most celebrated and decorated chefs, all of whom have come from Michelin starred restaurants. For example Kiko Moya, from two starred Spanish restaurant L’Escaletta, Gert de Mangeleer, from three starred Belgium restaurant Hertog Jan, and Maxime Meilleur, from three starred French restaurant La Bouitte.
As Dubai has such a vast foodie scene with restaurants from all corners of the world, it was time again to have a Soneva Pop up in Dubai. The last dinner experience I hosted was in Oct 2019 so this time we changed the menu and designed a “Street Food” experience.
A couple of Unique Family Travels clients’ hosted dinners during the course of the week at their home and invited 10 guests to enjoy this unique experience. Chef Fawkes and his team had prepared most of the dishes at a partner’s kitchen in Dubai and then he and his team arrived on site with everything including all the crockery, cutely and waiting staff in order for the dinner to flow easily and the host to relax and enjoy the food with her guests.
Founder of Soneva, change maker and visionary Sonu Shivdasani recently overcome stage four cancer. I was with him in November celebrating his birthday and he puts his recovery and good health simply down to his diet. With this in mind all Soneva Chefs provides dishes that are healthy, organic and most of the ingredients are grown on the islands.
The menu designed by Chef Kevin Fawkes
A taste of “Out of the Blue” Soneva Fushi
Vietnamese Banh Xeo
Crispy rice pancakes, prawns, beansprouts, spring onion, fresh herbs and dipping sauce
Indonesian Satat Ayam
Marinated grilled chicken skewers with peanut sauce
Tom Yam Goong
Classic Thai spicy soup, prawns, lemongrass, kaffir lime, galangal
Thai Wood fried Reef fish
Garlic, coriander, black pepper, banana leaf, Thai Chili, lime sauce
Gule Kambing Twent
Mild Indonesian lamb curry, lemongrass, coconut, steamed rice
Thai Red Rice
Red rice ice cream, coconut foam, blueberries, papaya, Cocoa nibs
The next Soneva Private Dinners will be in Dubai at the end of 2020.
Soneva Kiri – Thailand
Soneva Fushi – Maldives
Soneva Jani – Maldives
