Quotes from Chefs and Explorers...
-
Skye Gyngell
“The six days I spent at Soneva Fushi were pure joy. It is an exquisite island, whose concept for sustainable living and eating is exactly what the world needs now. It was a pleasure to cook dinner here with all the wonderful bounty that comes directly from the organic gardens. They however certainly did not need my help for the good food provided from all five restaurants on the island. The island is completely perfect.”
Skye Gyngell, head chef at Petersham Nurseries, a quirky café in London treated herself to a week’s holiday at Soneva Fushi to celebrate the recent accolade of being awarded a Michelin star. Petersham Nurseries and Soneva Fushi share many values, both have been described as magically whimsical places in the most idyllic of surroundings and both are known for their emphasis on sustainable gardening using seasonal, fresh produce on their menus.
Whilst holidaying at Soneva Fushi, Skye also prepared a special 4-course dinner for guests in the resort’s restaurant Fresh In The Garden, a venue suspended high in the jungle trees above the aromatic organic gardens. Guests were also invited to join Skye for a one-off cooking class, with dishes using simple, clean and clear flavours, with food described by a guest as ‘food that sings in the mouth as well as visually on the plate’.
2010 was a good year for Skye. She was also named as a UK winner in the Gourmand World Cookbooks Awards 2010 and her third book `How I Cook` won the Best Woman Chef Book category. She will now compete against winners in the same category in other countries for The Best in the World.
READ MORE
-
Darina Allen
'Soneva Fushi is living the Slow Food philosophy of Good, Clean and Fair and showing the way to a sustainable future in the Maldives. The look of pride on Nihal's face when he shyly presented me with a basket of beautiful freshly picked herbs and salad leaves from the organic garden at Soneva Fushi reminded me of how much we chefs owe the garden heroes.'
'Yesterday was a truly momentous day - my grandson took his first tentative steps in Ireland and I a 62 year old grandmother went snorkelling for the very first time at Soneva Fushi in the Maldives - how cool was that ! '
'Cycling on my trusty black bike under the jungle canopy at Soneva Fushi with my hair blowing in the breeze was SO exhilarating, I felt I was 18 again!
Darina Allen (born 1951 in Port Laoise) is an Irish chef, TV personality and founder of Ballymaloe Cookery School in Shanagarry, County Cork, Ireland.
www.cookingisfun.ie
A graduate of the Dublin Institute of Technology, she is the author of several successful books on the topic of Irish cuisine. She is a leader of the SLOWFOOD movement in Ireland and instrumental in establishing a network of farmers' markets in the Cork area. She lives on her organic farm, Kinoith, in Shanagarry. Allen has been voted Cooking Teacher of the Year by the International Association of Culinary Professionals.
Owner of Ballymaloe Cookery School in Shanagarry, Co Cork, Ireland, teacher, food writer, newspaper columnist, cookbook author and television presenter. School is situated on an organically run farm.
READ MORE
-
Andoni Aduriz
“Maldivian Islands have fish with fabulous textures, different from what we usually have at home, delivered daily by local fishermen. Fruits and vegetables are very interesting, but Soneva Fushi also has a spectacular garden of aromatic herbs and vegetables. They are the dream of any chef”.
“The Soneva Fushi’s guest is the same as Mugaritz restaurant’s client. Dealing with them in a different environment certainly brings us a rich knowledge”.
“I know Soneva Resorts and its way of understanding the business for years. I share with them the philosophy of sustainable luxury and the way of understanding the pleasure moments that life provides. The beauty does not have to quarrel with the satisfaction that brings respect the nature, the environment and local culture”.
“I love Soneva Fushi and be lost through any corner of the island or swim in the turqueoise water surrounded by colorful fishes. But I think that dinner at the restaurant Fresh in The Garden and then pass through the observatory to look one of the clearest skies in the world is something extraordinary. I haven't seen a sky like that in the Australian desert”.
READ MORE
-
Gustav Tredgardh
“Have you tasted these chefs food?
What in the world would they need me for! These are the best!”
"The thing about the super service you get in this place is that they make you feel like it's very hard to do something wrong. That goes for children too. I don't think anyone here would say: Sorry that's not possible." a new deffinition of paradise...
Mankind always compare. Even if she sometimes should not. If you seen the exctract of life, the definition of paradise, we should not compare because where can we go after this?
I have seen many places, but i have never experiensed the enviroment, the extremely high service level and amazing food and cooking skills that I did on Soneva Fushi!!
I want to be able to go to other places but I think I will always compare it with the Maldives. Soneva Fushi is truly addictive!
From the first second to the very last. It's like a dream you dont want to loose.
So to the staff of Fushi; keep up the pride in what you do. You make the guests feel very special! And where I go ever after I will hear myself say, ‘we will always have the Maldives...’”
Swedish chef of the year 2011
READ MORE
-
Tom Avery
Arctic Explorer
"Soneva Fushi is quite simply the closest thing to Paradise I have been lucky enough to visit. At 100 acres, the island was much larger than I expected – a tropical rainforest fringed by powder white sands and impossibly blue waters. I find it difficult to keep still for very long, but fortunately there is so much to do on Soneva Fushi. I had a great time exploring the lost world of the island’s jungle interior on foot and bicycle which was teeming with wildlife from hermit crabs to flying foxes. I snorkelled amongst parrot fish, rays and turtles, and windsurfed across the lagoon under a hot Maldivian sun.
Soneva Fushi has a very strong sustainability ethic and it was fascinating to visit some of their pioneering environmental projects such as their solar farm (the Maldives’ largest), the desalination plant and their recycling and composting centre. My evenings began with a leisurely 45-minute stroll around the island’s perimeter, the soft sand squeezing between my toes as I watched the baby reef sharks dancing in and out of the surf. I’ll never forget the sight of a pair of dolphins silhouetted against the setting sun as I sipped an ice-cold mohito from the Me Dhuniye bar. Life doesn’t get much better than this I thought to myself. I have never eaten as well as I did on Soneva Fushi and much of the food is grown on the island or fished from the waters surrounding Soneva Fushi. The service was out of this world, the staff so welcoming, friendly and eager to please. The culinary highlight was dinner on a sandbank, some half a mile out into the lagoon. The other dinner guests were whisked over by the resort boat, but I was determined to get there under my own power so paddled my way across in a kayak. Thankfully the tides didn’t carry me away and 14 minutes’ hard toil later I was greeted by Abhuli, my Friday, with a towel and a fresh king coconut with a straw – surely the most thirst-quenching drink in the tropics.
That evening I gave a talk to my fellow dinner guests about my adventures in the polar regions and how these wildernesses are being transformed by global warning. It was particularly poignant to have been speaking on a sandbank in the Maldives, because even though the Arctic Ice Cap is thousands of miles away, the melting ice caps are going to have a direct impact on low-lying nations like the Maldives as global sea levels continue to rise. My attitude to climate change is one of hope, but we need to act now. And Soneva Fushi is setting the world an example about how we can all live sustainably without having a negative impact on our daily lives. It is a very special place and I feel very privileged to have stayed there."
READ MORE
-
Jun Tanaka
Celebrity Chef
‘Cooking at Soneva Fushi was a unique experience. It was truly inspiring to see their environmental programme, from the recycling to the organic gardens. Picking the herbs and vegetables in the morning and then cooking them for dinner, this is how I want to cook everyday.’
READ MORE