Food & Beverage: Gourmand Gateways

Heritage Park Hotel

Where: Honiara, Solomon Islands

Where are you from?

I (Chef Marvin) am from Malatia, one of the largest of the nine provinces of Solomon Islands and the one with the highest population as well.

What is your cheffing experience?

I have been a chef for almost 40 years. My career started as a steward in Mendana Hotel where I worked for four months before being promoted as Commis II. I worked there for 26 years. It was different from where I work now, at Heritage Park Hotel. I used to manage two units there and was the team leader. Gradually as the company grew, more chefs were hired and I was made the Junior Sous chef. Later I moved to King Solomon Hotel, worked there for two and a half years before Heritage Park offered me the post of Senior sous chef.

What is your favourite dish to prepare?

Over the years I have prepared so many dishes but my favourite dish is Chicken and Crayfish Pernod. It tastes very nice. Normally other dishes have a grilled taste to it but not this one. It’s pan fried chicken with crayfish and a nip of Pernod inside the crayfish. It is served with cream and vegetables or chicken stock with vegetables and rice.

Where do you draw inspiration from?

It was always and interest in food and a hobby that made me a chef today. I started learning from my co-workers during my initial years. I learned a lot from different chefs but my inspiration comes from my former senior, Tony Limcox, an African-British National who I used to work with. He taught me a lot of things that were the stepping stones in my career. Later he promoted me from Team leader to Sous Chef.

What is a unique dish that people can only find in the Solomon Islands?

There’s one in particular which people of Solomon Islands make and is called Koa. It is made of mango mixed with clamshells, chilli powder, garlic, onion, ginger and coconut cream.

Describe Solomon Islands cuisine in three words.

Organic, fresh and unique.

Taumeasina

Where: Apia, Samoa

Executive Chef: Rajinder Kothiyal

Where are you from?

I am from New Delhi, the national capital of India. It is situated in the north-central part of the country on the west bank of the Yamuna River, adjacent to and just south of Delhi city (Old Delhi) and within the Delhi national capital territory.

What is your cheffing experience?

24 years’ experience in the culinary industry.

What is your favourite dish to prepare?

My favourite cuisine is molecular gastronomy which is often associated with gels and foams, and my favourite dish is: jelly fettuccine

Where do you draw inspiration from?

I was really inspired by travel and traditional cuisine and working with other colleagues. Cooking is such an expansive field and there is always something new every time you turn around. Conversations with all things culinary from those growing the ingredient to those incorporating the ingredients and always experiencing different ways to cook ingredients from all sorts of cultures around the world.

What is a unique dish that people can only find in Samoa?

Samoan Palusami: Young taro leaves and coconut cream baked in breadfruit leaves in the Umu (earth oven).

Describe Samoan cuisine in three words:

Tropical, beautiful and fresh

Return To Paradise

Where: Apia, Samoa

Executive Chef: Kitiona Foe

Chef’s Food philosophy:

Samoan born Chef Kiti has been back in his country of birth for three years, after spending most of his training in Australia and New Zealand. He says “it’s good to be home”. Kitiona’s love of his home country and all it provides him is plain to see; his menu at Return to Paradise Resort is full of traditional Samoan dishes but also notes of western cuisine. Staying true to his culture and tradition, Chef Kiti has created dishes close to his heart. He wants guests to know the true beauty of Samoan food, how seafood is plentiful and such a huge part of daily life, how having a garden is an essential part of being able to serve consistently fresh food and how all of these things come together to make for a standout restaurant just like his is at Paradise Kitchen.

Where do you source your local produce from:

 “I have my own garden here at the resort, it was important for me to have the tools I need readily available”.

In the islands, because all produce is true to its season with not a lot of hydroponics being grown, Kitiona needed to think outside the box. Importing fresh produce is expensive and also can be difficult to maintain quality; the answer for Chef Kiti was creating his own garden to provide the restaurant with quality options. He also purchases from the surrounding villages, saying “it’s important to give back to those that support us”.

Not a lot of the produce is bought from the main market in Apia, the surrounding villages know what he needs and have also adapted to how and what they grow for the resort.

Go-to dish: “Seafood Platter without a doubt; I love the variations of flavours, the different types of seafood and whether it’s raw or cooked, I know it’s from right out the front of the resort.”

Samoa is famed for having the best seafood in the Pacific, so traditional dishes on the menu such as Oka are always a standout at any restaurant you dine at in Samoa.

Breakas Beach Resort

Where: Port Vila, Vanuatu

Chef name: Paolo Zanella

Chef biography and food philosophy:

Italian chef Paolo Zanella joined the team at Breakas Resort in Vanuatu as their executive chef in late 2018. He had enormous shoes to fill, with the retirement of renowned chef Mario Alfieri after many years in the kitchen at Port Vila’s only adults-only beach resort. Paolo arrived in Vanuatu from Dubai and brought with him a sophisticated menu and cutting edge style.

Paolo was 13 years old when he started cooking with his parents who owned their own restaurant. He studied at Caterina De Medici in Desenzano Del Garda. His experience is in Italian, Mediterranean and fusion cookery.

“When I arrived in Vanuatu I started staff training to get a high standard of hygiene and quality. After careful research on local products, the Coconut Crab (when in season) is the most interesting to me and it goes with the local flavours and the fusion cuisine. Most of the products used in the Breakas Restaurant menu are fresh, organic and local.”

Go-to dish: “Based on my experience and creativity I developed the new menu. The clientele is attracted by all the new dishes but the best seller is my Open Lobster Raviolo.”

The vibe: Breakas offers beachside dining for romantic evenings and warm nights, open air breakfast, lunch and dinner on the patio or in their poolside restaurant or casual dining and snacks in the bar.

A weekly Melanesian night with custom dancers and traditional kai kai (food in Bislama) is one of the island’s most popular nights for visitors. Sunday chill-out sessions with a local DJ are also very popular.

The resort restaurant is open to the public (guests over 15 only).

Tamanu On The Beach Resort and Spa

Where: Whitesands, Efate, Vanuatu

Food philosophy: Did someone say long lunch?

For fresh local produce and a seasonal blackboard menu, take the 20-minute drive from Port Vila to Tamanu on the Beach for an exceptional lunch or dinner. With a 20+ years reputation for delivering some of the finest cuisine in the South Pacific, Tamanu is located on its own white sand beach lined with palm trees and a sweeping view of the ocean.

While the resort has been recently expanded and refurbished to the highest standards, the restaurant welcomes visitors and is a long-time favourite with locals who famously congregate here for Sunday lunches by the beach. It’s here that you will find the best that Vanuatu has to offer – fresh-caught seafood, Vanuatu’s famous organic beef and lip-smacking pitchers of ice-cold fruity cocktails.

The chef offers a mouth watering Mediterranean-inspired menu using only the best organically produced local produce and many items grown in Tamanu’s very own gardens. We recommend you pencil in the whole afternoon for this one because you won’t want to miss out on anything on the menu!

Eden

Where: Suva, Fiji

Eden, owned and operated by the formidable Sangeeta Maharaj is in a class of its own. Sangeeta is a Suva institution, her staff the best-trained hospitality staff in the capital and the food … simply superb, every time.

Sangeeta is somewhat of a perfectionist; if it is not super fresh and not the best, it doesn’t make it on to a plate. Her menu seems to be about 85 pages long but in truth, you don’t really need to read it. Just tell the staff what you like and don’t like and something amazing will be served. Sangeeta visits the Suva markets early to get the freshest catch, most aromatic spices and crunchy vegetables to ensure her restaurant guests enjoy a fabulous meal. A walk through the Suva markets with Sangeeta is a true Fijian experience – her favourite farmers all greet her with huge smiles and save their best catch for her.

If you do read Eden’s extensive menu you’ll find most dishes have Pacific or Indian influences, Thai curries to New Zealand Lamb, Vanuatu beef to Fijian lobster. The seafood is the best available in Fiji and Sangeeta’s curry pastes are all homemade.

“I try to grow as much of my own herbs as possible and I’m forever going to cooking schools in other countries to see what else I can bring home to Eden,” she says.

Eden is located near the American embassy, on the corner of Bureta and Maharaj Streets. Bookings are required for most nights due to its popularity.

Cardo’s

Another Fijian institution is Cardo’s at Port Denarau Marina. A great team of staff is lead in the kitchen by Fijian chefs Pita and Filimoni but the eponymous owner is the man who ensures the best steak in Fiji is served. Richard ‘Cardo’ Slatter imports a lot of his beef cuts from New Zealand but is also farming his own herd, hoping to one day serve Fijian beef that is as good in quality as the imported stuff.

Cardo is also farming his own pigs on a property about 20 minutes from Nadi. It’s clearly his happy place, this long term publican looks just as at home there as he does holding court with his loyal regulars.

Cardo’s steak is not the only dish customers love; his chicken and mango salad is light and fresh, his seafood platters are particularly popular and his fresh juices and Acai bowls ensure a good start to the morning.

If you’re staying at a nearby resort make sure you pencil in a meal at Cardo’s. The prices are affordable, the service friendly and welcoming and the food is the best at the marina. •