Underwater aquarium isn't a unfamiliar place for majority of us. But what about underwater restaurant?
Anatara Kihavah Resort, Maldives offer a very unique dining experience; dining with fishes. This is the newest resort in Baa Atoll and was chosen as our charging base after spending a week on MV Orion diving.
3 restaurants and a bar are located side by side. Salt which serve Asian style food, Fire for Japanese and of course Sea. Lastly Sky bar which we frequent for pre-dinner drink.
Both of us were constantly looking out for the restaurant but didn't manage to find it till the dinner night. The entrance was allocated inside Salt. We could see the building structure before we proceeded in.
Booking is required as it's a very small restaurant. It accommodate 16 guests per night and max 18 guests if in a group. For our dinner night, it was full housed but the night before there were only 1 couple. Everybody must had chosen the BBQ buffet at Plates including us.
Sea offers both lunch and dinner. Lunch is a set lobster theme menu and dinner a 4-course menu with wine pairing. We went for the later even though Mr. doesn't drink all for the name of experience.
Gorgeous gorgeous restaurant!
A different feel and view during the day. Lighting was definitely better and a clearer view on the reefs, corals and fishes. This was taken the next day after lunch service as we were curious how the reef and restaurant will look during the day.
We were welcomed by the crew, follow by welcome champagne and appetiser. Mr. took a sip and loved it. I enjoyed it too. Too bad I didn't manage to remember the name. I don't exactly recall how the appetiser taste as I was a bit overwhelmed by the restaurant setting and collection of wine on display.
The table setting with my welcome drink on the extreme right.
Bread served warm was light and fluffy. Couldn't get enough of it.
4 course dinner is make up of 2 appetiser, 1 main and 1 dessert. Each course, there's 2 dishes to chose from. We were advised to chose alternate dishes so that we can try every single dish.
1st appetiser
Medallion of local lobster, fresh basil with fennel and citrus salad - lobster was not overcooked as it's still tender. Slight bitterness in the fennel salad.
Palm heart tartar with yellow fin tuna and salmon caviar - black pepper coating the tuna were too coarse. Granted ginger can be tasted in the mashed palm heart. Felt it was a over peppery and spicy dish. Can't taste the freshest of the tuna at all.
2nd appetiser
Pappardelle with foie gras and black truffle - Mr. loved the pan-fried foie gras. The pasta was al dente. But did find quite a bit of oil left in the bowl after finishing. 1 of the better dish for the night.
Risotto with morel mushrooms, duck confit with parmesan wafer - We didn't even realised there's duck in this dish till I'm writing this entry. Flavour is there but the rice is mushy. The rice looked too long for arborio rice. Did question and feedback to the waiter when asked. We were told guests complained the rice were not cooked when it was al dente. Sound like recipe was tweaked to please majority?
Garlic crusted coral reef fish, roasted baby artichokes, chef's garden cherry tomato pesto - fish was cooked perfectly. It was still very moist but I wasn't a big fan on the pesto and artichokes. Pesto tasted from bottle.
Oven roasted tenderlion of Black Angus, celeriac puree, marinated radicchio with aged balsamic reduction - Mr. loved his steak medium rare and tried requesting as it's usually served medium. Waiter informed us he will check with the chef but never get back to us. Lucky the beef was still tender and juicy. Mr. doesn't like the balsamic "mixed" in puree but I quite enjoyed it.
Tiramisu "al Cucchiaio" - Best dish for the night. Tiramisu was very light. Coffee flavour ice cream was nice. There wasn't a strong dose of coffee in the Tiramisu though. But do able to taste a hint of liquor. Both of us were fighting for the last spoonful.
Amarene chiffon pie with cherry and almond ice cream - Mr. enjoyed the ice cream more than me. Felt the almond was too strong for my taste bud. The pie was average which I ate most of it.
We were both pretty impressed how both desserts were plated. Both were executed beautifully with the used of sugar art.
As I know very little about wine except of drinking it, I decided to not include them. Do drop me a note if you are curious and I can add them it.
Table was spaced near to each other and restaurant do get a bit too noisy when full. When one was wondering what's the name of the fish accompanying the dinner, he/she can find it in the book provided titled Maldives Reef Fishes. Service was good, little details were being put into consideration. The only disappointment was the food even though fine ingredients were used. For the price, maybe go for lunch instead for experience?
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