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Soneva, the world-leading luxury resort operator, has opened Soneva Fushi’s newest dining outlet, Shades of Green. The restaurant seats 20 and is open from 17:30 till late. It is located in the resort’s organic garden, with the concept and menu created by Carsten Kyster, a Danish chef who has worked alongside Jamie Oliver at the River Café and Peter Gordon at The Sugar Club in London. Chef Carsten wants to tap into the global movement that places an emphasis on fresh, organic, and local produce as being important for a healthy lifestyle, while also being a climate conscious choice in keeping with Soneva’s values.

The experience at Shades of Green begins with all diners going on a guided tour of the garden to learn about the herbs, vegetables and fruits grown there. They will use all five senses as they pick the ingredients to be used in their meal. All diners are encouraged to examine, pick, smell, and taste the herbs, fruits, and vegetables growing in the garden. Along the way they will come across a number of amuse bouche hidden amongst the greenery. After this the diners gather around a fire pit for the first course before being seated at tables beneath the shade of the pergola and fruit trees. The menu features simple yet experimental plant based dishes, blending Maldivian and Southeast Asian cuisines; which are then prepared using Nordic techniques such as smoking, salting, fermenting, and pickling.

The menu celebrates the garden and the season revolving around colours (red, green, yellow), green umami (the fifth basic taste) or around one vegetable prepared in multiple ways. Each menu has six courses with dishes falling under: cleansing, crispy, raw, grain, fire and sweet. There will also be a cold press of the day, flavoured lemonade, fragranced iced tea, and cocktails. Examples of menu items include: aloe vera nam jim, red quinoa porridge, and screw pine fruit lemonade.

Chef Carsten, who is based in Copenhagen, also works as a food and travel writer, a creative food consultant and a food stylist when he is not in the kitchen. He has recently collaborated at a number of Soneva’s dinner events to develop new and innovative food concepts for guests in Scandinavia. They combined the flavours of the Indian Ocean with Southeast Asian cuisine and Nordic flavours. In March 2018 Chef Carsten visited Soneva Fushi as a guest, where he experienced the organic garden lunch and was inspired to create this dining concept.

Chef Carsten has worked and travelled across Southeast Asia over the last 15 years, during which time he was a consultant in Chiang Mai, Thailand. While there he created Nordic and European menu concepts using local Asian ingredients. He creates recipes for the creative and commercial food industries, and has authored several cookbooks.