Much has been said and written about sustainability lately, and certainly after Covid. Soneva, a group of luxury resorts, were talking about concepts like ‘slow-life’ sustainability, organic-, wellness-, barefoot-luxury well before their time, and well before these catchphrases caught on. Sustainability has always been at the heart of Soneva’s ethos, from sourcing sustainable materials and pioneering ‘waste-to-wealth’ practices, to working in partnership with local communities. It’s all very noble, so I was curious to see (28 years after it all began in the Maldives and after a miserable lockdown period for most hospitality brands) whether luxury meets sustainable design, rare experiences and exquisite culinary concepts… are indeed still possible.
I have been to Soneva Fushi in the Maldives. The concept of villas with vast indoor and outdoor spaces, that sustainability and luxury can be integrated at every corner and that a business must exist for a greater purpose than shareholder returns, are concepts which stretch over their four properties.
Treetop dining at Soneva Fushi Soneva
A hop, skip, jump away from Bangkok
This time, I was travelling to Soneva Kiri in Thailand. It is a 90-minute flight from Bangkok, on the northwest of the island of Koh Kood. The Soneva Kiri experience begins at Bangkok airport, where you’re met by the hotel’s representative and escorted on to the private plane that whisks you over the city and the turquoise ocean to the island of Koh Kood. A five-minute trip on a speedboat, and you’re delivered directly to your sprawling villa for check-in. Pretty swish.
Since I was on my own, I chose the oceanfront pool villa suite, which gave me access directly to the beach and the very warm sea. There are suites to five bedroom villas all either beach-touching or perched on cliffs with magnificent ocean views, massive living spaces, a massive pool and a lot of privacy.
An oceanfront pool villa suite Soneva
Soneva Kiri seems to have preserved its eco friendliness. The size, layout and location of all buildings were planned to integrate the native vegetation and preserve the majority of the trees on the property. The resort’s Eco Centro plant recycles 90% of its solid waste in a ‘Waste-to-Wealth’ programme that includes compost for the restaurant gardens. Toiletries are organic and in reusable containers, lights are LED, pens are made out of twigs, basins from copper and steel, and the super soft bed linen and bathrobes are all organic.
International guest profile
The luxury part includes three outdoor areas to bathe – one rain shower even had a reflexology pebble floor, jungle foliage, minus the creepy crawlies, although you do hear the crickets and frogs at night. There is a personal butler who walks around barefoot and wears a very casual but smart uniform of off-white linen shorts and shirt. It's all very cool! There's a bottle of wine and a box of tropical fruit in your villa on your arrival. Nice touch!
The food options at Soneva Kiri are clearly well thought out after years of experience. The guest profile includes a lot of international families and so, their ‘So Chilled’ and ‘So Chocoholic’ pavilions, open 24 hours, are a great boon; their breakfast buffets are massive, their beach restaurant next to the water sports area and a very handy a la carte menu full of international options at the Ess Bar with another magnificent view are all easy, casual dining options that work.
The Tom Yum Goong the author had for her first lunch Karen Anand
For my first lunch I ordered the quintessential Tom Yum Goong and Thai Pomelo Salad at the bar, and they were both perfect - full of aromatic herbs from their organic garden. While I did a tour of the organic garden one afternoon, the gardener explained how they make the organic spray (something they call wood vinegar), which they use on their entire fruit and vegetable garden.
Nothing ‘casual’ about the cuisine
My first dinner was at a restaurant simply called ‘The View’ and it certainly had a spectacular one. Sundowners are predictably spectacular and an early dinner is advisable, so you can indeed enjoy that view. The restaurant is perched on a hill and has large ceiling-to-floor windows all around. But there is nothing ‘casual’ about the cuisine. It is Nikkei, a sophisticated blend of Japanese technique and Peruvian ingredients that was first popularised by the brilliant chef-entrepreneur Nobu many years ago. The result is Japanese with a spice kick and a depth of flavour.
Nikkei cuisine at ‘The View’ Karen Anand
I went for the tasting menu created by Chef Christophe, which gives you delicious mouthfuls of many things and equips you with an idea of what you love when you go back to order maybe just two dishes another evening. My personal favourite was the cured Hamachi, given a spike by Aji Amarillo Chilli Sauce, served on a block of pink salt. The smoked black cod with miso was predictably a winner too. Also on the menu is torched nigiri and tuna maki, made with their own unique recipe for sushi rice made with seaweed and their sushi vinegar with brown sugar, sea salt and mirin – much tastier. Chawanmushi is usually a savoury egg custard, but here, they serve it here as a dessert made with sesame. Very clever. I could have eaten here every day. The purity of the flavours, exemplary quality of ingredients, (how they manage to source all this on an island is beyond comprehension) and that view.
Utilising and encouraging local talent
Karen Anand with Tuk, a local cook Karen Anand
A lovely new touch at Soneva Kiri is bringing in local talent, here in the form of Tuk’s Kitchen which is a delightful restaurant snuck in the mangroves and presided over by the very affable Tuk, a local cook, who puts together a daily menu according to what is available. I loved the betel leaf appetiser with a mouth-watering tangy tamarind sauce. Rock shell was on the menu. It was something I had never tasted – a large shell, like a big winkle, the kind you find in souvenir shops. The meat is rather tough, so it's steamed for many hours and served with what the Thais call a ‘seafood sauce’ – which is a sauce made from the six pillars of Thai cuisine – palm sugar, coriander root, chilli, lime juice, fish sauce and garlic. Apparently, the Thais love this sauce so much that they actually travel with it when they go abroad, much like Indians travel with their achaar.
A variety of dishes from Tuk’s kitchen Soneva
The food was so good at Soneva Kiri that I took two cookery classes to learn more. Learnings including all the important tips and tricks. Have you ever wondered with all that fish sauce and shrimp paste that the Thais add to everything, how hotels manage to cater to vegetarian guests? Simple – they add soya or vegetable stock instead of fish sauce and believe me it's pretty good. I was taught a local dish of crab in dry yellow curry and a totally vegetarian glass noodle salad.
Exploring Koh Kood island
An aerial view of Koh Kood island, with the resort nestled in it Soneva
As I went exploring the island the next day, I saw many cages in the water at the Ao Salat fishing village filled with tiny crabs, so I knew the crab in dry yellow curry was truly local. The cookery classes at ‘The View’ were just as enlightening, seeing how torching fish adds a roasted flavour of sorts to a sushi which is often more acceptable to people who are squeamish about eating raw fish.
The island of Koh Kood is vibrant with life, gushing waterfalls visible after a brisk walk through the forest and small quaint hotels catering to tourists from both mainland Thailand, and Cambodia, which is actually a short ride across the water. It is also possible to swim in the freshwater pool of the Klong Chao waterfall – ‘Liril’ style. Koh Kood is actually the last bit of Thailand before the mainland becomes Cambodia.
A corner of paradise
The author relaxes on the deck Karen Anand
At the end of my three days, I came away with the feeling that the Soneva team has worked very hard to maintain their corner of paradise on this island; the luxury of space, service with a smile, fantastic food. And most of all, being in a ‘resort’ where you don't have to dress up, put on make-up or worry about having a bad hair day. And what if it rains? After many years, I watched movies in the room, tucked under my organic sheets sipping a glass of wine and didn’t look at my watch or mobile for hours on end. That, to me, is 100% luxury and I am glad to see Soneva Kiri is still able to create this level of experience.
Karen Anand is a food and travel writer, author, food consultant and founder of Markets by Karen Anand, a curated gourmet lifestyle market that takes place across India.