The foodie islands

The best way to enjoy the food of the world's greatest chefs is to catch them in the Maldives where you don't have to worry about restaurant bookings or dressing up

- VIR SANGHVI

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Julien Royer sent his sous chef to suss out local ingredients. Then, the two created a new menu that included this Garden Salad

Nobody disputes that the food at India's restaurants is better than it has ever been. But equally, those of us who hunger for a taste of the global action have had a bad time over the last two years or so.

More Indians are travelling abroad than ever before or at least they were till the pandemic struck. In 2019, around 27 million Indians went abroad. This number was expected to shoot up in 2020 (one optimistic estimate said that 40 million of us would visit foreign countries that year) till, of course, the world suddenly changed.

Many of the Indians who went abroad regarded restaurant-going as an essential part of the experience. Indian chefs will tell you how guests now keep them on their toes, comparing their food to meals they have eaten in London, Florence, New York or Hong Kong.

Unfortunately, the world is taking longer to recover from the pandemic than we had expected. Even if you can get into foreign countries now (there are still many that will either refuse to let you in or insist on a quarantine), a fear of contracting Covid has prevented many of us from travelling.

So, how do you get your foodie fix? During the pandemic, I have eaten well in two foreign destinations that welcome Indians. One of them is Dubai which has a small restaurant scene of its own though the city mostly depends on branches of restaurants from elsewhere (mainly London) and nearly every local restaurant tries to copy the Zuma menu.

The other option-though most people don't realise this-is the Maldives.