Food & beverage


place they are visiting while discovering local delicacies and native ingredients. But how can luxury hotels replicate such dishes on an elevated level, while appeasing a range of palettes? Some guests will be more adventurous than others and some may have complicated dietary restrictions to adhere to, but all are in search of culinary authenticity. At Great Plains’ ol Donyo Lodge in Kenya’s south-


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easterly Chyulu Hills, head chef Kelvin Omondi Mazzi designs his menus using flavours that represent different areas of the country, enabling visitors to experience the richness of Kenyan cuisine. “It is the best thing to do because the guest feels they are part of the culture,” he says. The lodge overlooks Mount Kilimanjaro and is set within a quarter of a million acres of land in the Mbirikani Group Ranch – an untouched savannah where Masai herdsmen live a harmonious existence within nature. With only seven suites, staff ensure a guest’s every whim is catered for. Ol Donyo Lodge is part of the Relais & Châteaux


group. Known for its culinary excellence, the dishes Omondi Mazzi serves are refined interpretations of home comforts; sukuma wiki, which translates to “push through the week”, a hearty dish of sautéed kale with garlic and red onion; ugali, a maize dish typically eaten with your hands; matoke bananas cooked in a stew with arrowroots and sweet potato; as well as coastal fish such as red snapper and Kanadi kingfish. “The demand for traditional dishes is really high,” he


explains. “Most guests are keen on learning about our local menu and how we live as multiple communities. Bantu are the largest ethnic group in Africa, so I like to experiment with incorporating southern African cuisine, but Kenya has many different tribes and we all coexist, so our cultures often cross over. The diversity unifies us as people.” For Omondi Mazzi, the cultural unity of his country spreads to working with regional farmers and markets, which in turn means he is able to oversee the quality of the produce and can naturally take a sustainable approach to cooking using seasonal produce from nearby sources. “The menu changes throughout the year according to the produce available during the different seasons,” he says. “It is so important to support local farmers because together we grow [stronger].” As you might expect, the dishes he cooks pair well with local beverages, such as Tusker or Whitecap beer, and “any drinks made from coconut”. He also will often recommend guests try a local cocktail called dawa, which translates to ‘medicine’, made from honey, lemon, mint and vodka. Increasingly complicated dietary requirements can also be tricky to work around, particularly with having


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ood and culture are uniquely intertwined. Trying new flavours that reflect the traditions of a country enables travellers to get a sense of the


a largely Western clientele, but at ol Donyo Lodge, Omondi Mazzi and his team are dedicated to ensuring all visitors can have an exceptional dining experience. “When I have a guest at the camp who has special dietary needs, I personally speak to them so that we have a clear understanding between us. It is a pleasure to see someone with dietary restrictions enjoy their food with no fear,” he says.


Michelin-starred Madeira Chef Luis Pestana of William restaurant at Reid’s Palace, a Belmond hotel in Madeira, has been awarded a Michelin star for his sensitive and skilled approach to the culinary culture of the island where he was born. He credits being raised with an appreciation for the surrounding land, “experiencing the joy of climbing trees and picking fruits to eat as a child,” with his determination to show local produce at its very best. “It’s almost an obligation for me to give a local


identity to our gastronomic creations at William restaurant,” he says, “with the intention of sharing a little of our history and also making known the wide variety of fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, seafood, aromatic herbs and flowers. The particularity of many of our ingredients adds to the typicality of the terroir and the exclusivity of the flavours.” In recent years, local producers have begun to supply everything needed by Pestana and the kitchen sources all of its ingredients on the island – in fact, the restaurant buys 80% of the produce from one particular family-run farm and, as a result, their business has been able to progress exponentially. Key dishes at William restaurant at the time of writing include crispy limpets on trout pebbles and caviar; fish with spinach and potato stew; suckling pig confit, chard, pimpinela (also known as a ‘chayote’) and arborio tomato; loaf of beef with regional corn and truffle; and soufflé of passion fruit and honey cake ice cream. Throughout the months, Pestana can change


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Above: Kelvin Omondi Mazzi serves refi ned interpretations of traditional Kenyan home comforts.


Opposite: In Mexico, Gabriel Kolofon says there is a high demand for traditional, pre-Hispanic cuisine.


Great Plains’ ol Donyo Lodge, Kenya


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