CUISINE

cuisine FUSION

In showcasing its street food to gastronomy, Masterchef 2020 put this small island fi rmly on the map for foodies. Tasty and varied, Mauritian cuisine is a fusion of fl avours from four continents.

Also open to non-residents, new Asian Fusion restaurant Ai Kisu at LUX* Grand Baie has Warayaki straw fi re cooking, sushi and a soy sauce sommelier

CUISINE

Islanders mix and match when it comes to food, with fried noodles, biryanis, faratas and pain au chocolat all popular. The Masterchef contestants learned to make the spicy wrap dholl puri (the nation's favourite street food) and gato pima (chilli cakes) – which Mauritian schoolchildren have in a baguette for breakfast. Both are found at hole-inthe-wall eateries, beachside stalls and markets islandwide. For authentic, family-rooted menus, seek out traditional restaurants that give a true taste of the island in humble surrounds. Local delicacies are palm heart with smoked marlin, crevettes – a minuscule river shrimp (pricier than lobster) – and vension and wild boar, found at gourmet restaurants and plantation homes.

FOOD TOURS

Take a food tour with Taste Buddies who weave in tales and fun facts, while tickling your taste buds. Most popular is their street food tour of the capital, Port Louis. Newer regional tours include Mahébourg village which includes a boat trip along the River Chaux for lunch at Nativ Lodge, while a Grand Baie homemade food tour offers a tasting platter and ‘grandmas’s dessert’ washed down with a rum arrangé. The southern ‘Tea Route’ to Bois Chéri tea plantation includes a tasting of Mauritian tea, fl avoured with vanilla to coconut, and lunch at Saint Aubin, while Chamarel is famed for its Table d’Hotes. A new immersive experience at L’Aventure du Sucre features a museum visit, cane cutting in the sugar fi elds and crushing it, making rum cocktails and tasting speciality sugars, and a gourmet lunch at Le Fangourin. For a unique island offering, go lychee wine tasting at Takamaka Boutique Winery at Plaine Champagne. Cooking classes at island hotels help guests master typical Mauritian dishes such as cari poule (chicken curry) or octopus rougaille (a spicy tomato sauce). For an authentic island experience, My Moris’ cooking class with Rosemonde includes a visit to the local market, before grinding fresh spices on a granite ‘curry rock’ for lunch in a Mauritian Creole home. DMC's can arrange tours to local families such as to the Bhowany family home in Mon Desir village, where visitors can learn to prepare gajaks (snacks) and

Enjoy freshly-caught shrimp on a Taste Buddies tour Sugar Beach craft beer brewery

Mauritian rum adventure

tuck into a Mauritian lunch from a (compostable) banana leaf plate, the traditional way - with their hands, or scooped up with roti. A new cooking demonstration in the traditional outdoor kitchen at Eureka, a pretty plantation home in the Moka mountains, features past times Mauritian classics. The Sunday buffet lunch at Otentic Eco Tent in the southeast offers traditional Mauritian specialities such as breadfruit gratin, octopus and green papaya curry, and jackfruit with smoked pork. Farm-to-fork dining, and locally-sourced, organic and healthy food is a trend at island resorts, with increased plant-based options on menus. The Social House, at the new Sunrise Attitude offers a vegan tapas platter. The Coco concept at Westin Turtle Bay Resort and Spa features traditional coconut pastries, a coconut body scrub, a coconut cocktail and chicken cooked in coconut.

LOCAL BREWS

Attitude hotels have a new Tea Baz - tea bar – with local brews fl avoured with vanilla and cardamom, produced by the local Corson tea estate. Sugar Beach Mauritius’ new local Thirsty Fox craft beer brewery has tasting workshops from a Master Brewer, while a new Mauritian rum adventure at LUX* Grand Gaube includes a cycle through the sugar fi elds to a behindthe-scenes tour, spiced rum making and a rum pairing dinner in the Rum Tree House.

© Michael Freeman Heritage Le Telfair Golf and Wellness Resort

Cooking classes at island hotels help guests master typical Mauritian dishes such as cari poule (chicken curry) or octopus rougaille (a spicy tomato sauce)

Keen on Green - grilled vegetable pizza

LUX* Grand Baie Resort & Residences

TOP FIVE PLACES FOR MAURITIAN GASTRONOMY

1 The gourmet menu at L’Escale Creole, a family-run restaurant in Moka, features the four fl avours of Mauritian Creole cuisine: rougaille, curry, vindaye and salmi. 2 Savour palm heart tartare, crab mousse and seafood jelly, and wild boar braised with Chamarel rum at L’Alchimiste, at the Chamarel rum distillery. 3 Creative local cuisine at La Table du

Château at Château de Labourdonnais, comes with homemade pickles from the orchard and a rum bar. 4 Enjoy fresh seafood by the seaside at recently-renovated Le Pescatore restaurant, a fi ne dining institution in Trou aux Biches. 5 The gourmet menu at Yuzu in the

Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel, is designed by Chef Nizam Peroo who tutored the Masterchef 2020 contestants.