The LUX* Me experience is an all round approach to healthy eating, fitness, nutrition advice and and relaxation personally tailored to you during your stay. You can even book in for a cookery class to take home some recipes and ideas to keep up your good habits when you return. I have included two here from my class, we cooked and ate it all afterwards in the tranquil and beautiful setting of their own herb garden, I highly recommend trying these at home if you are not planning a trip to the Maldives yet! (Read more about the resort here).
The commitment to exercise and fitness means they have brilliant, well trained instructors from all over the world teaching classes or offering personal training sessions, the standard was very high. My jungle gym session sounds like fun but it was really hard, I still can’t climb a rope or complete monkey bars I’ve discovered! We had our meals in a different restaurant every time, so we got to try out the very different types of food available. You will not get bored of eating at this one resort. The food was outstanding, you could be as healthy or as naughty as you wanted, no need to guess if we sampled the desserts or had pancakes for breakfast!? Seen here was the supervised healthy version, when we hit the breakfast bar ourselves one morning I found about 6 different flavours of honey and maple syrup which made them impossible to resist – it WAS work.
Lunch time at The Island Kitchen was a favourite spot to hit the shade at, a bountiful buffet with chef’s specials changing daily. Dinner at Allegria, the Italian restaurant on the island served amazing Italian food, a very elegant dining spot in the evening with a great menu. We had a stand out experience at Umami, where you would fine modern Japanese cuisine. Sushi and sashimi to die for and our main course was cooked in front of us at the Teppanyaki counter was melt in the mouth delicious, we had a really fun evening here being entertained by our terrific chef. Cocktails were mixed by expert bartenders who preferred a challenge from you, encouraging you to order off menu.
The spa experience in this type of environment is really the ultimate, peeking through the hole in your massage table watching the ocean glide by beneath you as you have your aches and pains soothed by calm and gentle sounding therapist. It’s hard to imagine how strong and powerful their hands can be, my knots were no match for the treatments I tried there. Body wraps, massages and bespoke facials created for the spa by Shirley Page were all on the treatment menu, and the standard was very high with a 5* luxury ritual to everything. My Shirley Page facial left my skin glowing, there’s no need to really wear make up after this treatment, all ingredients used are locally sourced and the benefits are all really well explained to you. When you are as relaxed as this, eating well and surrounded by such beauty I truly believe that you are investing in your health and well being for the long term. I loved my experience at LUX* Maldives and really hope to go back again soon.
We were very well looked after and I must give a special wave to our diving goddess Dolores, who looked after us so well, it’s a treat to still see you on Instagram with whale sharks every week!
Here are those recipes from our cookery lesson:
Green Tea and Whole Wheat Crepes (with fresh fruits, yoghurt and banana fool, raspberry coulis)
For crepes:
– Whole wheat flour (150 gms)
– White flour (150 gms)
– Eggs (300 gms)
– Milk (250 ml)
– Water (250 ml)
– Olive oil (120 ml)
– Honey (1 tbsp)
– Salt (a pinch)
– Green tea powder (1 tbsp)
For banana fool:
– 2 ripe bananas chopped, peeled
– Low fat yoghurt (50 ml)
– Honey (10 ml)
Fresh fruits:
– Chopped assorted fruits (250 gms)
Raspberry coulis:
– Raspberries (60 gms)
– Honey (30 ml)
1. To make the crepe batter, mix all the ingredients together and blend it to a smooth batter. Ensure that no lumps are formed.
2. To make banana fool, add the chopped banana with yoghurt and honey and mix it through.
3. For raspberry coulis, blend raspberries and honey together to a smooth sauce.
4. Make thin crepes in a non-stick pan.
5. Spread the banana fool over the crepes. Add 3 tbsp of chopped fruits.
6. Roll it into a roulade. Drizzle the raspberry coulis. Garnish with a mint sprig and serve!
Poached Reef Fish (oriental greens, pan juices)
Ingredients:
– Fillet of reef fish (800 grams)
– Baby bok choy (150 grams)
– Kailan flower (150 grams)
– Choysum leaves (150 grams)
– Sesame oil (50 ml)
– Corn flour (10 grams)
– Kikkoman soy sauce (50 ml)
– Sea salt and black pepper to taste
– Freshly squeezed lemon juice (240 ml) OR 3 pcs lemon
For the poaching liquid:
– 2 liters of earth still water
– Galangal, roughly cut (60 grams)
– Ginger, roughly cut (60 grams)
– Lemon grass, roughly cut (60 grams)
– Coriander roots (20 grams)
– Kafir lime leaves (5 grams)
– Kikkoman soy sauce (5 ml)
– Sea salt and black pepper to taste
– Lime juice
– Dill leaves (5 grams)
1. Season the reef fish with sea salt, pepper, lemon juice and Kikkoman and marinate it for at least 15-30 minutes.
2. While you’re in the process of marinating, make a poaching liquid by mixing the earth still water together with the other poaching ingredients. Make sure the poaching liquid has a zesty and gingery taste. Season it with salt and pepper.
3. Strain the poaching stock and blanch the Asian greens until it wilts. Make sure not to over-blanch the greens, otherwise it will lose its color and vitamins. Set it aside and toss with a little sesame oil, sea salt and pepper.
4. Poach reef fish into the simmering stock until it is cooked to the desired level. Place it into a plate with a paper towel to strain all excess liquid.
5. To make the pan juices (i.e. sauce), put one cup of poaching stock in another pan and let it simmer. Season it with sesame oil, a little Kikkoman and thicken it with corn flour (corn flour should be diluted with a little water before using it as a thickening agent).
6. Arrange the greens and fish decoratively on a plate and pour the sauce on top of the fish. You can use fine julienne of carrot and fresh coriander leaves for garnish.
For details go to their website.
Get to know them on twitter @LUXMaldives and be ready to swoon on instagram at their daily photos @LuxMaldives too.
We flew with Qatar Airways : http://www.qatarairways.com/uk. I had the best food and service of any airline I’ve travelled with, thank you Qatar Airways!
Our seaplane transfers were by Trans Maldivian Air www.tma.com.