W Retreat & Spa - Maldives: Chefs Win First Culinary Awards for the Property

Seven Medals Awarded Out of 8 Categories to First Time Participants By Breaking Away from the Traditional Hotel Restaurant Dishes

MALDIVES, July 8 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Take an award-winning Executive Chef from Colombia (by way of Russia and Canada), The W Brand and talented chefs; put them together at the Fifth Annual Hotel Asia & Culinary Challenge and you get 1 Gold Medal, 2 Silver, 4 Bronze and one Merit award. This was the first time the W Retreat & Spa - Maldives participated in the event, the largest of its kind in the Maldives, and the first time any of the competing chefs took part in a culinary competition.

The W Brand, a division of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, has always been ahead of the trends and there was no lack of innovative ideas when it came to creating delectable dishes. Executive Chef, Hector Jimenez-Bravo, a member of the Chaine de Rotisseurs Gastronomic Society, said he had to coerce his team to participate because they did not feel they had the confidence to prove their skills in these un-chartered waters...their talent and persistence proved them wrong.

What made the competition an even greater feat was the effort it took to bring all the necessary materials to Male. Fesdu, the island that is home to the W Maldives, is only a 25 minute seaplane ride from Male or an hour and a half boat ride. Chef Hector and the first 3 chefs, had to take a 20 minute speedboat to another island for their departing seaplane, make two stops on the way to Male, all the while carrying all the necessary supplies for the competition. The three chefs then took a ferry back to Fesdu and returned again the next morning with additional supplies and three more chefs. Most of the other competing resorts only had a 20 minute speedboat ride to arrive in Male.

Of more than 20 Hotels, 200 chefs and 8 categories, the W Maldives chose 7 to compete in and placed in each:

Hot Beef: Angus beef medallion, truffle infused carrot puree, Szechwan

guafrette -- Gold Medal, Rahul Rana

Hot Fish: Curry infused poached barramundi, grilled prawns, garudya broth

-- Silver Medal, Chaminda Rohan

Dessert: (first participant), Valrhona chocolate mousse, Baileys center,

coffee ice cream & chocolate noodles -- Silver Medal, Ashok Kumar

Hot Lamb: Pistachio crusted lamb loin, herb infused whipped potatoes,

onion & berry compote -- Bronze Medal, Chaminda Rohan

Hot Chicken: Goat cheese & duxelle filled chicken breast, polenta tower,

shiitake & brie foam -- Bronze Medal, Manas Mallick

Dessert: (second participant) -- Lemongrass & milk chocolate mousse,

salted caramel & coconut sorbet -- Bronze Medal, Manyula Indika

Innovative Bread Presentation: Bronze Medal, Manyula Indika

Fruit & Vegetable Carving: Merit Award, Ivan Ong

Creative and modern recipes like these are what you would find when dining at any of the Eateries at the W Retreat & Spa - Maldives. Or, if you just wanted something simpler, there is something for every palate. As the W philosophy implies, “Whatever/Whenever” is truly a decadent indulgence.

W Retreat & Spa - Maldives is the first Retreat in the W Hotels Brand. W Hotels is a global lifestyle brand with 22 properties, with 20 in the pipeline over the next 3 years. The fastest growing luxury brand hotel brand in the world, W Hotels offers a unique mix of innovative design, comfort, and cultural influences from fashion to music to art and everything in between. Parent company Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. continues to aggressively grow its global footprint with a record number of new hotels projected in 2009.