influences (reflecting the main ethnic influences in Georgia)- is served using nouvelle cuisine methods and presentation , a concept called Supra Nova. Elsewhere on the resort Canada’s most famous Iranian chef (Vancouver’s answer to Sabrina Ghayour) Hamid Saliman finds his dinner service fully booked, while we manage to grab the last table at Alfred Prasad’s restaurant. Alfred is India’s youngest Michelin starred chef, but RBKC locals may recall him from Mayfair’s Tamarind. Prasad is serving a multi-course tasting menu, as is the preference of many of the restaurants participating in Sani Gourmet. Flavours of coriander, red chilli and cinnamon fill the air in the restaurant overlooking the marina – a little piece of Monaco or Montenegro to feast the eyes alongside your appetite. We’re lucky that during our short stay we’re able to dine in another Sani Gourmet participating restaurant. We’ve booked ahead, but with so many keen foodies around there are no guarantees – not that you’d be able to guess by the eye. Sani as a resort is designed so that even at 100% capacity it never feels full. There will never be a queue or a fight for service. If the most luxurious commodity in life is time, then here time stands still; it leaves you with all the space you need to reconnect with the senses. It’s Anar Gasimov’s restaurant that stands out most in the mind for me. The young chef from Azerbaijan is making a name for himself in Baku, reinvigorating traditional Azeri cuisine to contend with French, Italian and the classics we’ve come to know and love. Hot broths, slow cooked meats that fall away from the fork alongside sharp, almost chilli pickles washed down with a lethal shot of Arak. I leave Sani after four days knowing there was much more to be found, surprises that I probably couldn’t even fathom – delicious morsels I’d never tried before, or glorious sights of the sea and wild birds from a view I couldn’t find anywhere else. Perhaps a quality resort such as this isn’t a last resort after all. For more information and to book, visit www.sani-resort.com or download the app from iTunes. PAGE 33
‘When else can you travel the world yet remain firmly in your lap of luxury?’ KENSINGTON & CHELSEA REVIEW