The unexpected foodie destination that impressed fashion designer Karen Walker

While Fiji has always been known and loved for its tropical islands and palm-lined beaches, some visitors are under the impression the food isn’t anything to write home about.

Fashion designer Karen Walker, who first visited Fiji on family holiday when she was four years old and has returned at least 20 times in her adulthood, puts it a little more bluntly.

“I think there is a misconception the food is terrible,” she told Stuff Travel.

“And once upon a time, perhaps it was earned, this idea that it’s all heat-and-eat pizzas and lasagnes and chips with everything. I think there is that hanging over Fiji.”

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But on a recent trip with husband Mikhail Gherman and daughter Valentina – her first visit in six years – Walker admits she was blown away by what was on offer.

“It really was a different place in terms of the food and the service more generally.”

A number of high-end resorts are transforming Fiji’s culinary reputation, helping turn it into a fully-fledged foodie destination.

Replacing the fried food and all-day buffets are farm-to-plate and sea-to-plate dining experiences, making the most of the bounty of fresh produce and seafood the island nation has to offer.

Before even landing at Nadi International Airport, you can get a taste of this change. In December 2021, Fiji Airways appointed Kiwi chef Richard Cross as its new executive chef, tasked with completely revamping the flag carrier’s menus and building them around local flavours – the kava and cinnamon ice cream served in business class is just one example.

On Walker’s latest visit, she stayed at three resorts. She revisited one of her favourites – Dolphin Island, a private retreat that accommodates just eight guests at a time, located a 20-minute boat ride off the northern tip of Viti Levu, Fiji’s main island.

For the first time, she experienced the celebrity-favourite Wakaya Club & Spa – another private island resort, accessed via an hour-long propeller plane ride from Nadi – as well as Six Senses Fiji on Malolo Island in the Mamanuca Islands, which opened in 2018, marking the luxury wellness and hospitality brand’s arrival in the South Pacific.

Locally grown, seasonal food was at the heart of what was on offer across all three properties, Walker found.

At both Dolphin Island and Wakaya, she loved that there was no fixed menu – rather, staff are aware of guests’ dietary requirements, and design meals based on the freshest available produce that day.

At Dolphin Island, where Walker has been three times, manager Dawn Simpson is “like the most loving mother or grandmother you’ve ever met,” she said.

Food was presented family-style – “10 different dishes on the table and you just help yourself”.

“I love not having to go, ‘what do I want?’ You don’t want to think when you’re on holiday.

“It feels like someone putting their arms around you and saying, ‘you look tired, come and sit down and I’ll make you dinner’.”

Wakaya impressed with its on-site farms and expansive tropical gardens, with ingredients plucked straight from the nutrient-rich soil.

Walker, who is vegetarian, described snacking on raw cauliflower spread with cumin dip, and enjoying some of the best salads she’s ever eaten – “because the greens were picked like 10 minutes ago”.

Dishes were considered without being too overcomplicated, she added.

“When I’m in the tropics I don’t want fine dining – I want something light.”

Food that feels good was also the focus at Six Senses, which has three dining venues and a gourmet deli. The resort has its own on-site organic farm, as well as a herb garden which is used not only by the kitchen, but also the spa, with guests invited to make their own scrubs and face masks using ingredients from the garden.

“I don’t think you’d find anything on the menu that would make you feel heavy or even slightly bad,” Walker said of the food.

“But you don’t feel like you’re missing out on anything, because it’s so well done.”

For the chefs at these resorts, the focus on local ingredients is as much out of necessity as it is following a food trend.

Creating world-class cuisine in a country where so much needs to be imported is an obvious challenge – with an added layer of complexity when you’re on a private island.

Marielle Hajj, the executive chef at Wakaya, arrived at the remote resort seven years ago from Mexico City, where she ran her own catering company.

“Coming from a big city where you make a list of whatever you want and then receive it, here it was a completely different experience – trying to know the types of leaves we can find locally, the type of fish we can get seasonally,” she said.

“When I used to say, ‘can you bring me some tuna or some Spanish mackerel’, they would stare at me like, ‘hmm, we’ll see what we can do’.”

Hajj, who grew up in Mexico but has Lebanese roots, and has worked in kitchens in New York and Paris, said some resorts may feel like they need to serve international menus, catering guests from all parts of the world. But focusing on the produce opened up a whole new dining experience, she said.

“The most important thing is that you get it just hours or minutes before cooking or serving it on the plate,” she said.

“It’s really, really fresh. I think that makes the difference.”

Six Senses properties all over the world are known for their sustainable approach, something that has inspired Winston Fong, who in August took up the job as executive chef at the Fiji resort.

Determined not to let anything go to waste, he’s been experimenting with using seafood in the same way you might treat meat – ageing it, or making sausages out of leftover scraps. And the reaction from guests has been encouraging, he said.

“I served the [fish] head to the guests a while ago and they said it’s the best thing they ever tried,” he said.

“You’re not going to get a piece of wagyu here. But you’ll get a nice piece of aged tuna, and some fresh crabs.”

For guests like Walker, that beats heat-and-eat pizza from the buffet, any day.

Fact file:

Dolphin Island: dolphinislandfiji.com

Wakaya Club & Spa: wakayaresort.com

Six Senses Fiji: sixsenses.com

Getting there: Fiji Airways offers direct flights to Nadi from Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. See fijiairways.com

More info: fiji.travel