The "Dhivehi Rahathah" an inter-resort cooking competition held by Adaaran Maldives Resort concluded after the final rounds held at Adaaran Hudhuran Fushi on December 17.

Two teams from four properties of Adaaran took part in the competition and competed for the champions trophy and to represent their dishes to be featured as an exclusive addition to the dining menu across all six properties of Adaaran maldives. 

The winning dish was selected by a panel of judges consisting of Consultant of L&D & Rooms Division Hemantha Ratnayake, Corporate Chef and General Manager of Adaaran Maldives Lalith Gunasekare and Corporate Director F&B of Aitken Spence Hotels Bjorn Van Der Horst, who was also the chief guest of the event.

According to Adaaran this competition was held in order to explore the Traditional Maldivian Cuisine and to bring them to the Guest Table of Adaaran resorts. Thereby, developing the Talents of Young Maldivian Chefs and to give Maldivian Cuisine its Pride of Place.

The participating teams were given one and half hours to prepare their meals. Throughout the preparation of their piece, the judges and attendees of the event were personally acquainted to the dishes by the participants who eagerly explained the stories behind the conception of their select dishes.

After grading the dishes the winners were announced at a small awarding ceremony which began with the recitation of the Holy Quran following a welcome speech by Mr. Hamantha who thanked everyone for attending the event before going on to speak about the importance of preserving a countries traditional cuisine.

"When it comes to Maldivian cuisine I am sure all our resorts in the Maldives serve some kind of local cuisine in their menus, but i rarely see our associates promoting Maldivian food with enthusiasm to the guests." said Mr. Hemantha Ratnayake

"This was one of the major reasons why we decided to promote Maldivian food with our associates so that they intern will promote local food. People not only travel to destinations for the beauty and sceneries of the country. They would also like to try the food of the specific destination." he added

The house keeping department of Hudhuranfushi entertained all guests with traditional Maldivian Bodu Beru and the chief guest Mr. Bjorn Van Der Horst and guest of honour Mr.Badhiya Gunathilake Chief Operating Officer of Adaaran Maldives shared a few words with everyone attending at the ceremony.

The most anticipated moment of the event was the announcement of the winners for Rhatah culinary challenge. Coming up on second runner up was Team one from Adaaran Select Meedhupparu following the First runner ups for the event which was Team two also from Adaaran Select Meedhupparu. Finally the grand champion for the event was team two from Addaran Club Rannalhi

The winning dish by team two from Adaaran club Rannalhi featured a three course meal consisting of "Maskurolhi aai Baipen" -a rice kanji with cumin flavoured coconut sambal mix as a starter, Kandu Mahu Mussanmma Riha,Hanaakuri Kattala,Jumhoori Meyvaa Fathaai Adhi Baraboa Satani"-Nuts and sultana stuffed tuna fish roulade curry, coconut tossed boiled sweet potato with passionfruit leaves & pumpkin salad as main course and "Gabulhiboakiba ahi falho( ice-cream)"-coconut cake with papaya ice cream as dessert with "Kurumba ahi Karaafani"-Young coconut & water melon Juice.

Aitken Spence operates a chain of 21 hotels and resorts in four countries: Sri Lanka, Maldives, India and Oman with a room inventory of over 2000 rooms of capacity. Its portfolio includes beach resorts and water villas, Ayurveda holiday resorts, and eco and culture resorts in the 3-5 star category.

Brands of Aitken Spence Hotels include "Heritance Hotels and Resorts", "turyaa by Heritance", "Aitken Spence Hotels and Resorts" and "Adaaran Hotels and Resorts".

Aitken Spence entered Maldivian hotel sector in 1993 with its investment in Bathala Island Resort. Aitken Spence is also the largest foreign resort operator in the Maldives and is among the five largest resort operators in the country.

Adaaran Hotels and Resorts, currently operates 5 hotels in properties in the Maldives with another set to open next year.