Azizskandar Awang, who’s won a string of coveted awards during his 20-year career, has crafted a host of remarkable new menus at luxury beachfront resort Meliá Koh Samui.
Awang, the resort’s executive chef who clinched the Chef Hotelier of the Year award at the Hotelier Awards Asia, has created degustation, vegan, afternoon tea and Sunday brunch menus celebrating contemporary Thai, Western and Mediterranean fare.
Served in the evening at the resort’s Breeza Beach Restaurant and Bar overlooking Choeng Mon Beach, Awang’s five-course ‘Chef’s Tasting Menu’ includes ‘sea scallop with cauliflower puree, nantua sauce, pickled grapes and salicorne’ and ‘Jack’s Creek Wagyu beef with glazed carrot and parsnip puree, shallots, beetroot and red wine reduction’. Paired French, New Zealand, Spanish and Italian wines are optional.
Awang’s five-course ‘Taste of Thai’ counterpart, with optional Thai wine pairings, features ‘salmon wrapped in betel leaf with light chu che sauce and pickled pearl onion’ and ‘Australian lamb in massaman sauce with peanut puree, crispy onion and potato gnocchi’.
Designed to tap into the movement towards sustainable, plant-based consumption, Awang’s vegan menu’s dishes range from ‘lentil soup flavored with coconut milk, cumin and ginger’ to ‘Greek salad topped with hummus, tofu and avocado’. ‘Saffron risotto with caramelized porcini mushrooms’, and ‘spinach and ricotta cannelloni gratin with mozzarella cheese’ are among the standouts on the new vegetarian menu.
Held every Saturday from 3pm-6pm at Yod Maprao, a venue with floor-to-ceiling windows opening onto the resort’s two-level infinity pool and Choeng Mon Beach, afternoon tea entails a selection of premium TWG loose teas, the obligatory scones with clotted cream and homemade jam, sweets such as ‘lemon and pistachio éclair’ and ‘canelé de Bordeaux’ and savory items including smoked salmon and grilled brie cheese and cranberry sandwiches. Optional Nua Prosecco and Moët & Chandon Piccolo cost extra.
Staged on the first Sunday of each month at Breeza and Yod Maprao and the sand deck adjoining the two venues, the Sunday brunch menu brims with all sorts of indulgent options at a series of stations.
In addition to a ‘Wellbeing by Melia’ section with healthy dishes such as ‘poached egg, smashed avocado and home-cured salmon’, the extensive brunch menu is rounded out with sliders and bao buns as well as vast selections of charcuterie, cheeses and desserts.
Awang said the new menus helped further signal his “ambitions to establish Breeza Beach Restaurant and Bar as Koh Samui island’s top fine dining restaurant”.
In addition to winning the prestigious Chef Hotelier of the Year award at the Hotelier Awards Asia 2018 amid more than 300 applicants, other accolades under Awang’s stewardship include the Miele Guide and Thailand Tatler naming fine dining resort restaurants he managed at the time as among Thailand’s and Asia’s best restaurants. He was also hailed the Best Young Chef in Malaysia in the 2004-05 Young Chefs Challenge.
Meliá Koh Samui celebrated its grand opening on January 10, unveiling a host of world-class facilities including two restaurants, a swim-up bar, a lagoon pool that meanders through the resort’s grounds like a river, an executive lounge, spa, fitness center, ballroom and conference facilities and, for families, a kid’s club, outdoor playground and mini water park.To contact Meliá Koh Samui or to make a booking, please call +66 (0) 89 184 0725 or email reservation.kohsamui@melia.com
The ‘Chef’s Tasting Menu’ is priced at 2,590 THB++ (USD 83++) per person and an additional 1,400 THB++ (USD 45++) per person with paired wine. ‘Taste of Thai’ costs 2,190 THB ++ (USD 70++) per person and an additional 1,100 THB ++ (USD 35++) per person with paired wine. Afternoon tea is priced at 800 THB++ (USD 26++) per person with a glass of Nua Prosecco costing an additional 300 THB (USD 10++ ) and Moët & Chandon Piccolo 200ml an extra 1500 THB (USD 48). The Sunday brunch menu is 1690 THB++ (USD 54++) per person.