Here are some places where you may eat while admiring marine life, from the Maldives to Norway and Turkey as reported by The National News.
Underwater restaurants
Underwater restaurants provide some of the most amazing vistas in the world, whether you are dining next to an aquarium in Bali, staring out over the North Atlantic bottom, or submerged in the Indian Ocean.
The best are listed here:
Ithaa Undersea Restaurant, Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, Maldives
The first hotel in the world to provide an all-glass underwater restaurant was Conrad Maldives Rangali Island. Five metres below sea level, Ithaa offers vistas of coral gardens and random appearances by a variety of aquatic creatures from the Indian Ocean.
The restaurant is available for breakfast, and its set lunch and supper menus incorporate local and western influences. Private meals, weddings, and other special events can be scheduled in the area.
The resort is also home to The Muraka, a lavish two-story villa with a master bedroom buried below sea level, for those who develop an appetite for aquatic life.
Only Blu, Maldives
The largest restaurant in the Maldives’ archipelago just opened its doors underwater. Only Blu, which was unveiled in June, is connected to two island resorts, Oblu Select Lobigili and Oblu Xperience Ailafushi, by a wooden pier.
It has an open kitchen and, as its name suggests, a mostly blue interior. It is situated 6.8 metres below the surface. Every table in the horseshoe-shaped restaurant, which has 46 seats and 190 square metres of space, has a window with a view of the coral reef.
The menu’s standout dishes include enoki mushroom, scallion, and tossed greens with panko and sesame-crusted tofu, Maldivian yellowfin tuna poke with Peruvian avocado, Spanish onion, mango, and edamame, and guinea fowl ballotine with foie gras and wild mushroom emulsion.
Under, Lindesnes, Norway
Under, a half-submerged structure in Norway’s Lindesnes, provides a unique opportunity to observe the North Atlantic Ocean’s marine ecology in action. The restaurant combines dramatic design, marine research, and food while providing a panoramic view of the seabed through enormous glass windows. The structure, a stark rectangle slanted on its axis, will eventually blend in with the aquatic environment since the roughness of its concrete shell functions as an artificial reef. For those who make the journey to this far-flung region of the country, Lindesnes is renowned for its extreme weather, which alternates between calm and stormy conditions many times every day. Every day, a single fixed menu made with seasonally appropriate ingredients is presented.
Ossiano, Atlantis, The Palm, Dubai
Ossiano, a restaurant in Atlantis, The Palm, seats 50 people and descends 10 metres to the bottom of one of the biggest aquariums on earth.
The menu attempts to transport customers in a similar way. With respect to seasonality, geography, and marine foraging, chef Gregoire Berger has introduced a nine to an eleven-step tasting menu. All components come from the oceans or are grown 50 kilometres or less from a shoreline. Dishes also highlight Berger’s love of creating stories through food, from a delicate whelk shell presented on a bed of sand and packed with umami dashi to Brittany brown crab, fragrant Kari Gosse, and bouillabaisse essence.
Ristorante L’Olivo at Al Mahara, Dubai
The menu at Ristorante L’Olivo at Al Mahara at the Burj Al Arab was created by chef Andrea Migliaccio of Capri’s Ristorante L’Olivo, which holds two Michelin stars. The menu offers a variety of raw fish dishes, tartares, and grilled scallops, as well as pasta meals, lobster, black cod, and other seafood mains, all while promising real Mediterranean flavours.
All are presented in an underwater environment thanks to a sizable aquarium with wall-to-ceiling coral and fish.
Cargo Hold, Durban, South Africa
Dine with sharks at Cargo Hold, a restaurant inside Ushaka Marine World in Durban, South Africa. The restaurant, which has views into the shark tank and is located at the stern of the marine park’s Phantom Ship, serves international fare such as freshly shucked oysters, mussels, and honey ginger panko prawns.
The largest aquarium in the Southern Hemisphere is located at Ushaka, with 500-meter-long underground viewing halls that wind through a succession of four replica shipwrecks.
Koral, Apurva Kempinski Bali, Indonesia
The centrepiece of Koral at the Apurva Kempinski Bali, which won the title of “picture-perfect restaurant” in the world at the 2021 TripAdvisor Traveller Awards, is an aquarium.
The restaurant’s elaborate floor tiles, red clay brickwork, and teakwood ceilings go well with the aquatic vistas. Award-winning chef Andrea Astone offers set and degustation menus that feature flavours from the Indonesian shore.
The experience is completed by a soundtrack that captures the melodies of life beneath the waves.
Nemo, Antalya, Turkey
Nemo is a bar, lounge, and restaurant with views of an aquarium in Antalya, Turkey.
With a menu that is inspired by the sea and specialises in “contemporary Eurasian cuisine,” which is tinted with Pan Asian elements, Nemo, which was named Turkey’s finest hotel restaurant at the 2020 Culinary Awards, takes a more glamorous approach to aquarium eating. A live DJ, inventive cocktails, and sakes complete the experience.
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Source: The National News
