Amilla Fushi Appoints Mickaël Farina as Executive Chef

Best Gourmet Resorts in the Maldives


Book Your All Inclusive Vacation and save 25% in Atmosphere Hotels and Resorts, Maldives
Book Your All Inclusive Vacation and save 25% in Atmosphere Hotels and Resorts, Maldives
Follow us on social media to stay up-to-date on the latest news:
Follow Maldives Magazine social media
Follow Maldives Magazine social media
New Beach Suites

17 March, 2020

Amilla Maldives Resort & Residences has welcomed back Executive Chef Mickaël Farina; one of the most talented and energetic young chefs in the Maldives .

French-born, Mickael Farina is a descendant of a multicultural close-knit family, with Spanish, Italian, Vietnamese and Algerian ‘Pied-Noir’ roots. He has always had scores of culturally diverse influences around him, resulting in him embracing and celebrating other cultures while never needing to identify himself with any one country in particular.

Since the age of 11, Mickaël, (who hails from Provence, France), knew he was going to become a chef – and even which culinary school he wanted to go to. Following training at the Relais & Châteaux Michelin-star restaurant in Montargis, France, he felt the call of international adventures. Mickaël become one of the youngest Sous Chef in Sydney at just 20, worked under two Michelin-star French chefs in Perth and became Head Chef by 23 at The Landing restaurant in Wanaka, New Zealand.

Relishing an even bigger challenge, Mickaël then departed for first time to the Maldives to become resort Sous Chef at COMO Cocoa Island Maldives (where he helped the resort achieve a rating as 6th best hotel in the world on TripAdvisor). At 25, he transferred to Kandolhu Maldives to become Executive Chef, where he led a kitchen team of over 40 and created his first Maldives-inspired cookbook/photography book, HIHsaaKURUN.

Mickaël, who describes himself as “born curious”, has visited over 25 resorts in the Maldives and more than 50 countries; dining at over 100 Michelin restaurants as part of his international culinary explorations and taking an apprenticeship at a Michelin restaurant in Brazil. In 2018, Mickaël reached the regional final of the San Pellegrino Young Chef contest in Singapore, and has recently cooked for a UNESCO gastronomy charity in Japan and worked on multiple ‘four hands dinners’ at some of the top restaurants in Paris, New Delhi and Colombo.

Mickaël, soon to be 30, says: “I started working on a restaurant project back in my home country last year but quickly realised that I belong at a five-star hotel. So after a few months, I started to look for my next challenge”.
Coming from a multi-cultural family, he always felt at home overseas (Michaël’s father is Sardinian, his grandmother grew up in Catalan, his great-grandfather was Vietnamese and great-grandmother was a French colonial living in Algeria). “After various interviews in Turkey, Morocco, Bali, Thailand and the Seychelles – as well as some trials at a Mauritius Sofitel and even for Google in Paris (amongst other countries), I realized that nothing beats the standards of the hotels in the Maldives, their budgets, team, clientele and top-level set-ups”.

The Maldives was clearly calling Mickaël back. Amilla’s General Manager, Jason Kruse, and wife Victoria (the Sustainability Manger), had heard of Mickaël while they were all working in previous roles for the same hotel group – Universal Resorts Maldives – a few years ago. Jason, who joined Amilla last year, was the Maldives’ longest-serving General Manager at Universal’s Kurumba resort while Mickaël was leading the kitchen at Kandolhu in the adjacent atoll at the same time. “The day I was informed about the opening for an Executive Chef at Amilla Maldives, my heart skipped a beat,” says Mickaël. “I knew it was the job I wanted, and I’m thrilled that I got it. I guess I wasn’t done with the Maldives…Amilla is definitely the next big career step I was looking for. “Amilla has an amazing set-up and team. It’s a real pleasure to join Jason and Victoria Kruse here. I’m excited to be at Amilla for the long-term; building upon my culinary reputation and elevating the kitchen to even higher levels, step by step. It is going to take time to fulfil all my goals, I now have enough Maldives experience to know this, but it’s an extremely exciting prospect. We are building upon some already-proven concepts such as sushi and teppanyaki but we’re also planning on introducing some new concepts to the Maldives as well”. Some of the cornerstones of Amilla’s new culinary overhaul are the pioneering Wellness Your Way, Homegrown@Amilla and Homemade@Amilla concepts.

“We have big plans for producing products in-house (both homemade and from our garden) and also for our new Wellness Your Way program we’re developing a lot of plant-based recipes and dishes catering to ‘eating lifestyles’ in our regular menus; for guests with dietary preferences such as keto, low-lectin and paleo,” explains Mickaël.
Mickaël also has ambitions for ‘Feeling Koi’, Amilla’s award-winning signature restaurant. “We’re unveiling ‘Izakaya’, which is mixed type of cuisine that’s usually served in bars accompanied by drinks, rather like Spanish tapas. I’d like ‘Feeling Koi’ to become known as an ‘Island Isakaya’.

“With our new menu, the idea is to pay tribute to Japanese cuisine, but also use local products to create some inspirational new flavours. You’ll be able to recognise small influences from other countries, such as the Maldives and France”. The Island Izakaya menu will be separated into different categories (sakana, sashimi, kushikatsu, konro, yakitori and desserts) and there will be drinks pairings available for each dish. “We’ll encourage guests to share dishes, in order to respect the essence of Izakaya” says Mickaël. It looks like Mickaël and Amilla’s new executive team is injecting all kinds of thrilling new concepts and ideas into the avant-garde resort. Expect a host of innovations and world-class concepts to follow over the coming months.

“I’m back in action and embracing my biggest challenge yet” says Mickaël. “My batteries are fully recharged, and I’m looking forward to welcoming back all our repeat guests as well as new guests to share all the new goodies the culinary team and myself are developing.”.

Book Now

Hotels in the Maldives Enter your dates and choose from 759 hotels and other places to stay!
Deals Finder
hotel best price guarantee
Responsive image
kuramathi deals and offers this week

Amilla Fushi

Conrad Maldives Rangali Island
Booking.com

Best Experience:  Family, Couples, Dining, Diving, Spa

Featuring more flexible approach to tropical island luxury, Amilla Fushi offers a luxurious 'island home' for both couples and families in the Maldives. Younger, hipper, with a fresh and contemporary accomodation, the resort has so much to offer, from high design and inventive dining options, to stylish villas and amazing snorkelling and diving. Located in the Baa atoll, UNESCO Biosphere reserve, this might just be the most family friendly resort in the Maldives. Family villas have been designed to ensure that both the parent’s and children’s bedrooms are in the same building. The villas are very spacious, and unlike many two bedroom options you might find elsewhere, the second bedrooms are large and so also work very well for families with older children. The Sultan's Village kids’ club at Amilla Fushi is terrific – all palm tree swings, finger painting and beach games – teens can play billiards and X-Box, and all childcare, including baby-sitting, is complimentary. There is also a children's pool and beach club close by if parents wish to relax in close proximity to the Kids Club. In 2018, Amilla Fushi has been recognised as the leading family resort in Maldives. Read Full Review

what is better: beach or overwater

Beach or Water Villa?

Maldives - a name that became synonymous with honeymooners' paradise in the tourism world, has slowly revamped to cater to the needs of families visiting

Read More
Maldives Resort Offers & Packages

Best Maldives Resort Offers & Packages

Find out more about the most unparalleled Maldives hotel deals and special rates, when Book Direct your next beach holiday

Read More
Best Resorts for Vegetarians

Maldives Hotel Reviews

Some of the best hotels and resorts in the Maldives are already included in this list, and the good part of them offers the best prices. We will constantly add new hotels

Read More
10 Exclusive Resorts in Maldives

10 Exclusive Resorts in Maldives

The Maldives is paradise destination that should be on the bucket list of every discerning travelers. There's a special breed of hotels there that cater to the most tasteful of luxury travelers Read More

water pool villas, male

Newest Maldives resorts to Explore in 2024

Here are just 10 of the amazing new resorts in the Maldives that are set to welcome guests Read More

10 Cheapest Water Villa Resorts in Maldives

10 Most Affordable Water Villas

While it may never be cheap to visit thу Maldives, fortunately there are still some chic and relatively affordable overwater villas you can stay. Read more

luxury privaye villa

Maldives Luxury Guide

Here's the best of Maldives for luxury travellers. We've compiled the finest recommendations of places to stay, ranging from the most celebrated five-star resorts to luxurious private islands Read More

honeymoon

Maldives Romantic Guide

The ultimate ‘flop and drop' and honeymoon destination, the Maldives is the playground for the most amazing and finest utilization of each second of this extremely valuable and hopeful time with each other in tota Read More

maldives on the cheap

Maldives Budget Guide

Budget travellers choose Maldives as their destination of choice thanks to the variety of affordable stays  Read More

family holiday

Maldives Family Guide

Maldives - a name that became synonymous with honeymooners' paradise in the tourism world, has slowly Read More

scuba diving in the maldives ultimate guide

Maldives Diving Guide

The life of these paradise islands below the Indian Ocean's level is the main draw attracting thousands of divers Read More