4 culinary experiences to savour the true flavours of Fiji

Fiji is redefining destination dining, with a new wave of hotel restaurants showcasing the best of the islands.

Fiji has always sated Australia’s taste for the Pacific, with its heady blend of sun, sand and swaying palm trees, welcoming culture and ice-cold cocktails. However, a new crop of must-try Marriott Bonvoy Fiji restaurants are emerging, pushing Fiji’s culinary scene to the forefront of the visitor experience.

From one-of-a-kind cooking techniques to menus planned around locally harvested sea salt, exclusive seaside dining to sustainable farm-to-fork dinners, these curated culinary experiences offer a fresh taste of Fiji, one that few visitors have experienced before.

1. Firelit Ocean Feast at Tatavu Grill & Bar

While the sun sets over the water in Nadi Bay, the fire begins to glow at award-winning Tatavu Grill & Bar, at the Sheraton Fiji Golf & Beach Resort’s signature feet-in-the-sand dining experience.

Overlooking the beach, this is one of Denarau’s most popular restaurants thanks to its eye-catching vertical wood-fired grill; the only one of its kind in Fiji. The unique cooking technique uses flame and charcoal to cook proteins, infusing them with smoky flavour. The heavy aromas from the kitchen combine with the salty ocean breeze to create a sensory-driven dining experience.

Guests can choose from a display of fresh market fish, lobster and bugs grilled on the open fire, or choose from the à la carte menu, which features options like grilled adobo marinated octopus with seaweed salad, slow-roasted beetroot, local spinach and blue cheese puree, or traditional local dishes like kingfish kokoda.

Grass-fed-cuts of steak cooked over the open fire grill are popular. Each dish is served with cassava chips, lemongrass-infused creamy mashed potato and local farmed vegetables. While a pick-your-own surf-and-turf menu is available. Guests can choose their cut of steak with either prawn, scallops, a half oyster tail – or opt for Campechana (a mix of all three).

Sink your feet into the sand and savour flame-grilled seafood and steaks

2. Waterfront Farm-to-Table Dining at Wet Edge

Overlooking the water and set by the pool, Sheraton Denarau Villa’s Wet Edge restaurant and bar is one of Denarau’s best-kept secrets. The intimate alfresco also offers a sun deck to watch the sun go down over Nadi Bay.

Specialising in Asian-fusion cuisine, Wet Edge offers one of the freshest farm-to-fork dining experiences in Fiji, using produce grown from the resort’s own five-acre farm on Denarau Island. The sustainable aspect of each meal is a big draw, with the menu also offering vegetarian and gluten-free options.

At lunch, the menu includes a tuna poke bowl made with fresh local tuna marinated in lime, sesame and soy with crispy root crop; a pulled lamb bao bun with Coleslaw, crispy lettuce, bell peppers and pulled lamb. As well as the Papukeni Tavu, with pumpkin, crispy lettuce mix, local herbs, lemon juice, pine seeds and goat’s cheese. Opt for larger share plates to try a bit of everything.

After happy hour on the deck, the dinner menu continues to draw heavily on the produce grown on the farm, complemented by fresh seafood. Be sure to save room for a dessert of sticky rice cake and sago in coconut.

Watch the sunset as you savour fresh, farm-to-fork Asian-fusion cuisine.

3. Signature surf & turf menu in a beachfront cabana

There’s nothing like watching the stars come out in the night sky from the sanctuary of your own private dining cabana. Offering an intimate seaside dining experience, Sheraton Resort & Spa, Tokoriki Island, Fiji ’s exclusive Surf & Turf alternate drop menu in a private beachfront cabana is one of the most exclusive culinary experiences in Fiji.

Located in the Mamanuca Islands, the 101-room Sheraton Resort and Spa, Tokoriki Island, Fiji is accessible on a 45-minute transfer from Nadi by boat, or 15 minutes by helicopter from Nadi Airport.

Surrounded by one of Fiji’s most spectacular house reefs, the Sheraton’s private dining experience includes a sheltered, open-air private cabana on the water’s edge, overlooking the ocean.

The experience begins with a personal butler seating you by the water just as the sun begins to set, delivering a carefully curated tropical cocktail flight to enjoy while the ocean laps the shore. Then, after cracking open a bottle of bubbly, your butler will start bringing out an alternative drop menu of surf & turf: the finest steaks complemented by locally sourced seafood.

Enjoy a private surf and turf dinner by the sea at Sheraton Tokoriki.

4. Ocean-to-table menu at Fish Bar

Taste Fiji on the plate at Fish Bar Fiji, the seaside seafood restaurant at Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay. The secret? Sea salt harvested just 12 kilometres offshore.

Over two weeks, saltwater evaporates on drying tables, forming young crystals known as sel gris. Once harvested, the salt is infused in Momi Bay’s kitchens with four tropical flavours – lime, chilli, wild hibiscus and coconut – adding a distinctly local touch to every dish.

By day, snack on an elevated lunch menu featuring Pacific Reef Slipper Lobster Rolls and yellowfin tuna BLTs. By night, don’t miss Fish Bar’s signature Salt menu, where this artisanal salt takes centre stage.

A cold entrée of tuna tartare with avocado, cucumber, wasabi, sesame tuile and orange dressing is elevated with lime sea salt. Smoked pork belly with scallops, pea purée, lumpfish caviar and micro herbs is infused with wild hibiscus sea salt.

For dessert, whisky and chocolate crémeux with chocolate ice cream, coffee and caramel sauce features coconut cream salt. This salt comes from a second harvest – a more mature sel gris with deeper flavour – infused with coconut cream and milk from locally gathered coconuts.

Taste Fiji at Fish Bar with seafood dishes enhanced by house-crafted sea salt.

Start planning your culinary trip at marriott.com.