Elemental Table

The first-ever fusions by club medan immersive and innovative cocktail of food, sound and lightfound an ideal venue at Finolhu villas in the Maldives. Amit Dixit had a front row seat.

As Chef Jozef Youssef lifted his blowtorch to personally sear the tender strips of beef, five to a plate, the air filled with a rousing melody. Not your average musical entertainment at a restaurant, no, no; much less, muzak. This was something visceral—music with a capital M.

The premise of the by-invitation-only dinner was intriguing: that sounds can influence and enhance the taste of food. The premises were interesting too: a sprawling restaurant, all flamboyant curves and soaring ceilings, perched on stilts above the water, deep inside the Maldivian archipelago. Club Med, at whose newest Maldivian resort—Club Med Finolhu Villas—this experiment was being conducted, has always been a bit of an innovator. It pioneered the all-inclusive resort concept in the 1950s. Club Med’s ‘villages’, as they were called, were noted for their casual and friendly ambience. Several reinventions later, the chain seems to have found its feet in a brave, new and demanding world and is swiftly going upscale and designer. And it’s still allinclusive (the booze too). What’s not to like.