Spa Food Of The Week
Put away those carrots. Some healthy food is also tasty, says Andy Lynes
If you think spa cuisine would be improved by making it into a face pack or an all-over body rub then think again. These days, the grub on offer to complement the physical therapies is as varied and inventive as the array of treatments available is bewildering. You can find anything you fancy from refined haute cuisine to eco-friendly food from the rainforest.
Healthy eating doesn't have to be dull. Deftly used herbs and spices in dishes such as pomelo and prawn salad makes the food at Chiva Som, 73/4 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Thailand (00 66 32 536 536; www.chiva som.com) delicious as well as good for you.
Most of the fruit and vegetables for the slimming cuisine at the Golden Door, 777 Deer Springs Road, San Marcos, California (001 760 744 5777; www.goldendoor.com) come from the spa's own organic vegetable garden.
Enjoy a Californian grape massage in the spa before tucking into a plate of salmon with foie gras and spiced lentils at The Vineyard, Stockcross, Newbury, Berkshire (01635 528770; www.the-vineyard.co.uk).
The Julaymba restaurant at the Daintree Eco Lodge and Spa, 20 Daintree Road, Daintree, Queensland, Australia (00 61 7 4098 6100; www.daintree-ecolodge.com.au) brings the surrounding rainforest to your dinner table. A salad of ryberry, munthari, rosella flowers and quandong is dressed with local red gum oil vinaigrette.
There are stunning views of the Himalayan valley of Rishikesh from the Tree Top Deck restaurant at Ananda Spa Resort, The Palace Estate, Narendra Nagar, Tehri - Garhwal, Uttaranchal, India (00 91 1378 227 500; www.anandaspa.com).
A meal of Kaiseki cuisine, the traditional and formal Japanese style of dining that originated in Kyoto in which elegant food is served up on small plates, is on offer at Gôra Kadan, 1300 Gôra, Hakone, Ashigarashitagun, Kanagawa, Hakone, Japan (00 81 460 2 3331; gora www.kadan.co.jp).
Dishes such as fillet of wild turbot braised in bouillabaisse with lobster couscous have helped win the restaurant at Read's Hotel & Spa, Santa María del Cahi, Mallorca, Spain (00 34 971 14 02 61, www.readshotel.com) a Michelin star.
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