Spa cuisine adds flavour thanks to innovative Hong Kong and Thai chefs
Spa cuisine has come a long way. Meals remain healthy but don't skimp on flavour or creativity.
Bland, boring and unsatisfying: that was the reputation of spa cuisine when it first emerged in the 1970s. Stripped of fat and low in calories, it served the goal of weight loss and mirrored the nutritional consensus at the time that all fats were bad. With dishes such as steamed vegetables and egg white omelettes, it was seen as just a step up from hospital food.
Spa cuisine has come a long way since then. Meals remain healthy but don't skimp on flavour or creativity, with some chefs, such as Frenchman Michel Guérard, earning Michelin stars for their spa cuisine.
"People look at healthy food differently now," says Paisarn Cheewinsiriwat, executive chef at Chiva-Som, an internationally renowned wellness resort in Thailand that recently celebrated its 20th anniversary.
"Low-fat is best? Maybe not true: now there are bad fats and good fats. Low-salt? Now people use high-quality salt but in limited amounts, because the body needs the mineral."
At The Peninsula Hong Kong, for example, the spa menu includes dishes such as slow-poached bay scallops with citrus salad and pan-fried pork medallion on quinoa with mustard jus. At the InterContinental Hong Kong, the menu incorporates antioxidant-rich ingredients with dishes such as light curry cauliflower soup with chia seeds and chestnut soybean blancmange with mango sorbet.
In his 12 years at Chiva-Som so far, Paisarn says the resort's spa cuisine has changed dramatically. "The purpose has changed from simply serving food in a spa to food that fits a healthy lifestyle but tastes great, too," says the 38-year-old.