“I feel like a teenager with dad’s car – and his daughter.” That’s what Jim said as we drove along the motorway in the blazing sun on our way to The Oberoi for a two day break and a little research for a travel story on Mauritius. The Indian owned, five-star Oberoi is sprawled along the NW coast in Pointe Aux Piments, not far from the capital of Mauritius, you can actually see the lights of the city from the hotel.

Gorgeous landscaping, unsurpassed hospitality and luxury spa aside, the biggest draw to The Oberoi is the food. We dined with Jennifer, the sales manager and executive chef, Igor Bocchia. Igor is from Trentino, he trained as a chef in Venice and has cooked at some very exotic locales such as Macau and, now, Mauritius. He says he likes it here and you can tell he’s genuine. He cooks in tandem with a Mauritian and an Indian chef. The menu spans European (with an emphasis on Italian – they make pasta in-house) and Creole and Indian cuisines.

Dining with the chef himself, I asked what I should order and he suggested the fried green tomatoes for starters. We’d seen countless stands at the Quatre-Bornes farmers market selling beautiful looking tomatillos yet my family doesn’t cook this particular fruit (also known as the Mexican tomato). Igor’s dish was simple, clean yet flavorful and beautifully presented. It tasted of the Mediterranean and the tropics combined. The tomatoes, breaded and deep fried, were sitting in a smear of pesto, accompanied by mozzarella wrapped in roasted bell peppers (the peppers here are amazing and perfect for roasting) and a funny sage resembling herb which grows by the sea and tastes a little like a herb and seaweed combined. I polished off my plate. Which is why I barely had room for the follow up: braised wagyu beef cheeks. The meat, like most of the meat in Mauritius was from Australia, it was meltingly tender and came with the best version of pattypan squash (known here as “pattison”) I’ve ever had, along with seaweed wrapped veggies.

The restaurant itself is situated outdoors, overlooking the sea, with a roof overhead. The architecture at The Oberoi places a lot of influence on the outdoors. I was treated to a massage in a part of the spa that is used for couples massage sessions, though I was solo. The room was half indoors and half outdoors sans creepy, new-age spa music, just the sound of real birds and the jostling around of my small, young but fierce masseur.

Anyone who wants to dine out for a special occasion in Mauritius should head to this little-known gem of a restaurant for Igor’s brilliant cooking technique and a playful way with food. The following night we were treated to a tasting menu that really showed off the chef’s breadth and talent. More on that and the excellent cocktails later, in my article, due out in Zink magazine this summer!