Springtime at Soneva

Jamie first discovered his passion for food at 17 while working in a local bakery. Waking up at the crack of dawn to make bread, he became fascinated with sourcing quality raw ingredients and discovering the processes that culminated in a perfect loaf of bread. He then went on to work at Gordon Ramsey’s Michelin-starred Maze in London, followed by its sister restaurant in Melbourne. The wild and local food movement in Copenhagen drew him to work for Paul Cunningham and later to become head chef at Kødbyens Fiskebar, where he currently serves fine dining in a relaxed atmosphere. At Kødbyens Fiskebar, it all starts with fresh and raw ingredients, which are locally sourced and depict the season of Scandinavia. Seasonal vegetables arrive in the morning from a biodynamic farm north of Copenhagen and the forager supplies forest herbs. The restaurant moves hand in hand with the fishmongers and guarantees only sustainable fish caught inshore on a small scale. The oysters are wild European from the oyster banks of Limfjord in Denmark, which are delivered every morning.

Barbara Schett is one of the most successful athletes Austria has ever produced and Austria’s highest-ranked female tennis player ever. She reached the Top 10 in both singles and doubles. A native of Innsbruck, her career-high singles ranking at the WTA Tour was World No 7. Her Career High in doubles was World No. 8. Shortly after her retirement from professional tennis, Barbara started an international business career. Among other business activities, she is still a popular celebrity endorser and brand ambassador representing various brands and companies worldwide. Besides that, she works as an expert and presenter for Eurosport, the N°1 European TV sports channel, reporting live from Grand Slam Tournaments and is the host of the award-winning show “ Game Schett and Mats “ along with 7-time Grand Slam Champion Mats Wilander.

Hailed as one of the best football freestylers in the world, Marcel Gurk is the current German champion, holds ten Guinness World Records and is the author of the world’s first book on football freestyling. He made it to the semifinal of Germany’s Got Talent, Das Supertalent, and travels around the world sharing his unique skills. Having studied sport and media management in Dusseldorf, Marcel also specialises in working with children and has designed his own unique concept to help take his students’ skills to the next level. While in the Maldives, he will be hosting football freestyling workshops for Young Sonevians at Soneva Fushi and Soneva Jani.

In 2012, Danish chef Kamilla Seidler arrived in La Paz, Bolivia, after receiving an irresistible invitation from pioneering restaurateur Claus Meyer to join a dream project, GUSTU, part of his Melting Pot initiative to empower young Bolivian chefs and put Andean cuisine on the world map. Unofficially baptised as the “Dane of the Andes”, for her great culinary and social work on behalf of the nation, Seidler ended up taking all of Latin America by storm. Having developed an innovative, simple and elegant culinary style, Seidler was the first female chef invited to join the International Council of the Basque Culinary Center in 2014, and was named the Best Chef in South America that same year. She became a member of The Danish Gastronomy Academy in 2015, and was recognised as Latin America’s Best Female Chef for the two following consecutive years. In 2018, Seidler returned to Copenhagen to explore the social gastronomy movement, opening Restaurant Lola with partners Mette Strarup and Rune Toft in 2019. Having dedicated her life’s work to sharing a message of respect, equity, dignity and pride through food, inclusion and tolerance are fundamental building blocks of the restaurant’s DNA. Each person working at the restaurant brings their own personal experiences to the table, giving the menu an international focus combined with locally sourced Danish produce, connecting the many shared ingredients but different cooking traditions and methods from around the globe. She also runs Lola Impact, a Latin American-inspired food truck that employs young people facing difficulties entering employment.

As part of our ongoing commitment to ensuring that our younger guests stay inspired and intrigued, Soneva aims to help visiting children and teenagers feel fully supported outside of term-time. We have partnered with Oppidan Education, a British-based mentoring firm created to help children continue their learning outside of the classroom and reach their full potential. As well as complimentary drop-in workshops with fun, educational activities, Oppidan will also offer private, one-on-one appointments, which can be scheduled each afternoon at an additional fee.