Soneva Jani: March 1-31, 2023 Soneva Fushi: April 1-30, 2023 During her 15-year career, Hortensia has collaborated with the UN, Olympics Sports Federations and several private clinics. She has a Master’s in Osteopathy and degrees in Sports Education and Physiotherapy. Originally focused on a traditional osteopathic approach to treating sports injuries, Hortensia’s methodology evolved to reflect evidence that stress, emotions and unchanneled trauma have a direct impact on the body. She works closely with you to get to the root of your concerns, using a unique, multi-pronged approach that combines traditional osteopathy with her deep knowledge of the body’s biodynamic, skeletal, muscular and craniosacral systems.  

Chefs Judy Joo and Esther Choi will conduct a spectacular four-hands dinner at Soneva Kiri on January 12, 13 and 14, 2023. Their dishes will showcase their amazing talent and rich Korean heritage. Chef Judy Joo In 2003, following an engineering degree at Columbia University and a career on Wall Street, Judy Joo decided it was time for a change. Realising that her passion was in cooking, she enrolled at the French Culinary Institute in New York, and received her Grand Diplome in Pastry Arts before becoming a test kitchen and editorial assistant at SAVEUR magazine. Excited about the thriving UK food scene, Judy moved to London in 2007, and joined Restaurant Gordon Ramsay as a pastry chef. For the following few years, she also worked throughout other Gordon Ramsay restaurants including Maze, under Jason Atherton, Claridge’s, Pétrus, and Boxwood Café as a chef and pastry chef. Judy also staged around the world at restaurants including 3 Michelin-starred The French Laundry in Yountville, California; Heston Blumenthal’s 3 Michelin-starred The Fat Duck in Bray; as well as Bangkok’s 1 Michelin-starred Nahm restaurant. In 2011, Judy became a regular face on TV, starring in Iron Chef UK and securing herself the title ‘Iron Chef UK’, becoming the only female Iron Chef in the UK and the second female Iron Chef worldwide. Off the back of her success in the UK show, Judy became a resident judge on Iron Chef America. Her expertise in Korean cooking led to her own shows: Judy Joo’s Return to Korea and two seasons of Korean Food Made Simple. Since then she published her debut cookbook, Korean Food Made Simple and has made regular appearances on numerous programs in the USA including The Today Show, Wendy Williams, The Talk, and various Food Network shows, and in the UK she has popped up on Saturday Kitchen, Sunday Brunch,  James Martin’s Saturday Morning and ITV’s Cooking with the Stars. Having settled in the UK, London was the obvious choice for Judy’s first restaurant as Chef Patron, and she opened the doors to her modern Korean restaurant Jinjuu – meaning ‘pearl’ – in 2014. Judy’s cooking is focused on the flavours of her childhood – raised in a Korean-American family in New Jersey, her back porch was lined with her mother’s clay pots, filled with fermenting kimchi, gochujang and doenjang. The house’s garage had racks of drying seaweed, and a Korean barbecue grill tucked in the corner. Judy and her sister were often drafted in to help fold row upon row of dumplings. Her multicultural heritage and training is evident in her dishes today: from ‘disco fries’ influenced by New Jersey highway diners, and topped with spicy cabbage kimchi, to classic French pastries that incorporate traditional Korean ingredients. In 2019, Judy left Jinjuu after five years in order to start a new chapter, which included the launch of her new cookbook, Korean Soul Food in October 2019, and has since launched her latest restaurant, Seoul Bird, in Westfield and Canary Wharf specialising in the Korean fried chicken for which Judy is known. Chef Esther Choi Chef Esther Choi, owner and founder of New York City’s mŏkbar and partner of Ms. Yoo, is an influential female chef driven by her Korean roots. With a personal passion for introducing New Yorkers to the flavors of Korean culture, Chef Esther’s cooking combines traditional and modern influences with fresh, seasonal ingredients. Inspired by the old-aged techniques of her Korean grandmother’s cooking, Chef Esther believes that food is the ultimate expression of a country’s culture. From its history and social customs to its language, geography, and arts, Chef Esther seeks to offer guests an understanding and appreciation of Korean foods. Chef Esther received formal training at New York’s institute of culinary education and has worked across the kitchens of ilili, La Esquina, and the Food Network. Esther has received numerous awards for her culinary pursuits and was named “New York City’s Culinary Rock star” in Zagat’s 30 under 30.

Artem Estafiev is Executive Chef of Artest Restaurant, one of Moscow’s most exciting new restaurants to open in 2021. Estafiev trained at restaurants in St. Petersburg, Barcelona and Paris, including the famed Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée and Le Meurice Alain Ducasse. When the esteemed restaurateur Arkady Novikov tasted his dishes, he was deeply impressed by his talents, immediately inviting him to be part of a joint project, which he named ‘Artest’ after the first letters of the chef’s name. Their combined vision for Artest has redefined fine dining in Moscow, connecting the perception of gastronomy with nature – thunderstorms, fogs and stars. Estafiev works closely with local farmers and herbalists, and has a state-of-the-art lab to develop new dishes, fermenting the restaurant’s own vinegars and miso, and maturing fruits and vegetables to create exciting new flavours. Artest’s Chef’s Table was recently awarded 2 stars by Russia’s Michelin Guide. “I want to give people an opportunity to try products that are drenched in the history of a local area, to showcase these products in my composition of textures, flavours and colours,” says Estafiev. “I always aim to give my guests something that I consider to be a part of me and a part of my own taste.” Artem Estafiev will be hosting a series of exclusive dinners at Soneva Fushi and Soneva Jani from February 6 to 22, 2022.  

In 1999, the patriarch of Silver Heights, Gao Lin, had a premonition: one day, his home province of Ningxia would become a sought-after region for world-class wines. He began planting Cabernet Sauvignon vines sourced from France, and convinced his daughter, Gao Yuan (also known as Emma), to voyage abroad to Bordeaux and there to enroll in a Masters of Oenology program. While in France, Emma had the opportunity to intern at several historic Bordeaux wineries, including the world-famous Château Calon-Ségur. After returning, Emma first briefly worked for Torres China, one of the country’s most prestigious wine importers. Her true passion, however, lay in winemaking, and she collaborated with her father and husband to begin making a very small amount of wine at her parents’ farm on the then-outskirts of Yinchuan. One day, out of the blue, Emma presented an unlabelled magnum bottle of her 100% Cabernet Sauvignon to Alberto Fernandez, the managing partner of Torres China. He was blown away, and immediately proposed the following to her: she would make wine full-time, and Torres would distribute it. Thus, Silver Heights was finally born. And that first wine? It became Emma’s Reserve, and has gone on to acclaim. Since their first vintage in 2007 was met with astonished accolades by domestic and international wine experts, Gao Lin, Emma, and Thierry have continued to focus on making the highest quality wine possible and on developing the Ningxia terroir. Emma Gao will take our guests at Soneva Fushi and Soneva Jani on a virtual wine journey on February 11, 2022.

Conrad Shawcross is a British artist specializing in mechanical sculptures based on philosophical and scientific ideas. Shawcross is the youngest living member of the Royal Academy of Arts. Imbued with an appearance of scientific rationality, Conrad Shawcross’ sculptures explore subjects that lie on the borders of geometry and philosophy, physics and metaphysics. Inspired by different technologies, the artist’s structures may retain in appearance the authority of machines – yet, they remain enigmatic, filled with paradox and wonder. Some have an absurdist melancholy feel, while others tend to the sublime, substituting the purely functional for a phenomenological experience. Ultimately, Shawcross’s art questions what we take for granted and encourages us to see beyond the physical. Conrad will visit Soneva Fushi in the Maldives for a residency program with Soneva Art & Glass from February 11-27, 2022.

Dr. Becky Smethurst is an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford and star of astronomy-themed YouTube channel, ‘Dr. Becky’. Her current research is trying to answer the question ‘How do supermassive black holes grow?’. On her YouTube channel, Becky tackles everything, from unsolved mysteries to weird object found in space or general space news, with such enthusiasm that her videos have gained over 44 million views (and counting!). Her latest public science book “A Brief History of Black Holes: And why nearly everything you know about them is wrong” was released in September 2022 and reached #27 on the Amazon worldwide book charts. An avid lover of the night sky and travelling the world, Becky believes that the night sky becomes even more beautiful when we understand what it is we’re looking at.

Soneva Fushi: February 27-March 7, 2022 Soneva Jani: February 20-27, 2022 Jan Hartwig was the Chef de Cuisine at Restaurant Atelier in Munich’s famed Hotel Bayerischer Hof until October 2021 and is one of just 10 chefs in Germany to have been awarded 3 Michelin stars. Having gained his 3 Michelin stars at a lightning speed between 2014 and 2017, Jan has truly made his mark on the German culinary landscape. His next plans include opening a pop-up restaurant in February 2022 as well as launching his own Munich restaurant in early summer 2022, which will be the culmination of his experiences and long-cherished wish to create his own concept. The restaurant will follow Jan’s philosophy of using the best products and techniques for creating exceptional moments and tastes. Chef Jan Hartwig will host 7 exclusive dinners in total during his stay at Soneva Fushi and Soneva Jani from February 20 to March 8, 2022.

The first wine cellar was built by Giuseppe, son of the founder Giovanni, who, together with his sister Angela, extended his estate into the best soils and, in 1934, was one of the founders of the Consortium for the Defence of Barolo and Barbaresco. The family expanded the estate with the purchase of cru vineyards which are authentic jewels: Margheria, Parafada and Vigna Rionda. The history of the Massolinos and their wine became entwined with the history of Serralunga d’Alba in 1896 when Giovanni founded the Estate. Giovanni was the very first person to bring the electric current to the village. An enterprising, tenacious and creative man, progenitor of a family that has made the combination of inspiration and tradition something to be proud of. Making wine with passion, in its land of origin, preserving the typical characteristics of the autochthonous grape varieties, being convinced that there is a deep and tangible link between the vines, hills and winegrowers, made up of affinities cemented, by habit, to the land. Since 1896, the Massolino family has been making wine this way, loyal to this philosophy and to the capacity for innovation in the name of tradition. In short, loyal to itself. Franco and Claudia Massolino will take our guests at Soneva Fushi and Soneva Jani on a virtual wine journey on February 25, 2022.