last update: May 25th 2013
Travel: Hotels

Travel: Hotels

Tasty, artsy and indulgent news from Maui's Grand Wailea Resort

Tasty, artsy and indulgent news at Maui's Grand Wailea Resort

The funny thing about Hawaii, compared to other island escapes, is that the weather is best during 'low season'. From December to April, hotels are booked out and beaches are clogged with tourists fleeing the North American winter, but the weather is most reliably divine from May to November – which is also when you're most likely to have the waves to yourself.

That makes two reasons to visit Hawaii in the coming months, and the Grand Wailea Resort by Waldorf Astoria has just provided a few arguments for heading to the chain's second largest island of Maui, where guests can experience a new restaurant, a high-profile art commission and the world's first 20-hand massage.

  • The cocktail lounge at the Grand Wailea's new restaurant, Alan Wong's Amasia
  • The Roman tub at the Spa Grande, where guests can indulge in a 20-hand massage. Photo courtesy of Grand Wailea in Maui

Alan Wong's Amasia is one of the newest places to get a high-end meal on the island, and probably the only place to eat in an authentic Japanese teahouse that has been shipped across the Pacific and restored to the tune of USD 3 million. Now forming the centre piece of the resort's Japanese garden, Amasia offers private tatami rooms, a sushi bar, a cocktail lounge and a robata for gourmet grilling. It may look like a full-on Asian eatery, but the food at Amasia will surprise any guests who don't recognise Alan Wong as one of the premier champions of Hawaiian cuisine. The James Beard Award-winning chef is known for combining local ingredients with the global flavours of Hawaii's diverse influences. That's why at Amasia, you can order a Maui 'cowboy' ribeye steak with Hamakua mushrooms or chicken meatballs with coconut-ginger-lemongrass broth and pimenton oil. To encourage tasting and sampling, dishes are served in small portions or family-sized sharing plates.

Dale Chihuly's blown glass 'Ocean Wave Chandelier' at NaPua Gallery

The resort's cosmopolitan character also shows in its own art exhibition space, NaPua Gallery. Recently, the gallery had the honour of installing an original Dale Chihuly piece meant to echo the blues of Hawaiian shores. One metre tall and weighing 90 kilograms, Ocean Wave Chandelier took the renowned glass sculptor and his team five days to make. More of the artist's popular works can be seen in the gallery, too, along with other artists' work in interesting media such as stone, wood, bronze and viscosity monotype.

Meanwhile at the Spa Grande, guests looking to rest their well-heeled feet can book the hotel's most sumptuous experience: the 20 Hands Duo Massage. Intended as a couples treatment, the massage starts with one hour of relaxation in the elaborate termé hydrotherapy circuit, followed by a 30-minute foot soak before the 100-finger main event begins. Ten well-practiced therapists moving in a synchronised 'hula wave' walk around the two guests, administering a carefully orchestrated whole-body massage. They then split up, five per guest, and treat the head, back, shoulders and lower sides of the body with Swedish massage technique, then the arms and hands. Guests leave with a new level of well-being and a complimentary lavender-scented neck pillow.

We can only imagine that seeing and doing all three in one day would be 24 hours of pampering for the mind, body and stomach.

Sections: Culture | Gourmet | Travel: Hotels


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