Italian culinary craft finds a rare island setting as The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands welcomes Michelin-starred chef Maurizio Bufi and acclaimed bar manager Rama Redzepi for a limited residency that brings the spirit of Lake Garda to the Indian Ocean. Part of the resort’s Masters of Crafts and Behind the Bar series, the collaboration pairs refined Italian gastronomy with contemporary mixology, offering guests an immersive dining moment shaped by seasonality, restraint, and a shared philosophy of craftsmanship.
The residency forms part of the resort’s Masters of Crafts and Behind the Bar 2026 series, a programme designed to introduce guests to leading creative voices through immersive, sensory-led encounters. In this case, the dialogue unfolds through food and drink, Italian in spirit, contemporary in execution, and shaped by a shared respect for restraint, balance, and craftsmanship.
Chef Maurizio Bufi, born in Puglia and now helming the Michelin-starred Ristorante Il Fagiano at Italy’s Grand Hotel Fasano, is known for a style that favours clarity over complexity. His cuisine is Mediterranean at its core, defined by lightness, seasonality, and an unwavering respect for ingredients, particularly vegetables, which play a central role in his work.
That philosophy takes centre stage on 26 February at La Locanda, where guests will experience Dalla Terra (“From the Earth”), a four-course vegetarian menu in which vegetables appear not as accompaniment, but as protagonists, even in dessert. A risotto of lemon, burrata, and a subtle hint of liquorice exemplifies Bufi’s approach: familiar elements refined through precision and restraint.
Rather than wine, the menu is paired with cocktails crafted by Rama Redzepi, elevating the experience into a conversation between kitchen and bar. Redzepi, Bar Manager at Grand Hotel Fasano and recipient of the “Best Hotel Bar in Lombardy” award from Gambero Rosso, brings a nuanced understanding of Italian cocktail culture shaped by years of mentorship under Remo Pizzolito and Samuele Ambrosi. His creations are designed not to compete with the food, but to extend it, layering flavour, texture, and aroma in unexpected ways.
On 28 February, Bufi returns with a second four-course menu, this time exploring seafood, fish, and meat. Dishes include squid paired with sweetbreads and cashews, and beef ravioli accompanied by shiitake mushrooms, barley miso, and orange. A curated wine selection complements this menu, while both evenings begin with a series of amuse-bouches intended to gently prepare the palate for what follows.
The setting is as integral as the menu itself. Dining at La Locanda unfolds over the lagoon, beneath an open sky, echoing the atmosphere of Lake Garda’s Il Fagiano, where lights shimmer across Italy’s largest lake. Here, the sense of place is translated rather than replicated, Italian craft interpreted through Maldivian light, water, and air.
Beyond the dining room, Rama Redzepi takes over EAU Bar for three evenings as part of the Behind the Bar series. His four signature cocktails draw inspiration from landscapes and cultures close to him: Il Tramonto Sul Lago captures the sunset hues of Lake Garda; Midori No Sakura reflects Japanese tea ceremony traditions; From Jalisco to Benaco traces a journey from Mexico to Italy; and Total Branco nods to Porto, the birthplace of port wine.
Each evening coincides with the resort’s Defining Moment ritual, marking the transition from day to night. For a brief window in February, guests are invited to experience the rhythm of Lake Garda alongside the stillness of the Maldives, an exchange of atmospheres, sensibilities, and stories.
For Chef Bufi and Redzepi, the residency is less about spectacle than about expression. It is a meeting of disciplines, where cuisine and mixology move in step, and where tradition is honoured not through repetition, but through thoughtful reinterpretation. For guests, it offers a rare opportunity: to experience two masters of their craft in conversation, framed by one of the world’s most extraordinary island settings.
