Maldivian food beyond the resort buffet
Tuna, coconut and chilli in about forty combinations. What to order in a local café and what it will cost you.
Maldivian cooking runs on three things: tuna, coconut and chilli. What it does with them is more varied than that sounds.
Breakfast: mas huni
Shredded smoked tuna, grated coconut, finely chopped onion, chilli and lime, mixed by hand and eaten with roshi — a thin flatbread. It is the national breakfast and it is excellent.
Cost in a local café: MVR 25–45.
Garudhiya
A clear tuna broth, served with rice, lime, chilli and onion, which you add yourself. It looks plain and is not — the stock carries everything.
Cost: MVR 40–70.
Short eats — hedhikaa
This is where the range is. A hotaa keeps a glass case of small fried and steamed items, and you point at what you want:
- Bajiya — pastry triangles of tuna, onion and coconut
- Gulha — fried dough balls with a smoked tuna centre
- Masroshi — flatbread stuffed with the tuna-coconut mix and grilled
- Kulhi boakibaa — a dense, spiced fish cake
- Keemia — fried fish rolls
Most are MVR 5–15 each. Four or five items and a tea is a full meal for under MVR 60.
Tea
Sai is black tea, usually with condensed milk and usually sweet. The hotaa is a social institution — men gather in the afternoon, order short eats and tea, and stay a while.
Fihunu mas
Whole reef fish, scored, rubbed with chilli paste and grilled over coals. Ordered by weight at the harbour-side grills in the evening. This is the best meal in the country and it costs a fraction of anything a resort will serve you.
Sweet
- Bondibai — sweet coconut rice pudding
- Foni boakibaa — a sticky baked cake of rice flour and coconut
- Bis keemia — a pastry with egg and cabbage, savoury despite the name
Where to eat in Malé
Majeedhee Magu and the streets around it are dense with hotaa. They do not advertise and many have no English sign. Walk in, look at the case, point.
For something more formal, the restaurants around the artificial beach and the Hulhumalé central area do a mix of Maldivian, Indian and Sri Lankan.
Practical notes
Alcohol is not served outside resorts and the airport hotel. Do not ask a local café for it.
Pork is not served anywhere outside resorts.
Vegetarian is possible but requires asking — coconut and vegetable curries with rice and roshi are standard, but tuna is in more dishes than you would expect. Say so clearly when ordering.