EAT LOCAL
Mamanuca award winning Tokoriki Island Resort has developed a distinctive local cuisine using local products that are boosting the tourism offering and supporting the development of Fijian communities.
The restaurant features quality fresh heart of palm, jicama, bora beans, rosella leaves, and unusual wild cucumbers on the resort menu from farmers in Ba, Nadi and Sigatoka. Fishermen harvest Nama, fresh walu, octopus, tuna & Trevally from the Mamanucas & Yasawas Islands for the kitchen.
Our Chef takes traditional Fijian ingredients from popular local dishes and tweaks the presentation, using modern cooking methods. Ashim also creates a Western or Pan-Asian dish with local produce to create an island-style look, taste and feel. Some examples include fresh local fruit cheesecakes, soufflés, salsas, passionfruit ceviche, chutneys, braised beef, local root crops presented as cassava island fries served with tasty aioli and finishing salts from Fiji’s famous South Seas Salt.
The Ministry of Agriculture has supported Sigatoka farmer, Rakesh Kumar and his now able to supply Tokoriki with fruit, vegetables & mud crabs twice weekly. The Ministry of Agriculture has supplied vegetable seeds to our Tokoriki team to plant in their homes at Yanuya Village.
Tokoriki Island Resort promotes the Kana Vinaka, Contemporary Island Cuisine cook book in the boutique which was co – funded by the Ministry of Agriculture. International visitors can learn about local produce, where it’s grown, the seasons in which food is harvested and cook Fijian recipes on their return home.
GROW LOCAL
Samisoni Latui, from Veidrala in Ra is Tokoriki’s Head Gardener at Tokoriki and he creates compost from green waste, seaweed, leaves & grass clippings and is also working with Chef Ashim to make organic fertilizer from banana & pineapple skins. Sami is growing bananas, pawpaw, pineapple, cassava, basil, pak choi, climbing spinach, avocado, lemons, guava and mint around the resort and in his nursery.
ASSISTING LOCAL COMMUNITY
General Manager Rob Ring has assisted the Ministry of Forestry to ship lemon and teak (a tropical hardwood that can be used for island construction) seedlings to Tokoriki where they are distributed to Tokoriki team members to plant on their Mataqali land on Yanuya and Tavua. Seeds gathered from the kitchen are dried and also distributed to landowners along with vara (young coconut seedlings) with management coaching them on creating food forests for their families.
Tokoriki Island Resort has some of the finest resort landscaping in the Fiji Islands, an exquisite Orchid Nursery and is expanding the variety of fruit and vegetables grown on the island.
Tokoriki Island Resort aims to promote the use of local meats, seafood, fruit and vegetables on its menu, while at the same time encouraging sustainable practices and assisting the local community.
TOKORIKI DIVING
Tokoriki Island Resort’s award winning PADI 5 Star dive centre is renowned for the Giant Clam Regeneration Project, which aims to repopulate the waters of the Northern Mamanucas with the endangered Tridacna gigas (true giant clam). Now in its 23rd year, the project is home to probably Fiji’s largest clams, as well as another four species of endangered clams. In addition, Tokoriki Diving has installed moorings around the island to stop the damage from anchors, ceased hand-line fishing as a guest activity, and entered into an agreement with a local village to establish a protected area for turtles and other marine species. Underwater it practices a strict no touch, no take policy, is active in reef monitoring and has recently restarted a coral planting project.
