Regent Phu Quoc, Regent Hotels & Resort’s first hotel in Southeast Asia, has just celebrated its third anniversary, and chef-turned-general manager Sriram Kailasam is mixing things up on the culinary scene.
India-born Kailasam spent decades working as a chef at hotels around the world before taking on the role with Regent, and he’s now changing the culinary landscape of this five-star resort – and the luxury traveller experience along with it.
“I admit when I started in commercial kitchens, you never met the producer, you talked to the middleman, and this idea of talking directly to the producer was unheard of… and doing that at Regent Phu Quoc is something I value a lot.”
“I’m so happy that we can bring that direct connection with producers to the hotel because it’s honest, fresh and authentic.”
“It’s important to me that we focus on seasonality and creativity and work with local farmers. We are high-end, so we have to import some things, but we use local ingredients like fire ants, and we source a lot of local seafood and work with a local fisherman.”
The hotel has six dining venues, including signature restaurant Oku, headed by Vietnam-born Chef de Cuisine, Andy Huynh, which has a Salon de Boeuf (beef salon) and Omakase (chef-curated meals).
Kailasam says the focus at all of its eateries is about authenticity.
“My whole mandate to the chefs is to ensure the authenticity of Vietnamese cuisine. Everyone loves eating good food, but having a story behind it is important… and we’re trying to take the best food locally and introducing that sense of place.”
He says they’re now incorporating culinary collaborations to enhance the guest experience.
“We’re collaborating with a farmer to set up two gardens, so when we are doing cooking classes with guests, we can use herbs and vegetables from our garden, and the next step is to grow edible flowers.
“We’re also collaborating with a lot of local distilleries like local gin, rum and whisky. You can get Scottish single malt whisky, but if we can bring the local producer, that adds a whole new element, and brings it back to that sense of place.”
The revenge traveller ripe for Regent
Kailasam says when they opened in 2022, revenge travel was at its strongest, and that movement has been a blessing for Regent Phu Quoc.
“Post COVID luxury travellers had a hunger to travel and revenge travel was strong. Travellers want something distinctive, so they might be searching for Phuket, but we’d come up and because we are UNESCO-listed and a bit off beaten path, we are what the modern traveller wants: Modern comforts and cocooned in luxury, but something they can go home and brag about.”
He says after speaking to many luxury travel agents, they are seeing ongoing demand for traditional luxury of personalisation and this is an area “at the forefront of what we do”.
“It’s all about hyper-personalisation. Nothing has dramatically changed in three years. Our guests are returning because of that personalisation and the fact that we go beyond normal hospitality.”
Tailored experiences powered by technology
Kailasam says technology plays a big part in its personalised service.
“We decided to embrace technology at the beginning. We have nothing on paper. The only thing is the magazine in the rooms talking about the destination, so everything is on QR code.
“People want things to be personal, but if they are sitting on the beach, they don’t want to get up and put a flag up to get a person to come to them, they just want to send a message with an app and get a glass of champagne.”
But he says it’s the attention to detail and paying homage to its heritage that really set this property apart.
“We have bathrobes with our motif that tells the story of the first King of the island. We have a ritual every night where, as the sun sets, all resort lighting comes on and there’s a drum playing, and that’s us respecting what is unique to this region.
“I always connect a luxury holiday beyond a hotel, and we focus on that with everything we do, from the wellness to the design and the cuisine, which plays an important role in creating a sense of place, and we’ll keep building on that.”
For more information, visit Regent Phu Quoc.
