TawaNN’s 25-year-old (!), Belgian-born, Chef Joeri Schreurs graduated from Belgium's leading hotel school but declined offers to work in Europe in favor of realizing his childhood dream of discovering Asia. He accepted a consulting assignment to open a five star, international hotel in Hanoi in 1999, and then moved on to work in Hong Kong at Asia’s first Belgian restaurant. Three years later, looking for new challenges, Schreurs’ travels took him to Malaysia heading up Med@March fine dining restaurant by Renaissance. He changed most of the menu and introduced his personal signature—the use of fragrant, fresh herbs. Most recently, he has been supervising the creation of several of Hong Kong’s hottest restaurants, and now is putting this Renaissance Koh Samui Resort & Spa on the map!

Joeri’s particular passion is to cook with fresh herbs and seafood with creativity and simplicity. In his kitchen, the relationship between flora, fauna, and herbs is sophisticated yet simple: you won't find any hyper-regional herbal concoctions, because he doesn’t follow the marketing practices of some well known chefs.

Schreurs makes no apologies for an herb just tasting like itself. For example, my first diner at TawaNN, I ordered his signature dish—Warm Phuket lobster Carpaccio “Fleur de Sel.” In this dish, Joeri uses fresh pepper from the mill, and a gentle dill sauce. The surprise here is that, it's the fresh dill, not the lobster which carries the dish.

My second evening, Joeri invited me to be his guest. I don’t know which I enjoyed more: his extraordinarily delicious filet of lamb en croute or his caustic and very funny observations of the current political scene in the United States! It was a wonderful evening full of all sorts of spices. At 25, this man is already amazing, and TawaNN itself is worth the trip!

The man responsible for making all this magic happen in what appears to be an effortless manner is General Manager, Kent Maury. Me thinks, however, like the swan that glides across the lake, we know that under the water, its feet are going like hell! Kent has been with Marriott for 23 years, and is a gracious and charming host. On meeting him you feel as if you are being welcomed to his home.

Summing it all up, the design and layout of my villa and its pooled terrace in the gardens was really perfect, the landscaping exotic, the scale of the resort intimate, and the atmosphere fragrant and relaxing. I had a perfectly lovely time. Thanks very much, Kent.

Renaissance Koh Samui Resort & Spa
208/1 Moo 4, T. Maret,
Laem Nan Beach, Lamai, Koh Samui 84310
Thailand
Tel: +66 (0)77 429 300
Fax: +66 (0)77 429 333
Website: http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/USMBR
Email: res.jwthailand@marriotthotels.com