There is a particular kind of meal that stays with you long after the last bite, one where the food tells a story, the setting takes your breath away, and the hands behind the dishes carry years of shared history. At TAPASAKE Maldives, that kind of meal is about to unfold.
Perched above the crystal-clear waters of the Indian Ocean on the private island of ultra-luxury resort One&Only Reethi Rah, TAPASAKE has long been a destination in its own right. With sweeping ocean views, bold contemporary interiors, and a culinary philosophy that weaves the precision of Japan together with the warmth and vibrancy of the Mediterranean, the restaurant offers something far beyond a dinner reservation. This March, it is offering something even rarer: a reunion.
Japanese Owner Chef Norimasa Kosaka is returning to the kitchen where his story with TAPASAKE began. Originally from Osaka and celebrated for a contemporary Japanese style that draws in diners of every palate, Chef Nori, as he is warmly known, first cooked at One&Only Reethi Rah between 2007 and 2009. Today, he owns and operates Mimasaka NORIMASA in Okayama prefecture, Japan, where his modern Japanese cuisine carries a distinctive French twist. His return to the Maldives is a homecoming more than a decade in the making.
Waiting for him in that kitchen is resident Chef Ahmed Jameel, a Maldivian culinarian whose seamless command of traditional and contemporary Japanese technique was shaped, in no small part, by Chef Nori himself. Theirs is a relationship that runs deeper than the professional, a master and student bond forged during TAPASAKE’s earliest days, when both chefs worked side by side through the restaurant’s pre-opening and helped guide its evolution from a purely Japanese concept through Peruvian-inspired chapters and into its current Japanese-Mediterranean identity. Chef Jameel credits Chef Nori with teaching him not only knife skills and technical precision, but an entire vocabulary of Japanese produce, ingredients, and culinary philosophy.
On March 27, the two will share a pass for an exclusive Four-Hands Dining Experience, bringing together two distinct but deeply complementary visions on a single menu. Guests can expect Chef Nori’s Sashimi Tartare, clean and elegant, alongside his 5-Hour Steamed Abalone with Lobster, a dish that rewards patience with extraordinary depth of flavor. Chef Jameel will bring his signature sensibility to the table with Truffle Crusted Spanish Sea Bass with Miso Foam, a dish where earthy, aromatic truffle meets the gentle salinity of miso in a pairing that feels both daring and inevitable. Together, the two chefs will close the menu with a Slow-Cooked Wagyu that carries the fingerprints of both their craft.
Two nights later, on March 29, Chef Nori returns to the sushi bar for an Exquisite Night, an intimate celebration of one of Japan’s most revered culinary traditions, set against the backdrop of the open ocean.
Both experiences will be held at TAPASAKE Maldives from 7:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. For those who believe that the best meals are the ones that carry meaning, this is a table worth traveling for. TAPASAKE also has outposts in Dubai, Mauritius, and Montenegro, but there is only one place where this particular story began, and this March, it is where it continues.