Served on a blue plate made of natural clay, the solar-confit sea bass, garnished with crispy skin and served on a bed of grounded fermented kimchi, preserved lemon and sesame mayonnaise, looks tempting. The taste reminds you of the sea. The tender but firm fish gives a fresh and faint salty aroma spiced with a mild sweet and citrus flavour. You might wonder where this fish comes from. Does it swim across the seven seas before being caught in a fisherman's net?
The hotel chooses to hide solar panels under a thatch roof, despite a 30% loss of solar energy.
"The fish comes from there," James Noble, resident manager of Aleenta Resort and Spa Hua Hin-Pran Buri, pointing to the sea. "All produce on this table is sourced within 30km of Pran Buri." The sea bass was caught within 12km from Pran Buri, an up-and-coming high-end tourist destination in Prachuap Khiri Khan province. Vegetables are harvested in small farms a few kilometres from the hotel premises and handpicked by the hotel staff.
"We use purely organic food and utilise solar ovens, smoke houses and techniques based on molecular cooking to keep our carbon footprint at minimum," said the Michelin-starred British chef/hotelier.
Like many Michelin-starred chefs, Noble works with the best ingredients. Haute cuisine in Thailand usually means pricey imported food from far-flung locales — white truffles from Alba in Italy, saffron from Kashmir in India and flour de sel from Brittany in France — this despite that plenty of these sea-salt grains are available in local farms in Samut Sakhon and Samut Songkhram provinces. Over time, Noble started thinking about ingredients in terms of ecological footprints. "I started questioning myself, 'Do we really need to have the best of everything?'. And then I started looking around," said Noble.
The British chef introduced the "30km radius policy" when he came to head the hotel four years ago. The policy strictly calls for purchasers to use local materials to reduce environmental impact at the hotel.
"You can do things differently and succeed while also being environmentally-friendly. Sustainability is at the core of who we are as a resort, and it's great when you can combine that with an enhanced guest experience," said Noble.
The 30km radius policy and carbon-free cooking are reasons that the hotel won the Best Sustainable Hotel (Thailand) Award at the prestigious International Hotel Awards last year. The environmental conservation policy also affects the way of life and attitude of staff. "Our staff can tell you about the background and the story of things at the hotel. They can name the chickens that laid the eggs that become your omelette. They can name not only the ingredients but also the farmers and how far the produce has come from."
The Carbon Free Cooking at Aleenta Resort and Spa Hua Hin-Pran Buri gives you a sense of Robinson Crusoe, but a gourmet food version. Meals are cooked in an open-air garden, a few kilometres away from the hotel and brought to the hotel's kitchen by bicycle. Forget European imported pricey stoves. The heating process is done in a solar oven and the stove is fuelled by discarded wood chips.
Head chef Pornpirom "Tom" Khanwong said that the confit sea bass fillet is cooked in a solar-oven at 63C for 23 minutes. Staff admitted that the high environmental standards was inconvenient for them in the beginning. Over time, they've become more engaged and found the carbon-free cooking enjoyable and challenging. "My idea and practice of cooking has totally changed," said Tom, who has previously worked in upscale hotels and kitchens. "The cooking process starts at growing seeds and watering plants. The cooking and decorating food on the plate is the final process," said Tom.
To plain eyes, the cooking looks like the most challenging part. But for Noble, the hardest thing is not the cooking, but how to adapt and adjust to Mother Earth. "The most challenging part of growing your own vegetables is that we need to deal with seasonal crops and inventory. Seasonal vegetables and fruits mature at various times, so we need to know about when and how much the crops can be harvested. We also need to revise the menu every few months to suit our supply," he said, adding that the menu changes every three months.
The hotel also allows staff and the community to plant what they want on the farm and pay it forward via replanting, an honour system that is a matter of community pride. The hotel has also been campaigning for local farmers to stop using pesticides.
Carbon-free cooking is more than using solar ovens or organic ingredients. It is about a new attitude. To protect the nature, people must give in to Mother Earth, says Noble. "After all, there are many ways to cook food. For me, I choose one that suits those ingredients."
Yet, there is no label advertising the hotel's environmental campaign. On the menu, guests will only see a number signifying the distance in kilometres between the food origin and the table. Noble prefers subtlety. Under the thatched roof, a solar panel provides electricity for heating water in the room. The electricity gained from solar energy was reduced by 30% because of the roof.
"We try not to push [the issue of environmental conservation] in your faces. We want people to enjoy the place and learn the story of the environment along the way. We whisper our environmental conservation policy to our guests only when asked."
A solar oven helps reduce the amount of energy use.
The outside kitchen with environmentally-friendly ovens.
Solar-confit sea bass, with air-dried crispy skin and ground fermented Korean-style kimchi is cooked in a solar oven and uses traditional vegetable fermenting techniques.
The hotel farm grows organic fruits and vegetables.
The hotel has an in-house carpenter to reuse old furniture, if not as fuel for cooking.
James Noble, resident manager of Aleenta Resort Pranburi and Michelin-starred chef.
Head chef Pornpirom 'Tom' Khanwong prepares Thai-style sushi.
