Bahamas Cay Resort
Cay Resort BahamasKAMALAMAME Cay Resort Lunch - Bahamas Private Island Brunch
It is a palliative Saturday breakfast on Kamalame Cay, a privately owned Bahamian resort, and there is a noticeable upturn throughout the area. Consumers - some old, some young, all clad in stylish resort wear - come from near and far for just one reason: Brunch. Kamalame, a 27-room home visited by famous people like Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman and Serena Williams (who was here on her honeymoon), has a whole new sense.
There is no WiFi, so most folks don't even take the trouble to turn off their phone, and anyone who wants to join is welcome, provided they can make it: the 15-minute floatplane trip from Nassau begins at $400 per passenger for a group of 10 persons (of course air and yacht rentals are more) and the food costs $160 per capita.
It' hardly 11:30, and the party's starting. Pretty resort proprietors David and Michael King Hew, who are the heads behind the island's iconic celebration, dance from group to group and introduce themselves, and perhaps most important of all, everyone has a drink in their hands. "They set off to the banqueting tables, which look like something you would find at a pretty shore wedding: leafy palms under every meal; glassy centrepieces with beautiful green and full-riches.
"I' ve never miss a lunch since they started," says Justin Ritchie, a returning customer who lives in Nassau and works in e-commerce. The dishes come out with piquant paper noodles with lobsters that are so tasty that everyone at the dinner menu starts to serve each other. "Michael says, "The whole concept of a common story is that you can associate with someone you don't know.
"When the dinner is over, you notice that you have just had dinner with a group of astonishing men you would never have had before. The next class is followed by a slightly steamy, rose-soaked dancing bash by 75 newcomers. You' d think these guys actually know each other.
Now, in the third year, lunch began to raise consciousness of the little-known isle. "The Nassau community did not know Kamalame, although we had been there for 15 years," says David, whose familiy bought the 96-acre unbuilt islet in 1994 and opened the resort two years later.
"It all began as a Sunday evening meal for 40 persons. We had some of our own visitors, but mostly just our friend and our families from Nassau," he says. "They began to fly in a favourite DJ to make tunes and teamed up with Young's Fine Wines, a shop selling wines, to sponsor couples for each course.
All of a sudden a bunch of guys from all over the globe came to dinner and booked a weekend at the hotels, using the data from the parties. On request, the guest is assured a place to sit, the remainder is open for the pilots for the whole outing. Each lunch supposedly has a waiting list of folks who hope to get a place if you open at the last second.
It'?s no wonder they are so anxious to get a seat at the dinner foos. Besides the exzellenten food there is something special, if one meets with a group of foreigners on a privately owned isle, even if only for one afternoons. When three come out of the galley - a whole barbecued branchino with beaten potato and runner bean - the whole 75-person cocktail is out of its seat and dances.
Then David brings the multitude back softly to the dining room where there is more drink.