Botanica

One & Only Reethi Rah's garden-to-table vegan restaurant in the Maldives: a Matthew Kenney tasting menu drawn largely from the resort's own gardens.

Botanica is One & Only Reethi Rah’s garden-to-table restaurant, and one of the most accomplished vegan tables in the Maldives. The setting alone makes the case: refined-yet-rustic wooden tables set outdoors, palm trees strung with lanterns, an island-chic ease that asks for linen and little else.

The kitchen is fully plant-based, its menu curated by the American chef Matthew Kenney, a name long associated with elevating vegan cooking from worthy to genuinely covetable. At Botanica, that ambition has a short supply chain: most of the organic ingredients come straight from the resort’s own chef’s gardens.

The tasting menu reads as a culinary journey rather than a list. King oyster mushroom arrives with charcoal-roasted leek; artichokes are braised with curry leaves: combinations that lean on technique and careful seasoning rather than imitation. The plating is precise enough that each dish looks almost too composed to disturb, though balanced flavours ensure nothing returns to the kitchen.

What gives Botanica its substance is integrity of concept. This is not a vegan menu bolted onto a resort for completeness; it is a considered, garden-led restaurant where plant-forward dining is treated as the headline.

For a traveller at Reethi Rah (or one choosing a Maldivian resort with vegan dining in mind), Botanica is a confident recommendation. Book the tasting menu, dress for island chic, and let the gardens set the course.