The Ledge, which seats 56 and is located by the hotel's pool, is one of the 11 restaurants and bars in the upcoming luxury hotel Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi in the tropical island-nation in the Indian Ocean. Matching its balmy beachfront location, seafood will feature a big part of the menu — squid, octopus, lobsters and fishes that are sustainably caught by the local fishermen. In classic Burnt Ends style, the seafood will be cooked in a custom-built dual-cavity oven that is fired up with jarrah wood from Western Australia.
Speaking to The MICHELIN Guide Digital separately, Pynt shares the Maldives is the perfect fit to expand the Burnt Ends concept. He says with a chuckle: “Maldives is such a magical place and by taking the barbecue from the urban city to the beach, you cannot ask for a more perfect synergy and is a logical transition.”
About 40 to 60 percent of The Ledge’s dishes, which mainly comprises breezy sharing plates, are new. They include barbecued grouper with cucumber yuzu salad, tuna tartare, grilled squid with green harissa, fish tacos and lobster roll in garlic butter-brushed brioche with potato frites. Desserts have a tropical touch — the Hokey Pokey Sundae that has oven-roasted pineapple with rum and vanilla syrup and vanilla ice-cream and its masala-spiced marshmallows are flambeed a la minute.
Some of Burnt Ends’ signature dishes will be given a seafood twist. They include an aioli and chives-laden grissini will be topped with taramasalata and ikura. Classics such as king-crab leg with brown butter sauce and steak frites will also make an appearance on The Ledge's menu.
While Pynt has received many partnership offers to open restaurants over the years, he jumped on the opportunity to team up with hospitality giant Hilton, which runs the Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts. The opportunity came about after a couple of Hilton executives have dined at Burnt Ends over the years.
He says: “One of the main reasons that I decided to take up the partnership was knowing that the group has the management infrastructure and network, from staffing to procurement, to ensure that the quality of the food and restaurant remains consistent.” His sous chef Deborah Yeo relocate to Maldives to head The Ledge, which is twice the size of Burnt Ends’ shophouse space in Teck Lim Road.
Pynt adds the partnership with the Hilton Group will add more international exposure to Burnt Ends, with its global tourist clientele. This year, he has more restaurant collaborations in the pipeline, on top of starting a Meathsmith outlet at Makansutra Gluttons Bay hawker centre last year.
