Maldives food: mas huni, garudhiya, hedhikaa and where to eat them

Fish and coconut: mas huni and roshi

Visit Maldives, the national tourism board, describes a cuisine based on fish and coconut, with breadfruit and influences from neighbouring countries. Tuna and grated coconut come together in breakfast, while fish soup, rice and small savoury pastries take you through lunch and evening tea.

Mas huni is where to start. Visit Maldives describes this breakfast staple as fresh tuna mixed with grated coconut, onion, chilli and lime, served with roshi, a round flatbread. In Hulhumalé, it recommends The Chef Mode Badhige and The Maldive Kitchen for traditional Maldivian food. Hermit's, the restaurant at Bliss on Dhigurah, serves mashuni with wraps. Avi Guesthouse on Thoddoo lists its Maldivian tuna and coconut salad with tortilla bread and a drink for USD 6, taxes included.

Garudhiya, rice and tuna curry

Garudhiya and baiy, fish soup and rice, are eaten through the week, with lime and chilli at the table. Sometimes fried fish, boiled yam, sweet potato or theluli faiy, fried moringa leaves, come on the side, and often rihaakuru, the thick tuna paste that Maldivians also eat with young green mango. It is a simple meal to order after a day in the water. On Dhigurah, Hermit's puts garudhiya under "Go Local" on its dinner menu, with white rice, freshly cooked fish, onion, lemon, fresh chillies and mirus, a chilli paste.

Fihunu mas is fish rubbed with spices and chilli, then grilled or pan-fried: the simplest way to eat the day's catch. Visit Maldives serves it as part of a lunch spread with masbaiy, rice cooked with turmeric and fresh tuna, and rihaakuru, eaten by hand. On Maafushi, Palm Café near the harbour is one of the local cafés that cook fish and curries.

For a richer fish dish, look for mas buri riha, a spicy curry of thick tuna chunks. The Maldivian newspaper The Edition, in its round-up of Malé tea shops, singled out Faseyha Point on Majeedhee Magu, locally called Aiy Balhey Kada, for this curry with fresh chilli, onion, lime and poppadum.

Hedhikaa: the short eats of evening tea

Evening tea means hedhikaa, the small savoury and sweet snacks of Maldivian tea shops, or sai hotaa. Visit Maldives names the favourites: gulha, little balls of dough filled with tuna, coconut, onion, chilli and lime; kulhi boakibaa, fish cake or pie; bajiyaa, pastries like a small samosa; and mas roshi, tuna and grated coconut cakes. Have a selection with hot black tea.

Almost every island has a restaurant and several small tea shops, so you rarely have to look far. In Malé, make tea a stop on a walking day; on Maafushi, Summer Kitchen & Bakery near the harbour is a place for an afternoon plate before the sunset.

Malé's fish market, tea and toddy

The fish market on Malé's northern waterfront is the oldest in the city, busy with fishers, butchers and customers, and when the fishing is good its counters are stacked with skipjack and yellowfin tuna, the fish behind nearly every dish in this guide. A block away on the same waterfront, the local market is a hall of small stalls with vegetables, fruit and yams from across the atolls, packets of sweets and nuts, breadfruit chips, bottles of home-made sweets and pickles, and bunches of bananas hung from coir ropes across the ceiling; the building next door sells smoked and dried fish. Both fit a morning walk with the Friday Mosque and the National Museum; our Malé and Hulhumalé guide has the route.

Two drinks belong with the food. Sai, tea, is black and usually taken with hedhikaa. Raa, toddy, is the sap tapped from the flower of the coconut palm: fresh ruku raa is sweet and non-alcoholic, but it starts to ferment as soon as it is collected, and boiled down it becomes dhiyaa hakuru, a liquid palm sugar eaten with rice or roshi. Visit Maldives also suggests sour-mango and bilimbi juice.

Bon'di baiy and the festival table

Bon'di baiy, sweetened sticky rice, is a dessert associated with festivals and the birth of a child. It is shared with neighbours, friends and family alongside kulhi mas, chilli fish. Eid also brings household feasts: Visit Maldives describes a morning meal of kulhi boakibaa after prayers, followed by tables of rice, curries and side dishes.

During Ramadan, iftar, the evening meal that breaks the fast, is a chance to share local food and traditions. Visit Maldives describes local-island communities welcoming travellers to iftar and suhoor, the meal before the fast begins. Eating, drinking and smoking in public between sunrise and sunset is forbidden outside resorts, also for non-Muslims; expect daytime restaurant closures outside hotels. Our festivals guide explains the holiday and the expected 2027 dates.

Where to eat: Malé, local islands and resorts

In Malé and Hulhumalé, you can mix Maldivian food with other Asian cuisines. Island Choice, on Ameer Ahmed Magu in Malé with a second branch on Chanbeylee Magu in Hulhumalé, lists a continental breakfast at MVR 60, a chicken thali at MVR 120, a vegetable thali at MVR 95 and a banana lassi at MVR 50. As an independent café, it charges the general 8% GST.

On the local islands, a guesthouse kitchen can make meals part of the stay. Avi Guesthouse on Thoddoo includes breakfast in its room rate and cooks other meals to order: fried rice or noodles with tuna or chicken cost USD 6, grilled chicken with rice USD 10, and coffee, tea or bottled water USD 2, all including applicable taxes. On Maafushi, Kaani Palm Beach, the beachfront restaurant where guests of Kaani's hotels take their half- or full-board meals, lists a Maldivian-style noodle soup with tuna, vegetables and egg at USD 6 and a whole reef fish from the grill, with fries, salad and lemon butter sauce, at USD 10, plus 10% service charge and T-GST; the cafés around the harbour also cook fish and curries. Hermit's on Dhigurah serves local dishes alongside international food. Our local islands guide compares the islands themselves.

At a resort, the board basis shapes the food bill. Grand Park Kodhipparu, about 20 minutes from the airport by the resort's speedboat, offers half board, full board and all-inclusive. Half board covers breakfast and dinner; full board adds lunch. On both, every drink, water included, is charged by consumption. All-inclusive drinks come from a dedicated menu from 11:00 to 23:00, within each outlet's operating hours; items outside that menu are charged in full. Our where-to-stay guide explains the meal plans and the choice between a resort and a local island.

Alcohol, pork, allergies and the bill

Alcohol is sold at resorts and on liveaboard boats; you cannot buy it on, or bring it to, Malé and the inhabited islands. Do not take alcohol out of a resort. Bliss also tells guests that pork and alcoholic drinks cannot be consumed on a non-resort island.

Fish and coconut are central ingredients, and chilli appears in many of the dishes above. If you avoid an ingredient, ask before you order. Avi asks guests to tell the kitchen about allergies, and Hermit's asks for special dietary requirements in advance so that it can prepare an alternative meal.

Under the GST Act, everything a registered resort, hotel or tourist guesthouse sells, its restaurant's meals included, carries the 17% tourism GST (T-GST), on top of a service charge of at least 10%; an independent café or restaurant outside a tourist establishment charges the general 8% GST. A price marked tax-inclusive already has the tax in it; otherwise add it. Some guesthouse menus, Hermit's at Bliss among them, still print 8%; budget them at 17%.

What a day of meals costs

A day of meals for one adult, all in: tax and service are added where a menu leaves them out, and every meal comes with a drink. Menus were read on 1 November 2026, Kaani's on 3 November; rufiyaa prices are converted at the Maldives Monetary Authority's reference rate that day, USD 1 = MVR 15.42. On Maafushi, on Thoddoo and at the resort, breakfast comes with the room.

On Grand Park's half board, dinner comes with the plan and only lunch and drinks are paid. Our Maldives trip cost guide adds the rooms, boats and activities.