The spa at Four Seasons Resort Hualalai is Hawaii's top hotel spa on the 2009 Travel + Leisure World's Best list.

The spa scored a 90.43 as part of the magazine's annual readers' poll, besting other Hawaii hotel spas and at least dozens around the world. The Grand Wailea spa got Hawaii's second-place ranking with 87.92 points. Last year it had scored 89.66 points and was No. 11 among the top 20 hotel spas in the world, according to T+L readers. The Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea is Hawaii's No. 3 with 85.94 points. It was 16th best in the world to T+L readers last year with 88.75 points.

The No. 4 Hawaii hotel spa spot is occupied this year by the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa with 83.26 points, and the top five is completed by the Westin Maui Resort & Spa with a score of 83.20.

As of this writing, the magazine had posted only Hawaii's top five online, so a true comparison of how they stack up around the world was not possible.

However, following creation of a list by your columnist, it appears that Hawaii's top five are in at least the top 70 around the world, with the Westin Maui Resort & Spa, fifth-ranked in Hawaii, possibly ranking at No. 67 in the world.

The T+L list denotes previous listees with a plus sign, as reported above. It also marks spas that are a great value, offering a 60-minute massage at $100 or less, with a dollar symbol. None of the Hawaii spas listed in the top 5 got a $.

ON THE NET:
» www.travelandleisure.com/worldsbest/2009
» www.travelandleisure.com/worldsbest/2008

Asian Culinary Summit in Honolulu

Halekulani and Gourmet magazine, along with local sponsors, are teaming up for an Asian Culinary Summit in Honolulu in November.

The star players include Gourmet Executive Chef Sara Moulton, known to Food Network viewers; Vikram Garg, Halekulani executive chef; Trinh Diem Vy, chef-owner of Morning Glory Streetfood Cooking School in Vietnam; Chef Amit Chowdhury, executive chef of the Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi, India; and Nobuo Nagumo, executive chef of Myojinkan/The Ryokan Collection, as well as Julie Reiner, mixologist and owner of Flatiron and Clover Clubs in New York City.

It sounds like a G-20-like summit meeting full of stuffed shirts, but it is to be an epicurean event, according to press materials. The only shirts to be stuffed are those of paying customers who can pony up $1,480 per person for three nights at the hotel and access to all events.

The Vietnamese chef is coming in courtesy of Kai Vodka owner Marcus Bender, who is an event sponsor and spent time at Morning Glory “;eating like a horse,”; he laughed.