Scoring fresh ingredients is no challenge in the Hawaiian Islands, but using them freshly sure can be. “You learn by experience,” says Rabii Saber of the endless tests he faces in rotating ripe stock and dreaming up new desserts as Executive Pastry Chef of Four Seasons Resorts Lana’i. He certainly has his work cut out for him, overseeing dessert menus for nine outlets between two properties while supplying bread and pastries to small community markets across the island. “There is a huge selection of exotic ingredients to work with here, but I have to be very creative to put it to good use.”

Fortunately, Saber brings a lot to his first Four Seasons post. Born and raised in Morocco, he recalls helping his mother late into the night creating sweets from honey and almonds for morning holiday festivities. Though it was “a little bit nuts for men to be in the kitchen in Morocco in those days,” Saber kept at it, fashioning cakes for siblings and friends before studying the culinary arts and heading off to five-star restaurants across Europe and the United States.

His path took a pivotal turn in the mid-2000s when Top Chef Michael Voltaggio offered him a slot as head pastry chef at a start-up in Los Angeles. His boss at the time, Frederic Monti, a renowned master patissier in his own right, advised Saber to turn it down. “He told me if I wanted to be a good pastry chef, I should stay in hotels,” he recalls. “He was right. With dining rooms, banquets and room service, there are so many possibilities. At restaurants, all you do is plated desserts.”

The possibilities go on and on for Saber in Lana’i: classic French desserts for the Dining Room; Italian specialties for Hulopo’e Court; Hawaiian desserts from modern techniques at the Terrace; frozen wonders created from local fruit at Ocean Hale; and nut-, gluten- and sugar-free delights as guests’ dietary restrictions require. He keeps a close eye on new techniques, noting that pastry is a “whole other world” within the culinary arts that demands the exactitude of chemistry, rather dashes here and best judgments there.

Fruits are much sweeter in the islands than on the mainland, says Saber, noting that while the produce is different, the quality reminds him of what he grew up with in Morocco. And sweeter fruits are not the only thing that makes Hawaii a paradise. “The skies, the trees, the sunsets here are so beautiful, and the perfect backdrop for my photographer wife,” says Saber. And for himself? Passionate about fishing, Saber is planning to hook himself into as much deep-sea adventure as possible. Just as soon as he can find the time.