You’re sitting on a deserted, palm-fronded beach, facing turquoise seas and sunning yourself while a waiter hands you a fresh, cold coconut. So this little slice of paradise isn’t exactly what’s on the cards for you this summer? It’s easy to create your own sense of escape at home with light dishes and a tropical island setting.

Key to this theme is a range of bright, popping colours set against crisp, stark whites. You can put your guests in the mood from the get-go with beautiful, personalised invitations in equatorial hues – mango, emerald green, aqua blue, sunshine yellow and fuchsia pink tied in with Greek villa-whites. The new LemonDrop range from Studio M is a great place to start – Studio M will take orders for a minimum of one set of 12 customised notes and will prepare your stationery in just three days.

To set the summery mood, use gauzy fabrics mingled with beach-worthy materials in ice-cream shade stripes. To enhance the temperate look, place a green palm leaf on top of citrus-coloured plates. A bowl of fruit – bananas, dragon fruit and pineapple – also add a touch of Tropicana to the party. Top it all off with orchids or hibiscus.

Fresh seafood blended with the flavours of southern Asia – mangoes, chilies, limes and coriander – works well for this setting, as does casual fare you can whack on the barbeque.

Start with oysters, serving them with Pacific Gourmet’s Thai-style Nam Jin sauce. Pacific Gourmet is a wholesale deli operating out of Horizon Plaza, offering a wide range of premium seafood and meats from Australia, the United States and New Zealand. Even more convenient, they have also opened a branch on Caine Road, next to the escalator. To make the sauce, grind garlic, coriander, green and red chilies, red shallots, tomato, fish sauce, sugar and fresh lime juice together in a mortar and pestle, stir and spoon over your oysters.

Follow up with Pacific Gourmet’s tasty swordfish steak, served with a mango salsa. “Grilled corn salsa also works extremely well with swordfish,” suggests Jonathan Glover, MD of Pacific Gourmet’s parent company, Pacific Blue Seafood. Along with swordfish steaks, you could serve your guests grilled tenderloin with Pacific Gourmet’s divine tropical coffee rub. “We recommend Angus tenderloin as it is a well-marbled cut, ensuring a juicy steak,” says Glover.

Blend together ground coffee beans, brown sugar, red chili flakes, paprika, dried sage, mustard seed and cayenne pepper. Rub into your tenderloin two hours before serving, and leave the meat out of the fridge until you’re ready to cook. “Sear it on a hot barbeque, turning the tenderloin 90 degrees every two minutes, searing for a total of eight minutes,” recommends Glover. Then roast your meat away from direct heat for 15 to 20 minutes. “The head of the tenderloin will be rare, the tail part, which is not as thick, will be medium to well done,” says Glover.

To complete the island resort vibe, hand out woven straw goodie bags filled with flip-flops in tropical hues, a travel magazine and pretty fans from Melaine. With these gifts to remind them of a fun evening, they’re sure to feel the warmth of the sun long after summer has come to an end.

Pacific Gourmet’s Grilled Swordfish Steak with Tropical Mango Salsa
SERVES 2

1 tbsp olive oil
2 swordfish steaks (about 200g each), available from Pacific Gourmet
Salt and pepper
½ mango, peeled and chopped
½ small red onion, finely chopped
1 red chili, deseeded and finely chopped
½ lime, zest and juice
Handful coriander leaves, chopped
Salad leaves, to serve
Rub olive oil over fish and season with salt and pepper. Heat up the BBQ and cook fish for 3 mins on each side until charred and just cooked through. Rest fish in a warm place for approximately 2 mins before serving. For the salsa, toss together mango, red onion, chili, lime zest and juice and coriander. Serve with grilled fish and salad leaves.