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I LOVE France. I have ever since I visited Brittany with the children and settled down to a slice of freshly- baked crusty bread covered in p‚tÈ washed down with a glass of the local bottled beverage.
The pace of life was very similar to that enjoyed in the Arab world and the local cuisine was mostly magnifique, although horse meat and snails were never on the top of my list of must haves.
I also had a very disturbing eating out experience at an upmarket restaurant in an English country club as the guest of a senior manager of a British train manufacturer, which is showing my age because I dare say the company has literally been off the rails for decades.
It was my first week working on a daily newspaper news desk and my first experience of fine dining. I couldn’t make out a word on the French menu and decided to play safe and order the same as my host.
Of course, there was a huge embarrassing wait as I gormlessly stared at a huge bowl of moules and didn’t have a clue how to tackle them. I mean, who would have thought in such a posh place you had to use your fingers, break the mussels apart and use the shells as spoons?
I’ve now reached an age when little flummoxes me, I’ve dined with royalty, ministers and billionaires Ö but I still like to be pleasantly surprised.
For one thing, until last week I’ve never chosen to eat raw meat. I enjoy a medium rare steak on occasions but when the Golden Tulip’s Executive Chef Daniel Mast insisted I try something a little special on the spread of the special Thursday evening French Soiree Night, how could I refuse his Steak Tartare?
Simply smother the finest minced or sliced beef mixed in an incredibly seasoned sauce on bread, lightly singed on one side and browned crisply on the other, and you have created a taste sensation.
It’s not chewy, as I would have expected, it’s simply superb.
A small party of visiting Parisians followed in my wake and I heard one cry out ‘Ooh La La’ when he came across the dish.
It was nice to know that I wasn’t the only one excited by the French fare on offer at the Al Wasmeyyah Restaurant.
Chef Daniel has obviously gone to town by offering a range of almost 50 dishes celebrating his country’s culinary diversity.
One of the things I love about the Golden Tulip is that it rarely does anything by half, even the waiters and waitresses were dressed up for the occasion in true Gallic-style and I half-expected the charismatic executive assistant manager, Abdul Rahim Al Sayed, to speed round the tables on a cycle with a string of onions round his neck!
Chef Daniel heralds from the French sector of Switzerland’s third most populous city. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel has suburbs in both France and Germany.
He moved to Bahrain seven years ago having worked for the Mˆvenpick group and the Golden Tulip in Saudi Arabia and says the variety of French cuisine continues to excite him to this day.
For the uninitiated, he explains there are clear variances between dishes created in the north and south of the country and the biggest clue comes in the way they are prepared and presented. For example, the north boasts dishes cooked with butter and heavy sauces whereas the south generally prefers the use of olive oil, garlic and herbs.
As you can imagine, the choice of food in the restaurant is immense from coq au vin, lamb legs with flageolet to salmon dumplings with lobster and fish sauce and even a fresh black pudding.
A little French fancy for dessert included the good lady wife Kathryn’s favourite crËme br˚lÈe and the one closest to my own heart, tarte tatin. The story goes that one of the Tatin sisters was making an apple tart but, for whatever reason, made a mistake and left it too long in the oven. However, she thought she could salvage it, so she ended up turning it upside down and her guests went mad for it. And, me too!
The French Soiree Night takes place every Thursday between 7pm-11pm and costs BD13.500++ including a glass of selected beverage.
