Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Ooh la la, the food is fabuleux (and/or fabelachtig), the conversation flows and lunch-time will never be quite the same after visiting Crowne Plaza Bahrain’s La Mosaique Restaurant.
French Executive Chef David Miras has settled in superbly since arriving on the island 10 months ago and his style and special touches make for fabulous fare … and it’s all incredibly affordable.
A remarkable promotional price of BD8 inclusive, with soft drinks included for good measure, is a deal too enticing to miss, even if I am currently on a strict calorie-controlled eating regime.
I set aside my little squishy box of salad and walked the short distance (yes, walked … this fitness fad has really gone to my head) from the office in Exhibitions Avenue to the Diplomatic Area for a lunch date with Priya Shankar, the hotel’s marketing & communications manager.
La Mosaique is a spacious and elegant all-day dining restaurant, well-lit with tables inside and out, and ours pleasantly overlooked the pool.
Chef David joined us for a chat, which developed into a longer conversation as we tried to put the world to rights, as you do over a proper working lunch.
Despite discussing food, school days, food, Europe, food, the Gulf States, food, small businesses, food, families and food (we even let Priya get the occasional word in) we, of course, made time to eat … fare that Chef David and his team prepared with a noticeable touch of elegance and grace.
I started with a light salad, neatly presented in envelopes of crispness, alongside a few helpings of sushi.
The live cooking station was manned by experienced Sous Chef Abdul Nabi and an array of fresh fish and other seafood such as safi, fasker, sharry, prawns, andak, hammam and Sultan Ibrahim, lay on a sheet of ice ready to be savoured close to some meaty marvels in the shape of Shish Taouk and Kofta.
On the chef’s recommendation I went for the surf & turf option and grilled fasker – a fleshy, meaty flavoursome specimen marinated lightly with garlic, parsley and butter (you can tell I was dining in the company of a French culinary connoisseur) – was shortly presented on the plate.
Amazing.
But then I glanced over at Priya’s choice and was immediately jealous as she tucked into one of the special dishes of the day, Waterzooi, the chef’s hometown recipes heralding from Fèrriere-la-Grande, where the locals speak a dialect of Flemish rather than French to keep in touch with their Belgian buddies across the border (or maybe not, as the European Union would have it – currently – politics, stop it, Stan).
I didn’t touch any mashed potato because I’m trying to be good and cut down on the carbohydrates, so I spoilt myself with a small helping of Waterzooi in a bowl, which I thought I could get away with because it’s seafood in a heavenly broth.
Chef David was trying to lead me astray (to be honest, I’m easily led) and started discussing the decade he spent in the early part of his career specialising in pastry and he ‘highly recommended’ sampling another dish from his youth called the Mille Feuille for dessert.
In the UK you can pick them up from the high street bakery under the label of Vanilla Slices, I’m sure. But Chef David’s version is the crème de le crème, if you don’t mind a mixed metaphor. A cool combination of crunchy and soft, this is one sweet that really knows how to hit the spot.
Like a true Frenchman, Formula One fanatic Chef David enjoys all the finer things in life and has a special interest in photography, with pictures of food being his specific talent as well as cooking it.
What a capture from Le Mèridien Noumea, New Caledonia, where he was the executive chef from November 2014.
Apart from our choices, the lunch also features pizza, grilled hammour, mini beef steaks, lamb buharri, pasta Bolognese and much more besides.
The ‘Think outside the lunch box’ concept is being billed as a way of ‘getting together with great value’.
Drop your business card and diners will also get a chance to enter the raffle draw to win a free stay-for-two, including breakfast, or a one-month free membership at the venue’s Bfit health club each month. There are weekly draws too for dinner vouchers at any of the property’s restaurants.
La Mosaique restaurant at Crowne Plaza Bahrain serves an international lunch buffet daily from 12.30pm to 3pm at only BD8.000 net inclusive of soft drinks. To make a reservation call 17531122 ext 406 / 802.
