Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
I always enjoy reading GulfWeekly staff reports on their latest restaurant visit.I remember when most people used to dine out to enjoy a meal better than they could cook at home - that was before microwaves and ‘boil in the bag’ gourmet meals.
I wasn’t aware earlier in the month, that the resident Michelin Star chef at one of my favourite dining places had recently left Bahrain to join the Gordon Ramsay Group in New York.
As a guest of a dinner party and brimming with anticipation, I ordered the restaurant’s grilled fresh Canadian Lobster (via water tank across the pond) which came to the table with its meat firmly adhered to the shell; no sign of claws or any loose meat within either half shell.
It was served with dauphinoise potatoes (a congealed mass), and asparagus spears submerged in a dish of tepid liquid atop finely-diced vegetables (veg. stock). However, the dinner plate was decorated with a single swirl of sauce artistically crafted by using the back of a spoon.
Discreetly making the temporary ‘front of house’ aware of the flesh firmly stuck to the shell, he asked loudly: ‘If Sir would like his lobster ‘well done’?’
If I had been dining alone I would have replied: ‘What I would really like is to see him and the stand-in cook who calls himself a chef well and truly roasted!’
Before the management let someone loose on a well-tried menu, they could for starters at least show him the Rebecca Charles method of grilling a lobster.
When the bill came it was more like ‘fined dining’ than fine dining!
Alan Pitt, by email.
Eating Out: Page 11
