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THE region’s ‘smallest fine dining restaurant’ will open its doors today inside one of Bahrain’s premier beachfront resorts and promises to offer the ‘most exclusive experience of rough luxury’ – simply put, it is for those who treasure the best things in life but also take pleasure in items that have stood the test of time.
La Table Krug by Y is the 12th restaurant concept to open at The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain and it’s a unique tie-up between the vineyards of Reims, France, with a heritage dating back to 1843, and a master chef celebrated for his modern artistic culinary flair.
The venue will host up to 16 guests who will ‘experience the feeling of dining in a 19th century estate house in the countryside of France,’ in which award-winning Executive Chef Yann Bernard Lejard will take the most discerning of palates on an ‘epicurean eight-course journey of the senses’.
“The menu EXPeRiMENCe will be like a never-ending story with each menu numbered in order to create a unique dining experience for each guest.
“The dishes will change daily based on my inspiration and feelings, and I will ensure a menu that is always daring, playful, unexpected and, most importantly, without limits,” said Chef Yann (‘Y’).
The table setting will be equally unique. Inspired by the nouveau high fashion concept of ‘rough luxury,’ guests will dine using only the finest of settings with silver tableware by Christofle, plates by Bernardaud Ecume, crystal glasses by Reidel and even the chef’s touch of hand-made local pottery by Bahrain’s own Nada Pottery … and the occasional touch of eccentricity. Ambient music will also aim to elevate the experience with house sounds curated from the Krug Music Experience series culminating in a ‘360 degree journey of the senses’.
GulfWeekly reported recently on Chef Yann’s promotion, and how his creations had attracted a mass social media following with more than 120,000 people checking out @YBLinc - waiting to see what he does next.
He exclusively teased that he was busy working on a ‘top secret’ new small select restaurant opening at the Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain offering an exclusive contemporary dining experience to culinary connoisseurs, and the fruition of that work was unveiled to a select group of hospitality journalists, including the editor of this newspaper, who enjoyed a sneak preview of La Table Krug by Y last Wednesday evening.
A play on words of ‘experiment’ and ‘experience,’ his EXPeRiMENCe 0.1 menu aims to provide ‘a sensual eight-course journey with every bite awakening both the palate and mind’.
With most dishes artfully plated in a Picasso-like form, the menu highlights the most elegant cuisine including hammour lemon ginger, light foie gras and Oscietra caviar, local vegetables with confit lobster and mango emulsion and the Elbow Pasta cooked in a risotto-style with unctuous coriander, truffle and quail. Desserts also surprise like the blueberry parfait in chocolate crust with coconut coulis and more.
Alongside the signature splashes of artsy cuisine, there’s fun too in the presentation. Wednesday’s starter was served in a sardines tin and there were smiles all around with a clever balloon-dog dessert.
The party was welcomed by The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain GM Bernard de Villèle, who was celebrating his birthday, and said: “With every bite, a ‘rough luxury cuisine d’author’ experience unfolds into a symphony of flavours, leaving diners in pure levitation.
“This is my second La Table Krug to open after the St Regis Mexico City, and I can’t wait for our guests and our members to experience the region’s most intimate fine dining experience yet.”
A video message from Maggie Henriquez, CEO of Krug, celebrating the launch and partnership was played to the guests. ‘Rough luxury’ is the Maison Krug way of playing the contrast game.
Every year, following the dream of Joseph Krug, founder of the house whose framed portrait is displayed on the wall, (the chef in action is featured on another work of art) who believed in ‘outstanding creations as a source of pleasure’, Maison Krug boasts that it ‘offers the very best, regardless of climate variations’.
Joining the official ‘Krug Ambassade’ programme, represented in 27 countries all over the world, La Table Krug by Y at The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain will mark the 151st Ambassade, the first-ever in the Middle East and the fourth La Table Krug restaurant concept within the community after Vienna, Mexico City and Berlin.
La Table Krug by Y is led by Executive Chef Yann and Directeur de Restaurant and master mixologist Riccardo Fabian Ciancilla. Nightly dinner service will begin from 7pm to 11.30pm every Tuesday to Saturday. The menu starts at BD120 with special beverage pairings and BHD90 with soft drinks. For more details call 17586499, or email bahrz.latable.krug@ritzcarlton.com
