Waves of delight!

There’s a five-star hotel restaurant making waves in the kingdom for all the right reasons and there’s no catch, the chefs conjure up seafood delights to order and the choice of cooking style is open for discussion.

Waves restaurant at the Crowne Plaza, Bahrain is now back in the business of delighting diners after the hospitality perils of the pandemic and has returned to the popular ‘market place’ concept of displaying the offerings on packs of ice surrounded by displays of fresh market vegetables.

It’s a tried and trusted formula and guaranteed to make the taste buds start to tingle as the eyes capture the colours and the quality of the catch of fish.

The conductors of the seafood show are recently-arrived Chef Azreen Mumin, the hotel’s Chef De Cuisine, and Waves’ Executive Sous Chef Angad Amar Sawant, supported by their kitchen teams.

They delivered a dynamic special menu for last week’s launch party, a little taster of even greater things to come.

The starter Seafood Salad featured a marvellous mesclun mix - mesclun is a Provençal word that describes a mix of tender salad greens and herbs. Alongside the mixture of young tender leaves were prawn, scallops, pomegranate, avocado, pumpkin seeds, sweet basil and Evoo – an extra virgin olive oil that must be free from any alterations in colour, taste, nutrients or vitamins.

You could feel the goodness in every mouthful.

The star turn, in my humble opinion - controversially as it seems - was the soup that followed. A Prawns Pistou Soup with crispy vegetables, rouille and croutons was simply stunning.

As I mentioned earlier in this review, the sight senses were teased by the seafood market display. Well, this time, it was texture and flavour in a taste sensory overload.

The prawns floating in the fish soupy waters were suddenly given a crunchy explosion when the perfectly prepared small vegetable pieces were bitten into. A masterpiece of culinary perfection as far as I am concerned, however, according to my new-found best friend chefs, the reaction on the night was mixed. The guests appeared 50-50 in a love-hate relationship with the soup.

I’m a lover and I shall return to Waves on the basis of being able to sample this superb offering once again.

The Main Course was a Waves Fisherman’s Platter, well presented on the plate and cooked to perfection.

This is no easy task. I have visited countless seafood restaurants during my years as a restaurant reviewer here in Bahrain and back in the UK, and it is very, very easy to get it wrong. I went to one outlet and found my chosen fish swimming in a sickly buttery sewer of sadness. When I complained and suggested they leave it to the customer to choose how much sauce to put on the plate, the waiter shrugged his shoulders and said: ‘That’s the way we do it’.

Well, matey boy, the proper way to do it is the Waves way.

The accompanying sambal, tartare and lemon butter sauces came in separate pots and the customer, rightly, was allowed to make the decision on how much to add, or not, as the case may be.

And, that is what makes Waves better than most. The whole concept is geared around the diner.

The market prices are clearly displayed, alongside the choice of sauces and even the cooking method can be chosen from deep fried, grilled or baked.

Back to the food, the prawns were perfect once again, Needle fish, Red Mullet and my favourite crusted hammour fillet sat happily amid the mix salad. Light, fresh and surprisingly, absolutely, filling.

There was little room for desserts, but I forced myself to bite into the Ginger Crème Brulee, knowing full well that the good lady wife, Kathryn, back home in the UK looking after her aging father, would have savoured the flavour. I sent her a photograph and a ‘wish you were here’ WhatsApp message. The vanilla icecream and sprinkled crumble hit the spot too.

The hotel’s general manager Charbel Hanna said that Waves had always been ‘famous for being Bahrain’s finest and freshest seafood restaurant’ and he added that the restaurant’s team ‘could not wait to get back to serving guests again’.

I waved goodbye to the staff after a wonderful night of enjoying creative cuisine alongside traditional favourites and it will not be long before the tide brings this faithful scribe back for more.