The Mirabelle at
The Grand Hotel, Eastbourne
Clifford Mould helped celebrate
its 20th Birthday
Looking
back, I notice that it was in
1999 when we last visited
this splendid restaurant – it
must have been to celebrate its
10th birthday, since when it has
gone from strength to strength
with many successes for members
of the kitchen brigade in culinary
competitions and salons. To mark
the beginning of its third decade
the restaurant has been refurbished
in a way that combines the essential
grandeur one expects in a five
star hotel, with a charming intimacy – tables
neither crowded together nor coldly
distant. And, like many “fine
dining” restaurants in top
hotels, it has its own street entrance.
I
usually leave comment about the
service to the end of the meal,
unless it was so good (or disastrously
bad) that I can’t wait to
tell you about it! The service
when we visited was not merely
good, it was impeccable. It was
palpably apparent that excellent
training is an ongoing feature
of employment at The Grand, the
fruitful results of which can be
seen throughout the hotel. In the
Mirabelle itself, the young but
knowledgeable German sommelière,
Gesa Ritter, takes her job very
seriously and spared no effort
to accommodate the needs of three
diners who each chose something
different. Above all, the restaurant
manager Ben Warren is a great role
model for his team: he is everything
the modern maitre d’ should
be.
Now
for the food! The head chef is
Gerald Röser, clearly most
highly regarded amongst his peers,
as he is the Chairman of the Guild
of Master Chefs of Great Britain.
At dinner, £37.00 inclusive
of service, he offers a three course
prix fixée menu with four
choices for each course. There
is an additional seasonal classics
menu with some mouth watering entries,
each carrying a somewhat eye watering
supplement. Choosing exclusively
from this seasonal menu could ratchet
your food bill to £62.00
per guest, but we are talking foie
gras, caviar and oysters!
Shortly
after sitting down we were brought
some very pretty little
canapés, then in the gap
between ordering and our first
course coming, out came an eye-catching
pre-starter which amused the bouche
as much as it did the eyes. Chef
Röser’s use of herbs
and spices is particularly well
judged, as was apparent in the
dahl flavouring of the silky smooth
pumpkin soup, and the delicate,
creamy mustard sauce with the fresh
and flakey smoked haddock. A soufflé of
pike was a worthy signature dish,
complete with the contrasting flavour
of smoked salmon and a dill sauce
that did not remind one of gravadlax!
I
enjoyed the touches of retro-
style service when our main dishes
came out. The ceremony of the silver
domes was deftly performed, properly,
but not taking itself too seriously.
Silver service of vegetables into
each diner’s oval side dish
was probably a bit over the top,
but it’s good to see waiting
skills that haven’t been
dumbed down.
My
son was determined to have the
fillet steak (+£14.50),
very tender and pink; he commented
particularly on the intensity of
the flavours of the wild mushrooms
and of the glossy Madeira reduction.
His wife is a veggie and she really
enjoyed her Fennel and tomato gratin,
which tasted to me like a rather
superior pizza topping. I had the
tender roast pork fillet whose
principal garnish was snail porridge
which is not as frightening as
it sounds. The snails are served
whole, not all ground up in the
porridge: the finished effect was
more like a risotto.
I
noticed that plums featured in
a number of dishes, most probably
triggered by the name Mirabelle,
a French variety of plum. I had
the Spiced poached plums with vanilla
mascarpone and pain perdue. By
this time I was feeling pretty
full, so I was relieved to find
only one little plum on one of
a pair of small pieces of what
we used to call “eggie bread” and
a dollop of marscapone on the other.
The Caramelised honey ice cream
is to be recommended as is the
Lime cream with bitter orange sauce,
though we weren’t sure why
this dessert should attract a £2.00
surcharge.
The
presentation of all the dishes
we were offered was quite exemplary – the
Mirabelle is clearly the place
to go for a touch of culinary theatre!
Chef Röser also proposes a
tasting menu of five courses for £54.00
which looks really interesting
so long as everyone on the table
agrees to this option. Every so
often there is a special gourmet
evening where the cooking of some
particular region is featured.
Details of forthcoming events are
highlighted on the Mirabelle website, www.themirabelle.com Perhaps
I’ll see you at one
of these events?
Clifford Mould March 2009
The
Mirabelle at the Grand Hotel – Dine
Online Highly Recommended
Jevington Gardens
Eastbourne, East Sussex
Reservations 01323 412345
www.themirabelle.com
