About The Décor…

Review Date: Monday, October 06, 2008

Reviewer: Cindy Taylor (cindy@gigglinggourmet.com)

Category: Restaurant

Restaurant reviews need to be handled with extreme care. Invariably, great financial investment has been made and the venture is usually a long-held dream of the owner. The reviewer, effectively, wields the power to crush such dreams and ultimately affect the lives of these entrepreneurs. When one reads a restaurant review, where the writer begins by spending an inordinate amount of words describing the décor, one knows that the establishment is doomed.

Recently I donned my red heels and I went along, at the request of friends who need a bit of free PR, to a recently opened ‘bistro’ for an early supper. In the interests of kindness, I won’t mention the suburb. The owners, lovely boys, have worked wonders with texture: burgundy velvet nestles on plum leather; crimson organza creates a rosy glow over the crisp linen napery and a myriad tiny candles transport one to a dream world. The waiters are evidently selected from a catalogue of The Ubermensch.

Stuff and nonsense! If I had had to pay for my meal, I would have been very cross. The litmus test of a chef is sauce; no peppering of words like fricassee and soupcon can hide Royco – it is simply insulting. Further, sole should be well understood or left well alone; Meuniere all too easily becomes manure in the wrong hands and Tennis Biscuit Cheesecake is the exclusive preserve of elderly ladies living in Zastron.

These chaps have touted this place to the fickle and sophisticated gay market and should be extremely careful of wasting their ceded insurance policies. My advice to them is that they close the kitchen and revise their service offering as a wine and cigar bar.

It really is a beautifully appointed venue.

The Merlot was very nice.

© Cindy Taylor 2008