Bahrain restaurant serves up a feast for the eyes

Yann Bernard Lejard clearly wasn’t advised to not play along with his meals whereas rising up within the sunny south of France. Thank goodness, as a result of the result’s a really grown-up eating expertise that tantalises one’s inside youngster and dissolves the boundaries between artwork kinds.

As Ritz Carlton Bahrain’s director of culinary meals and beverage, Lejard is chargeable for a few dozen of the nation’s most prestigious eating places, however La Desk Krug by Y, his lately launched eponymous restaurant in Manama, is the place he actually makes his mark.

What to anticipate and the place to take a seat

The eating room is small with few tables. La Desk Krug by Y options hallmarks of old-world European luxurious ― wood-panelled partitions, marble flooring, crystal chandeliers, tufted velvet seating and compulsory white linen tablecloths. Simply exterior, there’s an al fresco eating space overlooking the fantastically lit pool and landscaping of the resort.

Lejard has added private touches to the area that stand out due to their modernity. Placeholder plates bear his handprint. As an alternative of still-life oil work, there dangle flat-lay images of his inventive platings.

The costume code is formal, enterprise apparel or nationwide costume. It’s a great spot to have fun an event, be it enterprise, household, pleasant or romantic. If you happen to’re the kind of vacationer whose itinerary is guided by social media content material creation, take be aware.

That is experiential eating and edible efficiency artwork composed of numerous little particulars. Be ready for a memorable multisensory and emotive journey on which, when your mouth shouldn’t be full, there’s lots to speak about.

The menu

“Tough luxurious” goes down easily at La Desk Krug by Y. First to reach is a heat and crusty sourdough cob, sliced on the desk and served with decadent saffron rosebud butter. This units the tone of tough luxurious that defines this venue, and in addition serves as a helpful car for mopping up sauces all through our meal.

My eating accomplice and I get pleasure from three elegantly composed starters. We whet our palates with a pea veloute topped with caviar and crunchy ornament. The layers of flavour and texture are highlighted by the spectacular glass dome the dish is offered in.

The lightness and freshness of the creation is fantastically contrasted by the deep umami richness of a wild blended mushroom raviolo bathed in intense truffle sauce with whipped cream foam. It’s completely scrumptious and healthful.

Probably the most putting dish of the night time is a big leg of octopus tempura served on a plate painted with reductions of strawberry, tomato, ginger, Espelette pepper and lime. The visible vibrancy of the presentation is paying homage to anime meals.

Subsequent to reach are the mains, with sides of potato so easy and creamy, you shouldn’t inform well being and health professionals about consuming them.

Chef Lejard responds to my love of the mushroom starter with an indulgent stuffed rooster in turkey gravy with herbed butter and contemporary shaved truffle. The flavours are paying homage to conventional roast dinners, but elevated by the sorts of methods that solely skilled prime cooks can grasp.

My eating accomplice is served a salmon souffle accompanied by scallop mousseline, caviar and beurre blanc. Al dente vegetable pearls pop on the tongue like their colors popped on the plate. Principally, the dish melts within the mouth.

Stand-out dish

When the dessert trolley is wheeled in, eyes gentle up. Willy Wonka fantasies are fulfilled. Magical and luxurious, it includes a vibrant array of macarons, marshmallows, lollipops, bonbons, chouquettes, financier, floating island, apple clafoutis, fruits in syrup and extra.

A whole lot of the unfold is extraordinarily saccharine and thus in all probability suited to these with an actual candy tooth. Nevertheless, the plated dessert that comes out simply forward of this extravaganza on wheels ― citrus custard disguised as a pebble ― has an grownup stage of mouth-watering zing.

The star of the present is a fruit charlotte cake. This represents a treasured meals reminiscence for Lejard, as a result of his mom made this for his childhood birthdays. Love and nostalgia are current in each delectable chunk.

The sweetest and most particular contact is the denouement, following fancy teas and coffees. I’m maintaining this secret, so different diners could also be shocked with the surprise and delight we felt.

A chat with the chef

Lejard is a charismatic chef with a quintessential French accent who conveys ardour for his work. It’s commonplace to search out him talking with visitors within the eating room.

In reality, he’s most in his component when plating dwell earlier than an viewers, creating the “Yannesque” culinary artwork motion. It’s his avant-garde, painterly method to meals that pulls consideration in an trade recognized for precision and consistency.

“My fashion is explosive. I’m somebody with a variety of emotion, so cooking for me is a type of expression the place I launch my power. My life is 100 per cent meals, beverage, the resort trade, eating places, artwork; I can’t think about the rest,” Lejard says.

Whereas his inspiration comes from inside, Lejard says that after many years of honing his craft, his motivation is now to share creativity and a way of the bon vivant with different artists and the broader world.

Embodying it is a giant hardcover e-book entitled Pure Intuition. It’s the results of a two-year collaboration with famend Brazilian meals photographer Sergio Coimbra. It’s certain to land on the espresso tables of the world’s glitterati when it’s ultimately launched, however for now the one place to see it’s La Desk Krug by Y.

We talk about different artisans, together with botanical sculptors, ceramicists and musicians, and I discover myself excited to see what collaborations Lejard comes up with subsequent.

Worth level and call info

Contemplating that is high-end eating comprising high-end substances, the menu is competitively priced. Starters vary from seven Bahraini dinars ($19) for a regionally sourced blue crab soup to $45 for duck foie gras with caramelised fruit.

Important programs begin at $32 for a 15-ingredient vegetarian farci, extending to $61 for the aforementioned salmon souffle. There’s additionally a $93 choice appropriate for 2: leg of lamb cooked for seven hours, served with root greens and Lejard’s signature theatrical sauces. The limitless dessert spherical prices $12.

Diners even have the $111 Experimotion choice, letting the chef take the reins.

La Desk Krug by Y is open Tuesday to Saturday from 4pm to 7pm for drinks and lightweight snacks, and from 7pm to 11pm for dinner.

Reservations may be made by contacting 00973 1758 6499 or rc.bahrz.restaurant.reservations@ritzcarlton.com.

This evaluation was performed on the invitation of the restaurant

Up to date: December 23, 2022, 6:02 PM