Saturday, March 01, 2008

Interludes 4th Birthday

Interlude celebrated its fourth birthday with a five course degustation menu accomp[anied by five different Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin champagnes on Monday February 25th.
The meal began inauspiciously with Blue Swimmer Crab with variations of sweet corn served, without comment, some 40 minutes after we arrived at the appointed time of 6.30 pm. Since it was particularly difficult for me to get there at that time and they knew exactly what they would be serving I found this inexcusable. Even worse the sweet corn jelly atop this tiny portion was completely tasteless and the fine taste of the crab was defeated by the excess salt in the dish. The accompanying Yellow label NV Brut was a good choice being slightly sweet despite the name. Alphabet soup was a cute gimmick spelling out the name INTERLUDE before the consommé, which was quite nice, introduced a degree of dyslexia. The NV Rose was an interesting choice and will undoubtedly become popular for celebrations.
He next course- barely two mouths full, Sea bream, baby Gem, Morels, Barley, Haddock Air, was beautifully produced and the fish excellent but oh so very little. By now I was getting pretty hungry and was well into the second of the 7 pieces of bread that ultimately became the major part of the dinner. But that the crust was burnt on the walnut bread I might have had even more!! The vintage Brut 2002 might have been stimulating my appetite! This is a lovely wine dryer and crisper than the previous offerings- a joy to my palate!
What I guess passed for the main course was another small snack Roast chicken, nothing special, Roast egg, filled with bouillon, very ordinary and leek truffle again very ordinary could not be saved by the most excellent 1998 vintage ‘La Grand Dame’ The dessert, Almond, Cherry, Coconut looked better than it tasted. The NV Demi-Sec was pleasant enough but I felt that a dessert wine would have been more appropriate. In summary there were some excellent and some very poor aspects of the food. The serves were tiny and I had to go home and eat supper. It was poor value for money at $180 if not for the Entertainment Card $40 discount.
I certainly hope the Monday night special dinners do better in the next few months.
Score: 14/20

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