Sunday 24 June 2007

traiteur - june 23rd 2007 - parc hyatt




The parc/park hyatt is an interesting hotel.
Tucked away next to the creek its setup and layout leaves you feeling that its quite secretive, deserted and private. Which can be wonderful for an evening night out.
We were however, invited for a lunch at the infamous traiteur. It was a shame it was hot because im sure it would have been lovely to sit outside - dubai for you.
The restaurant decor itself is interestingly modern. With two floors you can either sit in what feel like a café upstairs or head down to the light filled main room where there is an open kitchen.
I quite liked the idea ofthat, and lined up on the metal surfaces where rows of bottles of oils and vinegars which i assumed could be bought for probably quite a sum.
Considering we were around 9, and they couldnt accomodate us on one table in the main room, we were ushered into a private dining room, where there was a wall of wine bottles carefully arranged to create a wonderful gradient from yellow to red and the room itself had its own little stove where probably some parties could delight at the show of live cooking.

the (what appeared to be maitre'd) was a german hitler style woman with orange foundation and a strict face that seemed she could whip anyone if they did wrong!

the bread they placed was wonderfully golden and tasted lovely. They placed with it a duck and salmon paté which was smooth but by no means fabulous. The salmon was better than the duck i give them that.

the butter interestingly enough was this big slab that looked and was eaten like cheese...very kitsch.

i chose an endive and white asparagus salad with sweet mustard sauce for starter.
Well honestly it was more like an endive salad garnished with asparagus which was a shame. The sauce was nice but slightly sickening after a while.

for the main course i chose a pan fried cod with puy lentils and some green sauce i couldnt place the taste of... honestly i found it a little bland, but the fish was light and delicately flaky.
I tried my brothers prime fillet and found it quite ordinary.

it was a dry lunch so no alcohol but i would have liked to taste the wine...

dessert was a little more up lifting, the tea came accompanied with beautifully delicate macarroons, i had a blackberry and coffee one, they reminded me ever so quickly with the ones at la durée :)

i ordered a raspberry and nougat mille feuille which looked briliant but was a little dry the hazelnut cream made it a little sickening but the raspberries were fabulous!
my brother had a blackberry creme brulee which i thought was quite good!

overall not a bad experience i would recommend it but saw that it was a bit expensive unless taking the business lunch which was quite a good deal.


rating - 6.5 / 10

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