GUY HARVEY'S ISLAND GRILL
DINNER SUMMARY

Chaîne diners enjoy French flavours

Evocative images of the South of France were cleverly conjured up at the Chaînes latest dinner, with Guy Harveys Island Grill producing a feast for all the senses. Lindsey Turnbull soaks up some Provençal flavours and reports.

Frances Côte dAzur (otherwise known as the French Riviera) is a dazzlingly glamorous part of the world, the playground of the rich and famous, with a nightlife that revolves around pavement cafes, bistros and restaurants, creating the best place on earth to (beautiful) people watch.
Cayman managed to create its own slice of Riviera-living, even if it was just for one evening, with the Chaînes second dinner of the year held at Guy Harveys Island Grill, under the stewardship of Chef and owner Denis Seyer, restaurant manager and owner Bruno Deluche and restaurant owner Dennis Hunter.
The Côte dAzur stretches along some of the most prestigious and costly coastline in the world, from Marseilles in the east all the way to the Monaco principality in the west, dotted along the way by such well known and sophisticated ocean-front cities as St Tropez, Cannes and Nice. Its geographic location therefore means a cuisine dedicated to fish and the Guy Harveys Grill menu was true to the region, displaying the chefs masterly dexterity in producing an array of fish dishes to transport diners directly to a sunny patio overlooking the dark blue majestic Mediterranean Sea.
Amuse bouche consisted of three consistently good dishes escargots en croute, crab cakes and brie in puff pastry, all artfully presented and brimming with flavour.
Diners were treated to a glass or two of Gerard Bertrand Blanquette de Limoux from 2001, as an aperitif. Chaîne Vice Chanson Ross Philips explains that finding the right wine pairings for the dishes was a challenge: In order to find the right Mediterranean wines for this dinner we had to forage from a number of suppliers. The sparkling wine that we served with the canapés is the oldest sparkling wine made in France today, its history dating back to 1531 when the monks of Limoux went into production. It has a lovely creamy texture yet is crisp and appley. It has been called the poor mans champagne but I think it is great as a stand alone wine and makes a perfect aperitif.
Once seated, diners were able to enjoy a typical appetiser of the region Coquille St Jacques grilles à la Barigoule (grilled scallops with artichokes and fried leeks).
Chef Denis explains the dish, Barigoule is actually the Provençal word for the orange-latex milky mushroom (Lactarius deliciosus), a firm-fleshed meaty mushroom with a fruity flavour. In Provence, artichokes are often paired with this delicious mushroom, hence the name.
Paired with this dish was a glass of Clos Mireille, Domaine Ott, Cotes Provence Blanc from 2003. Founded by Marcel Ott at the beginning of the 20th century, Domaines Ott is a family owned operation involving three estates, Château de Selle (Taradeau), Clos Mireille (La Londe Les Maures) and Château Romassan (La Castellet).
Ross describes this particular wine, Its made from 60% Sémillon and 40% Ugni-blanc (called Trebbiano in Italy) grapes. The Semillon brings fullness, mellowness and honey flavour, and the Ugni-blanc brings vim and vigour to the wine and backbone and acidity.
I have to say I was initially a bit nervous about this pairing. As delicious as the dish was, the artichokes had an element of vinegar to them, which may have upset the wine pairing. However I was happily surprised as the wine did a great job of cutting through the richness of the scallops while its fruitiness simultaneously enhanced the vegetables. Phew!
Next on the agenda was a feuilleté de canard fumé au confit doignon (smoked duck with onion confit and a foie gras glaze). A beautifully presented dish, the interesting variety of textures and flavours crispy puff pastry, meaty and savoury duck and sweet caramalised onions (cooked with white wine vinegar and honey) excited the taste buds from every dimension.
A Château Romassan, Domaine Ott, Bandol Rouge from 2001 was served alongside this dish. Château Romassan is located in the Bandol appellation known for its terraced landscapes built from the hard stone with vines which are planted into vast terraces with varying exposures.
Ross notes, This bright ruby coloured wine is primarily mourvédre, which gives the wine a spicy character, which is complimented by a generous bouquet of blackcurrant and morello cherry. The wine is rich with tannins yet highly balanced making it an excellent choice for pairing with the duck dish.
While mourvédre is the dominant varietal in this wine (as required by the appellation), Cinsault also appears for its fresh, silky elegance, Grenache rounds off the wine and give it body, strength and bouquet, and Syrah in small quantities gives verve to the wine and slight hints of liquorice.
After a sorbet au citron à la lavande (arguably slightly too heavy on the à la lavande) the star of the show followed, an imitation Bouillabaisse. Chef Denis described it thus as he stated that a truly authentic bouillabaisse should comprise of fish from the Mediterranean. This was his take on the classic Provencal fish stew, which, he stated, was as near as possible to the real thing.
Chef Denis included snapper, mahi-mahi, scallops, shrimp, calamari and mussels in a bid to diversify the textures and flavours of the fish as far as possible a traditional feature of the stew. The base was a typically robust saffron, tomato and garlic broth and delighted the nostrils as well as the tastebuds just inhaling this dish brought the warmth of the Cote dAzure flooding into the restaurant.
Sat atop the stew were croutons covered in an intensely garlicky cheesy mix. These needed to be gently immersed into the bouillabaisse to soak up the gutsy goodness of the soup and then scoffed before they got too soggy. Quite an art in itself and timing was of the essence.
Diners enjoyed a glass of Les Quatres Tours Classique Coteaux dAix en Provence Rosé from 2005 with the main course.
Ross describes this wine, This is a classic rosé made from Grenache grapes that create a wine with delicate fruitiness and a subtle hint at summertime in Provence. You will find a bottle of such a rosé on every French table in the summer months.
While this wine was wonderful and every bit as fruity and delicious as described, I would suggest that it was just a little too subtle for the gutsy bouillabaisse, which perhaps required less subtlety and more in-you-face flavour.
To follow in the French tradition, Chef Denis then presented diners with a petite salade à lhuile de Noix (a simple salad with roasted pecans) served with goats cheese on toast. Although this was a refreshing and neat course I felt it was unnecessary as stomachs were getting quite full at this point and simply required something sweet and naughty for dessert.
Although Chef Denis had up until this point excelled himself, I have to say that he saved the best for last. His chocolate soufflé served with crème St Cecilia was absolute heaven. Not normally able to even make a proper stab at dessert at such events, after watching the lofty heights of the soufflé sink to a squidgy chocolate delight, I have to say I scraped the plate clean and was only prevented from licking it even cleaner by the polite decorum of my dining companions.
A sweet port-like Chapoutier Banyuls from 2003 did an excellent job of making a great marriage of wine and food.
Ross details this wine, This is a deep rich red wine made in the Languedoc-Rousillon region near to the Spanish border from Grenache Noir grapes. The winemakers stop the fermentation process by adding pure alcohol to the wine, producing a sweet and alcoholic wine that is just made for drinking with chocolate.
He concludes, During the decision making process of pairing the wines with food we were fortunate to remember this wine from a previous dinner. Luckily we were able to obtain a couple of bottles for the dinner, as there are only around 30 bottles in the Cayman Islands.
Diners were lucky indeed to enjoy such a well thought out and well executed meal.