Thon Hotel Bristol Stephanie organized a Chilean gastronomy event in early March. "Chile à la Carta" was hosted in the hotel's Le Chalet d'Odin restaurant. In the past couple of years they also had Brazilian and Mexican themed weeks. We were excited about discovering Chilean cuisine and made a reservation for dinner. The poster for the event was mouth watering, as captured from the Thon web site:
As we walked into the rather darkish restaurant, we saw some traditional Chilean costumes, some posters and in a corner, a replica of a Moai from Easter Island.
Main courses
Picante spicy shrimp with walnut cream, chili and cheese
Served with rice/ginger and basil-cilantro green coulis, oven roasted artichokes
Beef stewed in tomato sauce with dry plums in red wine
Accompanied with mushrooms and quinoa, beans with butter
Swordfish fillet sealed with brown butter and covered with coriander and chives
Served with mashed potatoes and Ariqueño tapenade, roasted cherry tomatoes and Rocoto chili foam
Pomairino Corn Pie
Soft corn paste flavored with fresh basil, covering stewed beef with cumin and smoked paprika, roast chicken, raison, olives and quail egg
Desserts
Fig gratin, citrus syrup and Enguindao cherry liqueur
Late Harvest meringue mousse, nougatine and caramelized almonds
Copa Manjares
Cheese cream and "Manjar Blanco" covered with Manjar mousse with a touch of pisco and mandarines, chocolate
Dessert sampler
The mains took an incredibly long time to get served. In fact, the corn pie had to be baked, which meant that some of us received cold dishes that had been lying on a counter top for a while. For the prices charged, it was a shame that the dishes were plain average and did not seem to have any rare ingredients that had to be brought from Chile. We doubt that they had flown in a Chilean chef; it seemed that the regular cook was improvising with some new recipes. Actually, going to a fine dining starred restaurant would have cost slightly more than 3 courses at the Chalet d'Odin. Even worse, while we were having dessert, the waiters began re-arranging the dining room to prepare for the next day's breakfast.
We will not return to Le Chalet d'Odin, the type of place that gives hotel restaurants a bad name...
Thon Hotel Bristol Stephanie
Avenue Louise, Brussels
No comments:
Post a Comment