The Grand

18th May 2011.

After inviting several friends out for dinner and none replying yes, i decided to head down to The Grand by myself and get some work done whilst enjoying an amazing meal. A bland run of the mill pub from the outside in the middle of residential streets belied a grand dining room with an old feel with some new renovations and soft intimate furnishing and lighting. Given the smaller dining area it had a cozy and vibrant atmosphere and a very decent clientele given the Wednesday night dinner.

Dinner started with some cold bread and butter that was added to by a citrus  and garlic infused olive oil with whole olives soaking in the mix. Very good flavours in the juice was slightly let down by having cold difficult to spread butter combined with cold bread that had wholes in it making a good spread of butter difficult.

I order a beer with dinner Budvar (my favourite beer in the world from the Czech Republic) but was told immediately that they had run out. However given the extensive beer menu (unsurprising since it is a pub but still pleasant) i was able to find another beer that i would enjoy; Hoegaarden White on tap.

I decided to skip starter and head straight for main course i choose the lamb fillet. I was informed that this dish required 1/2 hour for them to prepare and cook. However i was happy to wait for this dish as it sounded amazing and was rewarded for my patience with a dish of the highest quality. Soft delicious lamb fillet with a nice pink centre and wrapped in crispy pancetta. It was a beautiful cut of meat cooked with great technique to given the dish an amazing core flavour. Resting on a eggplant puree and served with peperonata (stewed peppers) contrasted the flavours but added another layer and combined for a wonderful dish. I also went with a side of garlic and rosemary potatoes that had a strong flavour with crisp outside and moist potato inside.

For desert i went for the Tartufo (a favourite of mine ever since first having it in Rome). A rich chocolate centre with 2 different ice cream layers surrounding the chocolate. The inside layer was a pistachio ice cream and the outer layer was white chocolate ice cream. Floating on a liquor syrup everything about this dish worked. Even given my extreme bias for chocolate based desert this was truly a master piece of a dish and my favourite desert so far.

I have nothing to fault about this restaurant and would recommend this place to friends in an instant. Quality ingredients and techniques allowed for masterful home style Italian cooking that surpassed expectations.