Ice gems – Feast
Andrew Kay previews this year’s Royal Pavilion Ice Rink restaurant Feast
It hardly seems a moment since we all moaned about the lousy summer weather and now we are all bracing ourselves for the cold and looking forward to a white Christmas. Nothing looked prettier last Christmas than the spectacle of the ice rink at The Royal Pavilion. With the palace lit up and the ice filled with its soft reflections it had never looked more beautiful.
This season it returns and with it a new food offer entitled Feast. Given the shortness of the season I thought it would be a good idea to travel up to Shoreditch and the Worship Street Whistle Stop where they were able to provide me with a taste of things to come.
The Worship Street Whistle Stop is a fascinating subterranean venue that specialises in wicked concoctions that they distill in their own laboratory. It has a feel of Frankenstein and a touch of Sweeney Todd too – and I loved it.
The chef in charge of the Brighton ice-rink project was on hand and had decided to prepare for us a selection of dishes from the menu. With my old friend Ms C at my side we sat back and waited.
First out was a mushroom Wellington. Now you well know my thoughts on vegetarian food, I love Terre à Terre but not much else hits the spot. This however was delicious, a tasty parcel of puff pastry filled with a soft mushroom and potato filling with dressed leaves and confit mushrooms on the side, a hearty and flavour packed dish that put a smile on both our faces.
Fish and chips was equally hearty, good crisp batter encasing pearly white fish, piping hot and very crisp chips and some crushed peas, not the northern mushy variety that I prefer but good and sweet. The tartare sauce included on the side was good too and very smooth.
Next to arrive was a fillet of sea bass on crushed potatoes with some delicious swiss chard on the side. The fillet of fish was excellent, the skin crisp and salty, the fish flaky, cooked just the right amount. The crushed potato was tasty and the stew deliciously vibrant in contrast to the soft potato and creamy fish. There was a foam too, but it was in plentiful supply rather than a dribble, and it tasted good, delicately fishy.
Our fourth dish was lamb, tender sweet slices served with great gratin dauphinoise topped with fat cloves of caramelised garlic. A rich meat reduction came in a small vintage gravy boat, a touch that I loved, being rather particular about where my gravy goes. I also loved the mix of Mediterranean vegetables that was on nodding terms with a ratatouille but rather more sophisticated from the exclusion of too much tomato sauce. The meat itself was just as I like it, lean slices edged with sweet fat, delicious.
The final course came as a piece of pure theatre, a huge tureen filled with seaweed arrived with deep fried oyster placed back in their shells with some more fishy foam. At the last minute the chef tipped water into the centre releasing the mystic vapour of dry ice. It looked so good and such fun that I can see the ice rink restaurant being awash with swirling mists and people chomping down on crisp oysters.
Dry ice features in some of the promised dishes, one of which is popcorn, three pieces of which will make you breathe a plume of mist nearly two foot long. What parent is going to deny a child the chance for that kind of fun?
I liked what we ate and have to say that when they arrive here in Brighton, bringing with them their tricks and magic, a dry ice boiler and interiors that look like a magicians den, I will be there to find out more. I will definitely not be skating on the ice but I will be asking for the dry ice to decorate my table.
