On the cards

Andrew Kay gambles on a great dinner at the Rendezvous Casino’s Waterside Brasserie

Casinos have always had a fascinating allure, from my first ever visit to the Playbook Club in London’s Mayfair after a dinner made entirely of varieties of caviar. Yes, I started young and at the very top on the life of excess.

Funnily enough, as an 18-year-old art student the gift of £100 of chips, gambling not potato, was too good to be squandered on cards or roulette and I discreetly exchanged them for cash, hid in the toilets for a while and then returned to reveal that Lady Luck had not sat on my shoulders that night. I have since had better luck at the tables but it’s not a habit, just an occasional fun outing.

The Rendezvous Casino at Brighton Marina has done well in establishing itself as a fun outing, with a wide range of things to draw you in of which gambling is only one. It is now a popular draw for the young and the old, and on this most recent visit I was amazed to see how full it can be and what a great atmosphere it has.

But I was not there to play but to dine, and on arrival we were greeted by the lovely Anna and Stefan, a professional pair of restaurant staff as you could ever wish to find. Our table, large and uncramped was not so close to the gaming floor that we would be distracted but was still positioned so we could see what was going on. I’m always amazed at how intense gamblers can be. They too may have been pondering how intensely I was in studying the menu.

The new menu is refreshingly simple, a fair number of dishes are offered but there is nothing silly or out there in terms of culinary ambition, and this I applaud. So often I want a dinner of good but unchallenging food. Not that the menu did not offer the Kitchen team some challenges, they were there as I will reveal, but there was no poncey silliness.

I was joined by Ms McD, a good friend and fellow food lover, and one that will choose dishes to see how well a chef will prepare a classic. She started with a Caerphilly cheesecake on a peppered biscuit base. I suspected that it might be heavy or indeed sickly but I was wrong. It was surprisingly rich without being too heavy and the cheese packed a good punch of flavour – and she loved it. I chose the seared carpaccio of tuna with five spice crust. Now a good carpaccio should be firm but rare to the point of rawness. It’s a dish that requires precise cooking if it is not to end up as a dry sausage of red fish. Take a look at the photo and I think you will agree that the chef knows how to get it right. The accompanying waxy potato, chickpea and avocado were a perfect match and the presentation was pretty damned fine too.
Ms McD moved on to a burger. Now I can enjoy a burger from time to time but it would seldom be my choice when offered so many other delicious options. But Ms McD was of one mind and a burger with skinny fries it was. I have to admit that when it arrived it looked pretty good, generous and well cooked. She confirmed this to be the truth and applauded the salad which was sensibly seasonal, the cheese and the bacon within the bun. The bun she said was good, not stellar but right nonetheless, and the chips, which I tried, were good.

I wanted to stick with fish so chose the Lebanese spiced king prawn brochettes with Persian rice and my choice of spinach with garlic butter. The prawns were perfect, the spicing just right, and they were properly dressed, or should I say undressed. The rice was good and the spinach perfect. I had nothing to complain about, which will come as a surprise to some of my colleagues.

I was really too full for dessert, but Ms McD pointed out that for me a pud is a civic duty. She went for the chocolate fondant with a request that white chocolate ice-cream be replaced by ordinary choc as she has an aversion to vanilla. The fondant was exactly right, deep in flavour and gently oozing when cut open.

I was drawn to a dish called English Garden. It listed chocolate and macadamia soil as one component. Now I’m not a fan of soils really, they fall into the same class as foams and are as useful as smears when it comes to eating. I was however wrong on this occasion as this soil was a delicious and generous crumble on which a garden of raspberries, blackberries and strawberries seemed to grow with mint leaves and home-made macaroons.

It was spectacularly lovely to both look at and eat, and I was utterly won over.
To drink we had a superb white rioja and after dinner with good coffees we enjoyed a brandy which our waiter Anna warmed gently over hot water, a classy touch we agreed.
The Waterside Brasserie is a fine place for a good night out with good food. They are more than capable of dealing with larger parties and also with maintaining a level of decorum too. Success at roulette could lead to unruly behaviour but not here, a level of calm dignity prevails. We also loved the entertainment from a lady who started with a string of Bond themes which she delivered with confidence and style.
You can risk your cash on cards, dice or at the roulette wheel, but place your money on the food and it’s a pretty safe bet.

The Waterside Brasserie at Brighton Rendezvous Casino, Brighton Marina, 01273 761903,
www.brighton.rendezvouscasino.com