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The
biggest claim that the Bristol Hotel ( Krakowskie
Przedmiescie 42/44. Tel: 625 2525) has to top hotel,
in this city, is that it is housed in a pleasant
old building. Membership of the leading Hotels of
the World is not the claim to exclusivity that it
used to be. Since this association is, after all
a marketing and booking organisation and with 300
odd member hotels it signifies a high standard rather
than the best. Despite the recent loss of control
by Rocco and family I doubt if much will change
in the short term. |
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I trundled along the
other lunch time to see what the business lunch offered
and once again failed to have the actual business
offer, this time less by seduction, of an other items,
but more by being put off the offer of that day.
At lunch time the Malinowa, which is the number one
restaurant, was closed. However the Marconi next door
was open and offered a full menu as well as a business
lunch. The Marconi is an elegant room hinting at the
era of the later Louis's with friezes and reproduction
chairs of that era. The white walls feature more recent
cartoons, a la Spy.' And the greenery was provided
by a couple of carefully grown young tree clusters
and the view onto the central courtyard, which is
essentially a garden. |
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My arrival caused a
quick checking to ascertain that they could fit me
in. A superfluous move and in any event a head waiter/
receptionist should have a clear idea in their mind
about table availability. However I was planted at
a table in the middle of the room and at my request
left with menu and wine list. The menu featured a
daily selection which included a three course special
for Zl.46
The main menu had: small range of starters priced
between Zl.18 and Zl.48 for smoked salmon, a good
range of salads costing up to Zl.32, an interesting
collection of fish including Turbot at Zl.84 and other
meatier mains around the Zl.60 mark. Since this is
supposed to be an Italian restaurant, pasta had to
be included and the dish that caught my eye was the
tagliatelle with scampi, new green peas and mussels
flavoured with wine and fresh orange.
The menu of the day offered a selection from the buffet
to start and then veal tripe's with green peas and
potatoes followed by a selection from the desert buffet.
I inspected the buffet before I sat down and was frankly
not that impressed. However what was really putting
me off was the tripe. I have eaten delicious tripe
in France but I was wondering if I really wanted to
risk them here. Also I could not but ask whether tripe
were really the thing to offer as the only main course
on a set lunch in an international hotel. This question
was answered by my helpful waiter, who when I suggested
that I might go with the tripe, politely pointed out
that this dish was a local dish and not all people
liked it. That finally made up my mind and if I wanted
further proof the table across the way contained a
group who were clearly deep in discussion, and not
served by such a helpful waiter. When the plate of
tripe's landed in front of the main American he quickly,
and positively, explained he could/would not eat tripe.
So I ended up with two items from the daily menu.
For a starter I had monkfish and salmon terrine. This
came on a bed of lettuce and surrounded by a light
herb flavoured mayonnaise. The two slices of terrine,
with layered salmon, monkfish and salmon tartar, looked
good, bound with a light fish aspic. I though it looked
it a lot better than it tasted. There seemed to be
a distinct lack of any real oomph in the taste.
For a main I had pork loin with balsalamic sauce and
broccoli dumplings. The pork tasted of pork even if
it was a little over cooked and sauce was well made.
The broccoli dumplings were in fact two spoonfuls
of chopped broccoli. Not a bad plain dish and difficult
to fault although I do not know why they called the
broccoli dumplings.
To finish I had a strawberry flavoured crème
Brule which was first rate with the custard, under
the good crisp caramelised crust, having a clear strawberry
taste.
The wine list was a good and comprehensive with most
wines around, or above, the Zl.100 mark. I had a two
fifth of a litre carafes of good house wine at Zl.16
each. The final bill was for Zl.114.50 with a clear
stamp that service was not included.
The restaurant was reasonably busy, with about half
the tables occupied, during my stay and thus there
was a good atmosphere. Getting my bill and paying
it, took a great deal longer than it should have,
but apart from that I had little to complain about.
The Bristol is clearly a very different operation
to its rivals in concept and delivery. I suppose it
is more European in operation which makes it more
formal and less gimmicky than its competitors for
the best in town. |
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