/ Reviews / French
Bold as Brass
by Selena Schleh
on Friday, March 11, 2011 12:00 AM
While a restaurant's name can inspire visions of culinary greatness, they are all too often dispelled on first bite. The Oxford English Dictionary defines "grand" as "magnificent and imposing in appearance, size, or style". Does the Waldorf Astoria's Grand Brasserie merit this adjective, or is it just plain hubris?
Located in the recently refurbished New Tower section of the Waldorf, first impressions of the restaurant are promising. You descend via an imposing staircase, like a modern-day debutante at her first ball. From the acres of glistening marble floor to the extravagant crystal chandelier trembling overhead, the whole place gleams like a freshly polished wine glass.
Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, this uber-traditional brasserie features a mixture of classic French and Chinese dishes cooked with theatrical flair in the open kitchen. Of the starters, the seafood constituents of the Bouillabaisse (RMB138) - succulent sea bass, red mullet, clams and prawns - can't be faulted, but the broth, though flavorsome, is rather thin. Lacking that fiery punch of garlic and chili, this is a delicate, nouvelle-cuisine version of the dish, a long way from its gutsy Provencal peasant roots.
Main courses are generally of the safe and crowd-pleasing variety. Aside from numerous pork dishes, there are four other meats - lamb, duck, chicken and beef - which feature in both French and Chinese guises. Hence, you can savor a richly unctuous Canard a l'Orange (RMB198) with lightly spiced, slow-braised red-cabbage, or sample its Chinese alter-ego in the form of Roasted Crisp Duck pancakes (RMB196).
The parade of brasserie favorites concludes with an array of desserts, including a tripartite selection of pistachio, coffee and vanilla Crème Brûlée (RMB68) paired with crisp cinnamon sticks, and the Half-Baked Chocolate Biscuit with Praline Ice-cream (RMB68), which - despite its rather prosaic name - yields a decadent flood of molten chocolate upon the merest touch of a spoon.
Eating a la carte is a wallet-busting exercise, so for luxury on a shoestring go for the good value set lunch (RMB118), which offers a choice of starter, main and dessert specially selected by the chef.
The Bottom Line: Grand Brasserie lives up to its name with traditional dining in an opulent, luxurious but slightly stiff environment.
