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THERE’S plenty of things cooking at The Dilly, with a new menu and an array of summertime promotions to keep those expat and local members who have ‘stayed at home’ a chance to enjoy the chef’s delights.
One of the most popular features is the Saturday Sushi Night which probably deserves an addendum … the Saturday (so much more than a) Sushi Night at the quaint Bistro, I’m happy to suggest.
It’s been several month since I last dined at this venue. For the uninitiated, the Dilmun Club was founded in 1974 and is fondly known as The Dilly. It’s a family, sporting and social facility in Saar which, at the last count, boasted members from 60 countries.
It was wonderful to be welcomed to the table by waiter Vijeesh, a club stalwart of 13 years standing, who reminded the good lady wife, Kathryn, and I, how he remembers our teenage children, Imogen and Stan Jnr, when they were little poppets running around the pool.
I like The Bistro venue a lot. I recall it being upgraded and redecorated and it now has that settled in, warm ambience and the black & white photographs of the stars of yester-year on the walls remain as addictive as ever as you attempt to name the familiar faces in the frames.
The Sushi Buffet Menu provides a waiter service for the two opening dishes before you need to tuck into the little exquisite rolls of excitement, followed by a buffet dessert and a selection of cheese, fruit and biscuits.
This is where I justify my ‘so much more than’ sushi subtext. The Hot & Sour Soup of the Day was accompanied by a slice of garlic bread and a warm roll. This is such a delightful Asian dish, a joyous mixture of carrots, peas, onions and egg with a marvellous peppery kick.
The superb soup was followed by a choice of three dishes, Edamame - green soya beans with salt, Calamari – fried and topped with jalapenos dressed with a spicy cause and Negimayaki – pan-fried beef rolled with spring onions and teriyaki sauce.
I chose the beef and this was superb. A mighty roll of meat, which I would have saluted had it been offered as a main course, was delivered to the table in the sort of plated style which would easily have felt at home in any five star restaurant.
A truly magnificent dish that I still can’t stop raving about, succulent and full of flavour with the spring onion engineered into the roll adding its extra bite of brilliance. Kathryn enjoyed her calamari too but I think I picked the night’s winner.
Executive Chef Tej Bahadur Tamang, now two years into his appointment, is obviously revelling in his role after a career developing his culinary craft in award-winning hotel restaurants.
The ‘magnificent five’ were his choices for the sushi buffet. The California Roll featured crabmeat, avocado, cucumber and tobiko. The Avocado Roll is self-explanatory with shredded carrots and tempura flakes. The Philly Roll had salmon and cream cheese and rice wrapped in seaweed. The Tuna Rocket Roll had cucumber wasabi flakes dressed in olive oil and the Amai Maki was a mixture of prawn tempura, salmon and avocado with plum sauce.
I was very lucky earlier this year to meet celebrated Chef Pepi Anevski who was visiting and demonstrating his skills at the Gulf Hotel Bahrain’s award-winning Sato Japanese restaurant. He’s a man from Macedonia, now based in Denmark, who has received many accolades but few more prestigious than winning the World Sushi Cup in Tokyo.
We’ve kept in touch and only this week, he told me: “I have travelled around the world sharing my passion for sushi. I often encounter prejudice and stereotyped-thinking because I’m not Japanese.
“As a chef I take my profession seriously and I always try to be better than I was yesterday. It would never occur to me that my nationality should stop me for what I’m passionate about. You don’t need to be Japanese to be great at sushi.”
On Saturday, Nepalese culinary star Chef Tej helped reemphasise the point.
General manager Stephen Chartres and the Dilly’s executive committee are delighted with how the Bistro continues to blossom. The popular Sunday Dinner-for-Two sessions are growing in popularity alongside the Lobster Night staged on the last Thursday of the month, with other international cuisine themed dates in between.
In my opinion, at just BD8-a-head, the Saturday Sushi Night will take some beating, with a special beverage promotion to add to the mix.
For further information or to book a table call 17690926 and for club membership details visit www.dilmun-club.com.
