Dining Out
Karl
Wells
The Cabot Club
Fairmont Newfoundland
115 Cavendish Square
Ph. 726-4980
The Cabot Club is the most expensive dining room in
St. John's. A bowl of soup costs $15 and many entrees cost near $40 and more.
It's not a restaurant that most can afford to visit every week. It's the sort
of place you might want to visit for a birthday, anniversary or some other
significant celebration.
I’d been holding off reviewing The Cabot Club because
of the cost. In the past few years every time I've looked at the menu in that
glass case in the lobby and seen the prices for items like pan roasted cod with
scrunchions, I've nearly fainted.
Don’t misunderstand. I have seen high and even higher
restaurant prices before - but not around here. I once paid $60 for an entree
in an American restaurant and didn't regret a cent of it because the food was
so extraordinary.
In major cities like London, Paris and New York it’s
possible to spend $500 on a five-course meal for one! However, even by Fairmont
Hotels and Resorts standards, The Cabot Club’s prices are a tad on the high
side.
At Fairmont’s Le Chateau Frontenac’s Le Champlain
restaurant in Quebec City, for example, entrees run between $21 and $38. Most
of The Cabot Club’s are in the $35 to $45 range. Epic at Toronto’s Royal York
charges $10 for soup, and $7 for desserts, compared with $15 for soup and $10
for dessert at The Cabot Club. I don’t mind spending a lot of money for a
“special” dinner; but, for that expenditure, I expect a superior meal. That’s not
too much to ask when paying $43 for a plate of ordinary fried seafood.
A good friend of mine enjoys the atmosphere and
service of The Cabot Club. He says it’s the only place in St. John’s with “Old
World charm and civility.” I’m not so sure but I agree with him on service. The
Fairmont Newfoundland has some great staff. It’s impossible to find better. Our
server, Gary Whalen, has been with The Cabot Club nineteen years. He provided
impeccable service.
The room itself, however, needs to be refreshed. It looked
tired and worn. I actually found it a little depressing. I’ve never been a big
fan of beige but it seemed everywhere I looked I was seeing and feeling beige.
I did like the table settings. The china and flatware were smart, and the
napkin folds, artful.
A basket of bread arrived containing a few slices of
whole wheat, French and multi-grain. It came with swirls of herbed and plain
butter. The bread was good. We nibbled on it while enjoying a cocktail.
We were delighted to receive an amuse bouche. It was a
small slice of terrine of duck fois gras with a dark coloured quenelle of dates
and fruit. The chilled slice was smooth, rich and decadent. It contrasted
nicely with the grainy, sweet compote. This sort of thing is far too rich for
everyday but a real treat on a special night out.
Guest’s soup appetizer was delicious. It was a white
bean veloute with caramelized scallops and pancetta crust. For me it was a
sophisticated version of a soup my mother would often make. She just called it
boiled beans and ham. The Cabot Club version had flavours reminiscent of my
mom’s. Because the beans had been pureed, crispy pancetta substituted for
regular ham and a few scallops added, the restaurant version had a completely
different texture and flavour level.
My appetizer was a local chanterelle risotto with “a
mosaic of roast winter vegetables and spinach.” It was disappointing. Risotto,
properly made, should be creamy. The creaminess comes from short grain or
Arborio rice being stirred constantly in broth so that starch is released,
thickening the broth. The result should be a luxuriously creamy rice dish, to
which, many things can be added.
In this case, chanterelles, shitake mushrooms and some
roasted vegetables were added. However, The Cabot Club risotto was not creamy
enough. The texture was coarse and grainy. An unpleasant taste of cooking oil
was present and the vegetables lacked flavour.
“Honey and spice crusted breast of duck, duck leg
confit and baby vegetables” was the menu item calling out to me. I wish it
hadn’t bothered. The bits of confit duck were dry and hard in a cloying,
intensely sweet, almost black Asian style sauce that covered the entire dish.
The duck breast was coarse and tough and so lacking in duck flavour as to be
unidentifiable. I was somewhat shocked and suspected the provenance of the
duck. I do not believe the bird was a top grade product in the first place.
Otherwise it would have had more natural flavour.
Guest’s entrée was the ubiquitous seafood platter,
similar to what’s found in many St. John’s restaurants but The Cabot Club’s
portions were smaller. It contained cod, halibut, salmon, prawns, scallops and
tomato oil drizzle. Every piece of seafood on the plate was overcooked, some
more than others but especially the salmon and halibut. The cod tasted and
appeared to be most close to the correct stage of cooking.
The Cabot Club has a dessert trolley. Servers push it
about from table to table when patrons are ready for it. The trolley contained
a number of cheese and mousse cakes. I picked a piece of white and dark
chocolate mousse cake, with a crème Anglaise sauce for garnish. It was quite
good, very smooth with lots of chocolate flavour. The cake had an unsweetened
dark crumb crust that I appreciated for its lack of sweetness since the mousse
provided enough sugar. The crème helped in that regard as well.
The Cabot Club has a fabulous view of the old harbour,
fabulous looking tables and, above all, a fabulous wait staff. But, not
everything is fabulous. Far from it. My guest and I were served some very
expensive food that was simply not very good. The Fairmont Newfoundland cannot
justify The Cabot Club’s high prices unless and until it improves the food.
Our meal for two, including cocktails, wine, one
brandy and gratuity, cost $259.71.
The noise level was low and The Cabot Club was
wheelchair accessible.
Best Points:
Service, service, service.
Areas for Improvement:
Cooking times and procure better duck.
Ratings Category:
The Cabot Club at Fairmont Newfoundland gets 7.5 points
out of 10.
7 points = satisfactory, 7.5 points = good, 8 points =
very good, 9 points = excellent, 10 points = perfection