There’s no question about whether or not the past year has been tough for the restaurant industry. The pandemic has done it’s work on every corner of our way of life and yet in the midst of all that there are restaurants that have manage to open their doors for the first time.
Grand Pavilion opened on the March 18. It is described as “a fusion of Beach style and Mid-Century luxury; A place of sunsets, sundowners, sublime meal, and good vibes.”
A friend chose Grand Pavilion as a spot for their birthday. On the drive to the place, having done absolutely no prior research, I saw the restaurant menu for the first time and I was absolutely flabbergasted at the prices. However, as the evening went on it became clear what we were paying for.
Spaces
As you walk into Grand Pavilion you are first met by guards in black tie at the front, who give you the new normal ‘establishment hello’; the temp and sani routine.
Walking in we were greeted by a bustling restaurant floor and interior set up that gently whispers Havana beach vibes. Natural light spills into the space from every direction, so much so that I couldn’t actually tell you for certain if the space is enclosed. We arrived in the late afternoon so, this gave the space a lovely soft warm light glow throughout. The artificial lighting of the space was setup in such a way that even after the sun sets the warm soft lighting, and the accompanying carefree vibe it creates endures.
One of the hostesses led us to our reserved table which had really comfy couches (although I do think the backs were a little too far from the table, but comfy none the less) facing the ocean and sunset.
I should say that the restaurant has two sections. The company was in the ‘beach’ section which takes up the front of the restaurant space. If that area was day, then moving a little further into the restaurant would be a walk into the night. This is the kind of place I imagine stolen taxes and oil money gets spent in. I didn’t spend much time in this space, but the dark toned features and deeply saturated satin furniture give the space a brooding sense of elegance.
Taste
Kingklip
They had a number of special offerings on the day that we were there. I had the Kingklip; the best freaking fish I’ve ever had in my life.
My biggest anxieties when coming to places like these is that
a. The price of your food goes to the restaurant architecture and location mortgage and not to the flavour
b. That if the money does go to the flavour, it goes into portions that would frustrate a toddler for lack of generosity
Grand Pavilion, did not disappoint me at all.
We received the perfect sized portions, and it wasn’t just the Kingklip, all the meals were generously dished. I’m always suspicious of fish that doesn’t come with a side of chips because I rarely ever find myself satisfied without that extra serving of carbs but here that was no issue.
The fish was accompanied by a garlic mash, green beans, mayo, pesto, a parboiled egg, and those 3 juicy cherry tomatoes which could have stood to be 4 or 5 but it is what it is.
Okay I might sound a little pretentious here but bear with me.
This fish was cooked to perfection. It had a very subtle and soft crisp skin with a slightly deeper concentration of flavour that is wonderfully carried though the whole fish. Biting into the fish it had a soft and spongy yet firm feel to it, which simply melted away while chewing, leaving me with nothing but great flavour and an immediate desire for more.
I initially thought that the garlic mash was too garlicy, but this seemed to be the trick of this meal. Even the fish walked a fine line on the salt barrier, teetering on the edge of too salty but not in a nagging way. Anytime I would think “Oh that was flavourful, but the next bite will be too salty,” the next element of the food would come in and wipe a way that feeling like rolling waves of “gotcha!”
I mean I have literally never had such perfectly prepared green beans, I actually wanted more, green beans!
The mayo came in and provided a great tanginess. The pesto gave a hearty freshness to the meal. Along with the subtle sweetness of the tomatoes all these elements made it hard to figure out exactly what the ‘perfect bite’ may be.
Having long checked out of conversation with the people at my table to have a dialogue with my meal I paused to analyse the wreckage of my engagement. I then realised I had one more element to unleash onto this battlefield, I mean plate. My poached or parboiled or whatever you want to call it egg.
The yolk of this egg was the patiently waiting super sub of this meal, bringing in the perfect umami to solidify this meal as a hall of famer in my mind. Two eggs would’ve been nice.
Choc Torte
Grand Pavilion had a mere 3 desserts available in their selection. We were advised against even trying the panne cotta, the dessert that every restaurant serves but not a single one does right.
Admittedly the desserts punch below the level of the mains but I quite enjoyed my dessert.
I am a medium level dark chocolate enthusiast, so I found the chocolate torte quite satisfying. The Valhrona ganache was rich and smooth, and really everything you could ask for with a ganache. It is quite a deep chocolate though and usually whenever I have a dark chocolate dessert I like to have a ‘palette cleanser’ there to fight against the building bitterness.
This role was filled by a homemade tonka bean ice cream which was strange for me. There really just wasn’t enough of it to let me get a good read on it. With the fish I went through the meal ecstatic that I had so much of every element, but with this dessert I felt cheated at the less than a golf ball of ice cream they gave me to accompany my dessert. The portions of the ganache and ice cream didn’t correspond meaning that in the end the dessert left a taste of overpowering bitterness.
The ice cream itself had a smooth texture, that wasn’t quite creamy but not quite like a sorbet either. The actual flavour beyond the vanilla kept threatening to show up but never quite landed. I somewhat enjoyed it but I don’t think I ever got a bite big enough to fully taste it.
The ganache was accompanied by a speculoos crumb that almost felt like the little pieces were all sculpted into little perfectly sphereical biscuit particles, I asked, they were not.
This base wasn’t held together and compacted by butter to the same extent as most desserts like this. This:
a. Made it lowkey annoying to try get more biscuit up, those perfect spheres kept rolling everywhere
b. Made the biscuit so much more satisfying somehow, I think the fact that I had to be so active to get any on my spoon at all contributed to it
That subtle crunch of the biscuit and the smoothness of the ganache made for the perfect contrast in texture.
There was also a salted caramel sauce around the plate along with little chocolate biscuit balls that I can only describe as the coco pops of royalty. The pops were probably my highlight of this dessert, and definitely left me wanting more.
Cheesecake
I’m not a huge fan of cheesecake in general and this was not my dessert, so I only had a young taste test.
I was not particularly impressed, it felt like it was an unremarkable fridge cheesecake. In texture felt overly saturated. Very smooth but it felt like there was not enough air in there. I don’t know if that is this cheesecake’s problem or just a problem I have with cheesecake in general. The lemon flavouring along with that simply felt overly aggressive.
I have to be very selective with my dairy intake because of how it affects my sinuses. Usually when I have ice cream, I don’t care because it tastes so good. Having something simple like a McFlurry I’m a little more conscious of the dumb amount of dairy but it provides a low quality, high quantity dopamine punch of flavour. With this, all I could feel was the high dairy consumption for very little payoff, I had one bite.
Peach Belini
I am not a drinker so if ever I do drink, I opt for something relatively sweet. Fairly disappointing that they have the beach vibe and no accompanying cocktail menu.
They did have this peach belini that was perfect in every way. Soft bubbles, a delicate smoothness to it. This belini was to champagne, what mango juice is to juices, in terms of change in viscosity – I love Mango Juice.
This was served in a cute little champagne glass and gone too soon. I didn’t order a second because it wasn’t on the menu, I didn’t have the price, my ego wouldn’t let me ask and I could already feel my bill stacking up in any case.
Cost
I’ve undoubtedly eaten at this restaurant 2-5 years too early. One thing I’m not going to do with these reviews is pretend like the prices aren’t what they are.
The prices are wild at this place.
However, for the food (particularly the mains) and the atmosphere, if you have a decent group of people, Grand Pavilion is definitely worth your coin, IF you have the coin to spare – March was a healthy month for me, so I did not particularly mind. But, it is the biggest check I’ve ever picked up and I just paid for me.
Scores
Atmosphere - 4.3
A vibe but the view of the ocean was just obstructed and that couch was too far back.
Mains - 4.6
Everyone was satisfied, probably one of the best dishes I’ve ever had.
Dessert – 3.2
Torte was nice, coco pops were great, not enough ice-cream. Average cheesecake. Minimal selection.
Service and overall experience – 3.7
Decent, could definitely tell they wanted us to have a good time.
Value for money - 3.5
(this is a weird measure to have for a place like this, but I’ll call this the boujee buffer)
It’s possible to get mains that won’t be as sophisticated, but will still be delicious, the vibe is nice and the night will be as lovely.
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