Don’t tell anyone, but I think I may have just found one of Jersey’s best kept secrets. When visiting this beautiful island, food of course is always at the top of my list. Scouring TripAdvisor for the latest new openings, trawling through Visit Jersey for the best recommendations or scrolling social media for those dishes you simply can’t miss. This time around we dined at a restaurant in the same hotel we were staying in named Tassili and what a find it was! Especially as it was never on our radar previously.
The restaurant, located inside the five-star Grand Jersey Hotel & Spa offers some rather magnificent views across the beach over the ocean from St Helier. Staying in the hotel that evening, we started our journey in the restaurant with a glass of bubbles while we salivated over the tasting menu. The restaurant is looked after by the very talented head chef, Nicolas Valmagna who has created a menu showcasing the best of Jersey’s food scene.
To kick off this incredible evening, some small amuse bouches arrived to the table. All of which were perfectly executed – both visually and in the mouth. Little goats cheese balls on sticks, crispy fried arancini balls laced with truffle, puffed skin topped with what I think was taramasalata and my favourite – grilled squid which was served as a pre-starter. It was heavenly.
We were dining from the “Jèrriais” tasting menu which consisted of 6 courses (including the amuse bouches) and the first of the larger dishes to arrive was one of the most stunning. A generous amount of the freshest flaked crab meat, Kalamansi gel, Combara lime and because all of that flaky crab wasn’t already enough – a crispy fried crab bonbon. A truly delicious dish.
If you know me well, you’ll know there is one item of food that I just can quite get to terms with. I’ll always eat it, but never do I quite love it and that food is – oysters. “Gillardeau Special” Oyster No2 had been poached and served with fresh, candied and pureed heritage beetroot, along with slivers of the finest pata negra cured ham. A really lovely dish which certainly helped my journey to enjoying oysters that little bit more.
Our meal here started off so well, yet with each course it simply got better and better. One dish, amongst many others which we fell in loved with was the Classic Herd pork belly with sticky pig cheek, boudin noir, compressed apple, cider cracker and shavings of Perigold truffle. Such a rich, decadent and mouth-watering dish which would leave even the fussiest of eaters lost for words.
Star dish from not just our evening here, but from our time in Jersey was this locally sourced Jersey fillet of beef with textures of Cevenne onion and local crispy kale. Everything was so well cooked, the meat was served with both sirloin and fillet cuts and the jus was stunning. Yet it got better still, in the form of a whole pot EACH of aged Comte cheese foam for dipping just about everything into. A reason to return alone.
Preparing us for the surprise of a dessert to come, a rather delightful pre-dessert arrived to the table. Served on top of an ice-cold plate filled with alcohol to stop it turning to solid ice, the dish was topped with a mix of meringue, granita and cream, all which for me tasted a lot like a Pina Colada if my memory serves well – the latter my favourite cocktail of all time.
The main spectacle was a dessert which not only looked like a piece of art, but tasted just as good. While this sweet treat may look like a lovely shiny green apple, it is in fact filled with a Granny Smith apple filling at its centre, apple mousse and encased in a white chocolate shell. The apple was sitting on a base of crushed pecan nuts and then served with a scoop of apple sorbet on the side. I’ve seen similar creations like this before in restaurants, but never have they tasted this good.
By this point we were close to crawling out of the door in one very worthy food coma – but it was worth every delicious calorie of it. The people here are so lovely, the food is easily worthy of one of those shiny red stars – but above all every dish was incredibly satisfying. If that wasn’t enough, Kirsty who looked after us was sublime. Very theatrical in her serving of each dish but for us it really made the evening and turned this into a real destination restaurant. We’ll most certainly be returning in the future to discover what else head chef Nicolas Valmagna has up his culinary sleeves.
NB: Our meal was complimentary. All views are as always, my own. My views are not influenced by anyone other than my own palate and slightly poor eyesight.
What a fantastic meal, that dessert looks spectacular!
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one of my best meals of 2018!