Flambés Return In Grand Fashion

Flambés – the ultimate in restaurant theatre – have made a hot comeback at Eastbourne’s Grand Hotel.

With the fashion for retro foods with a modern twist, coupled with customer demand, the hotel has reintroduced flambé desserts in the Garden Restaurant. Each week there is a featured flambé dish, including the all time favourite Crêpes Suzettes.

The return of the flamboyantly prepared dishes is proving a novelty for guests as well as staff. Whilst Executive Chef Keith Mitchell can remember serving plenty of food flambéed at the table in the 1970s and 1980s, many younger members of his culinary team never learned how to create the spectacular dishes.

“I have now trained the staff and they really enjoyed discovering how to make flambé dishes,” said Keith, who has also created the new flaming dessert menu. “I remember the flambé days and so do many of our guests. Many of them asked why we didn’t offer desserts such as Crêpes Suzette any more and this, coupled with the fashion for other old favourites such as prawn cocktail and Black Forest gateau set me thinking.

“Like many dishes that fell out of favour, as food trends changed, flambés have definitely emerged from the wilderness years and made a comeback. Crêpes Suzette, in particular, was once a staple on many restaurant menus and they are proving really popular with people who remembered them first time around as well as guests who have never experienced having a dish flambéed at their table before.”

In addition to Crêpes Suzette Keith’s other fiery desserts include banana flambéed with brandy and served with a caramel and chocolate sauce, pineapple with a hint of ginger flambéed with coconut liqueur and nectarine flambéed with brandy and served with a raspberry coulis and ice cream.