I'm still trying to figure out the restaurant scene around here. I was surprised to discover that almost none of the restaurants are open on Sunday and have come to expect that very few of them are open on Saturday. But Friday? Come on. Surely these folks go out to eat on Friday. And while Georgia and I have long tended to eat earlier than most folks, I decided to try Melange at about 7:00 which I figured must be prime time for diners around here.
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So I walked up to the restaurant and wasn't particularly surprised to discover that it looked rather like a converted old home. About half the places around here look like converted old homes. Sitting behind a podium on the porch who seemed both surprised and bored when I walked up and asked if they had room for a single diner. They did. I had the place to myself. Eventually there was one couple who came to dine there but other than that... |
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I apologize for most of this group of pictures. The restaurant was dimly lit and 7:00 in the evening is well after sundown. The poor little cellphone camera just isn't up to dim lighting. Melange was nicely furnished and they played what can only be described as easy listening steel pan music. Slightly jazzy. Thoroughly forgettable. The menu was interesting but as the waiter explained to me, many of the items had run out yesterday. Apparently both they and the locals are aware that no one goes out to eat on Friday, Saturday or Sunday here and so they manage their resources so as to minimize the waste. |
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| So for starters I had the Chicken Tikka. I am more use to them describing the dish as Chicken Tikka Marsala which I am led to believe is the most popular restaurant dish in England. But this was definitely not the Marsala version. It is probably the Indian dish before the English decided that it needed a sauce on it. Very tasty and nicely presented with a rice pilaf and a sprig of some herb that I can't identify. |
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For the main course I had tiger prawns which came with another rice dish and some very lightly cooked vegetables. The group in the middle is the generous serving of prawns with another herb for decoration. They too were nicely prepared. Still for reasons I can't quite figure out, I wasn't particularly impressed with my meal at Melange. Nicely prepared. Nice presentation. And yet... Fodor's described it as "Some of the most imaginative food on the island is to be found at this elegant establishment on restaurant row." And I didn't really find it so. |
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