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Fine to Dine
with Grand Marnier
Ask most adult
to name a liqueur and I’ll bet good money the name Grand Marnier is
one of the first – and probably few – they can think of. Take a look
in the drinks cupboard at your parents’ house – or even your own. Is
there a dark amber bottle in there, looking a little like a pot
still, with a red ribbon running down the neck? Chances are there
is. It’s Grand Marnier. But when was the last time you knowing drank
this French cognac-based, wild orange-flavoured liqueur?
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Sure it’s used as a
mixer in cocktail bars. It’s a key component of the B52 and makes a
good digestive, in a balloon or on the rocks. But, across the
Atlantic people will drink cocktails throughout a meal and some
restaurant have been known to partner cocktails with specific dishes
throughout a meal. The trend hasn’t taken off in the UK, but Grand
Marnier believes it has something to offer the restaurant at the
right stage of a meal. We gathered at La Porte des Indes, a colonial
style Indian restaurant with a twist: it celebrates the food of
Pondicherry,
a small state on
the east coast of India. Rather than British or even Portuguese,
here the colonial influence is French. After a meal of Tandoori
Grilled Lobster and Poulet Rouge, partnered by Casa Lapostolle
wines, we were served three desserts: Belgian Chocolate Mousse with
Star Anise; Bebinca, a layered treacle and coconut pudding from Goa;
and a Red Rice Créme
Brulée. |
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The velvety mousse was unctuous and rich with anise-flavoured
chocolate. It was perfectly complemented by Grand Marnier, the
orange flavour accenting the chocolate and the liqueur some how
reining in the sweetness. Cuvée du Centenaire with its more
elegant orange flavours chimed perfectly with the firmly
textured coconut pudding. The chef had infuses the brulée with
cardamom to harmonise with the more complex Cuvée du Cent
Cinquantenaire and had topped it with caramelised papaya. This
was an unusual but satisfying pudding, which proved a good foil
for the nuanced, cognac aromas of the liqueur.
Dessert wine is often seen as good way to increase customer
spend, but the reality is that many dessert wines are not really
sweet enough to make great matches for sweet enough to make
great matches for sweet dishes. Your chef and sommelier may find
that these three liqueurs from Grand Marnier provide an exciting
alternative that will also please your customers.
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