The Lion Hotel
161 Melbourne Street
North Adelaide, South Australia 5006
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www.thelionhotel.com menus and wine list available from their site
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contactus@thelionhotel.com
t +61 8 8367 0222
f +61 8 8367 0223
open Monday to Friday and Sunday 12 noon till 3.00 pm, Dinner Monday to Saturday 6.00 pm till 10.00 pm — it is always polite to make a reservation, but reservations at the Lion are essential Friday and Saturday evenings, Friday and Sunday lunch.
New review 19 February 2011, consistently included in Galaxy Guides since our inaugural 2006 hard copy edition
click here to go straight to Kaaren Palmer’s review of the 1998 Cuvée René Lalou
FOOD there is sometimes a certain amount of hypocrisy when it comes to expectations of a restaurant. From one restaurant there is the comfort that nothing ever changes, the staff, the menu or the wine list and yet from others it is disappointing when the menu remains unchanged for so long. The difference being that from one it is a tradition and weirdly acceptable but it is not the type of restaurant we would choose to go to on a monthly basis, even a weekly basis. At restaurants considered to be in the upper range, one expects some innovation, seasonality and specials that represent the motivation and enthusiasm of the kitchen. When this doesn’t happen, one wonders if the chef has lost inspiration or the management feel they have captured their market and don’t want to mess with a successful formula. We also understand that what we (and our readers) look for may not be precisely what the general diner is looking for.
It had seemed to me for some time that long–term executive chef at the Lion, Murray Smith had fallen into just that trap and that the inspiring food of their opening years had dissipated into same old same old. In fact, it was not the food but their extensive, excellent (and very well–priced) Champagne list that recently drew us back to the Lion.
On the first of our two recent visits we brought with us a Christmas gift of a 96 Henriot and had already decided to drink the 98 René Lalou listed on their web site…yes, we were out for the big day a post, in fact our only, Christmas celebration. The Lalou was no longer available and instead we chose a Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill 1998 for our second bottle. Matching food to wine is an art at any time, but matching food to Champagne is complicated for any chef. Frequently they get very little opportunity to cook specifically for Champagne and it is even more complicated in the instance of rare Champagnes where they mainly work from tasting notes and don’t get the opportunity to taste the wine until seconds before they serve the food. Even if the chef does have an interest and is willing to spend their own money on good Champagne to discover what works the commitment to learn is an expensive exercise. We were prepared to make our own matches from the Lion’s menu choosing to share everything so we could discuss our matching success and the beauty of the Champagnes. It is fair to say, that as a chef I have had incredible opportunities with some of the most famous houses to cook food to go with Champagne and have often put my money on the table to experience how other chefs perceive the concept of Champagne and food as a harmonious combination.
Long–term Executive Chef Murray Smith continues to play a strong hands–on role in his kitchen.
We started with the Smoked trout, preserved lemon and dill croquettes with Gorgonzola aioli $12.90. A classic vintage, the 96 Henriot was stunning, with a length so powerful that it might have even stood hard against far more dominant flavours than we chose. The croquettes (2) were delicious, flavoursome and balanced. The frying oil was clean and they went extremely well with the defiant powerful savoury finish of the Henriot. Our second choice Beef tartare with foie gras mousse, pearl onions, potato foam and white anchovy soldiers $21.90 was nicely plated and the white anchovy soldiers were a good twist. I must admit being a purist when it comes to tartare and admit that next to a perfect crème caramel it is one of my most favourite things to eat. My preference is for very fine mince without any fat content but Smith’s version was very well done.
The shared main course Murray Valley pork fillet with braised belly, pickled cabbage, sweet potato, prunes and apple vinaigrette just did not work for us. The sweet potato was a smear and the pork fillet lacked any of the caramelised flavour of 100% pan cooking that this cut relishes. Perhaps our lack of enthusiasm for this dish was that we are lovers of chunks of sweet potato with fabulous sugary sticky skin and the fillet itself lacked universal pinkness. By this time we are into the second bottle, but have taken it so slowly, the kitchen must surely have been wishing we would go home so they could go for their break. The Pol Winston, young and austere as it is, is that the food is such a different Champagne that comparing the two wines would have been idiotic.
For dessert, having missed out completely over Christmas I opted for the plum pudding and Kaaren chose the blackberry frangipane. She won by a mile with a really gorgeous dessert and put up with me grumbling about a Christmas pudding that was almost devoid of fruit and cakey without that rich fruit laden moistness of a real plum pudding. Were we upset? No the service was fantastic, the wines excellent and the food 75% there.
So, a month later we were back again. The reason to drink the 1998 G.H. Mumm René Lalou. Co–owner Tim Gregg had gone out of his way to find another for our enjoyment. Here is must be said that the mark ups on more expensive wines are very modest. A good example is NV Rockford Black Shiraz for just $125. Their wine list has always been intelligent and interesting and they have never been afraid of taking on new wines that might be hard to convince diners to drink. Such as the lovely champagne from the famous Côte des Blancs grand cru village, Le Mesnil (think Krug Le Mesnil). Without this sort of commitment from restaurants many great brands might never find their way to market.
We started with Seared scallops with crispy chicken wings, almond gazpacho, honey poached duck breast with walnut and apple salad, black garlic and tomato basil jelly white onion fondue, bitter chocolat $21.90 – very wordy we know. Having just two months earlier eaten live scallops from Kangaroo Island it has been impossible since to eat any scallop dish in Australia with any relish. These frozen scallops no matter where they come from or how expensive they are, are tasteless texture and no matter how much embellishment and work the chef applies they remain just that. We followed this with Smoked chicken rillettes with spiced cranberry relish on sour dough $12.90. This was delicious and despite the fact that the cranberry was basically an embellished commercial product there were good flavours and the light fattiness was a brilliant match with the René Lalou.
The next dish Rabbit and bacon salad with mushrooms a la grecque, broad beans, maple and tarragon mayonnaise $21.90. A gorgeous plate (it did not go unnoticed that Smith plated all of our food) but it looked exquisite, a wreath of salad floating on a pale green mayonnaise sauce. Maple syrup is fashionable throughout Australia at the moment, God knows why because adding sugar does nothing for most European dishes. Smith uses the maple syrup with a very restrained hand, almost undetectable, and the mayonnaise was stunning, so stunning another spoonful would have been perfect. The textures of the salad were complex with the softness of the confit rabbit and the silken enoki mushrooms, shaved briefly blanched carrot and micro herbs that were embellished with watercress. This dish was very, very good.
We finished the meal with rum and raison ice cream chocolates and should have been wise enough to know that for $3.90 for two we didn’t have the right to expect good chocolate. A bit more work, better ice cream and better chocolate these could be addictive and we’d be happy to pay a lot more for the pleasure!
So where are we with food at the Lion? The lion has a very mixed clientele and we are certain that at least 80% of their regulars are not going to be as nitpicking as we are. If you want a great plain steak they have it all and they always have market fish treated with respect. If you are really looking for something different let the well–trained staff guide you. Add to that, excellent well–priced wine choices and the service is great……so, what’s not to like and where can you go in Adelaide such that the experience doesn’t have to be in some way negotiated ? It is tough to stay in business in Adelaide and we cannot blame well run establishments for keeping their menus 80% safe.
Here it is important to mention the service. Assistant restaurant manager Tegan Van Den Berg pitched it just right. Didn’t get flustered when we were pompous enough to have our own glasses not washed with soap and dried with special lint free cloths. Tegan, sensing the passion for Champagne, nicely added to the experience by telling us about the Champagnes she had tried over Christmas. Never obtrusive, she scored highly, especially when, without being asked, she returned the cages, caps and boxes at the end of the meal. We’re saving the caps and are going to have them turned into buttons and have something smart made to use them on. Some of them are so beautiful it seems a shame to throw them in the bin.
Synopsis
The Lion hotel dining room is stylish, service is good, wine list excellent and food whilst not as exciting as it was in their early days remains consistent and don’t forget they are open for Sunday lunch. AO
WINE
Champagne Editor Kaaren Palmer reviews 1998 Cuvée René Lalou
Mumm’s Champagne René Lalou is exceptional – a cuvée de prestige of a Grand Marque which had fallen from grace some years back, in between the death of René Lalou, takeovers, mergers, divestments et cetera. Current cellar master, Didier Mariotti, has not only revived the quality of the G.H. Mumm range, but paid homage to his illustrious and gifted predecessor. Enter Cuvée René Lalou 1998, after a gap of 13 years. A product of the very best juice from seven of a choice dozen vineyards which represent the pinnacle of Mumm’s expertise in extracting from the terroir the essence of great champagne. Once blended, the wine is aged on its lees for seven to ten years while it develops complex aroma and flavour structures. The dosage is deliberately light to allow the quality of the developed fruit to speak for itself.
This wine featured in the finals of the Vin de Champagne Awards last year. Our bottle compared very favourably, limpid, golden and finely beaded. Aromas unfolded throughout our lunch, developing and changing depending on temperature and the development within our glass. Beginning coyly with some sweet apples and understated mineral elegance while still quite chilled, we were lucky to experience a wine multi–layered, structurally perfect, toasty, creamy, ample, luscious; with stone fruits, vanilla nougat and marzipan, crystallised orange, yet refreshing to the end.
House History
Notes from the House of G.H. Mumm
The Cuvée R. Lalou has a fascinating history. In 1966, in honour of its president, René Lalou, G.H. Mumm released a legendary prestige cuvée called René Lalou that in its 25–year history saw only nine vintages, the last of which was in 1985. This cuvée is still ranked among the greatest Champagne cuvées ever made and now more than 20 years later, G.H. Mumm pays homage to the man and the wine with the launch of Cuvée R. Lalou Vintage 1998, using grapes selected from among 12 parcels of G.H. Mumm’s finest terroir.
Even after his death in 1973, Lalou’s spirit remained very much alive through the Chefs de Cave of G.H. Mumm, who handed on his notes to their successors, and were always careful to leave in a forgotten cellar corner a few wine samples that might one day serve as the base for a new blend. Thus it was that the first vintage of the new Cuvée R. Lalou, vintage 1998, came about. The new cuvée therefore marks a return to the roots, both literally and figuratively.
As the Cuvée R. Lalou follows closely the style of the Cuvée René Lalou, the winemaking approach is based on the same fundamentals: the soil, the land, the Grands Crus, the vine, nature’s bounty and, finally, the alchemy of the blend and the House’s savoir–faire.
Like its predecessor, the Cuvée R. Lalou Vintage 1998 is based on the House’s seven Grands Crus. Building on the trial blends of the original cuvée, it goes further by examining the very heart of the vineyards selected by René Lalou, but keeping only the best of the best. These are the oldest vineyard parcels, those that are in the best sites, the most distinctive. We have managed to single out a dozen special vineyards in a patchwork of parcels. These are the vineyards that René Lalou himself restored or acquired.
KP
OWNERS — Tim Gregg and Andrew Svencis
CHEF — Executive Chef Murray Smith assisted by Chef Jason Chalmers and Sous Chef Miles Cook
RESTAURANT MANAGERS — Kirra Dack, asissted by Tegan Van Den Berg
