CHIC Eats

Iam still trying to find my words after my dining experience at La Table Krug by Y at The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain. To say it was a memorable culinary journey wouldn’t do it justice, so I will try to transform the tastes, textures and emotions that I felt into a sequence of words to give you a sense of what to expect when dining there. However, I highly recommend that you go yourself to fully understand it and identify exactly which element will touch your soul. As soon as I arrived at the exclusive and private restaurant, which accommodates just 16 people in total, the iconic Chef Yann Bernard Lejard, Director of Culinary and Food and Beverage, came to greet me. He oversees all 14 dining destinations at the hotel, but La Table Krug by Y (he is the Y in the name) is where you are exposed to his personal touch and brilliance. The space is an ode to luxury with velvety chairs, wooden panels on the walls and cute little lamps creating the perfect ambience. In the middle of this unique space lies Yann’s portrait and right under it, a pedestal holds his most recent project, a massive book. An imposingly beautiful volume with a fantastic compilation of images that evokes the chef’s passion for art using the medium he knows best: food. The book, a collaboration with Brazilian photographer Sergio Coimbra, is a concept that extends the definition of live painting to an understanding of a living painting where the work is transformed each day, creating new beginnings.

Yann is, first and foremost, a creative mind. We are just lucky that he expresses his artistic talents through food. However, despite plating and playing with volume, colours and textures, his creations taste like food – comforting food. Somehow, he develops a culinary art movement which involves our senses without losing the real nature of the food. His dishes take you to new heights exposing your taste buds to unexpected sensorial experiences.