Day out - A Kingston experience Hips flying here and there, Latin music in the air. Latin dance classes in the Jonkanoo Lounge at the Hilton Hotel, New Kingston, make you forget your cares and inhibitions.
Rosemary Parkinson, Contributor
WANT TO get away from the hustle and bustle of Kingston and still stay close to home? Try The Hilton Hotel's (New Kingston) Jonkanoo Lounge and The Palm Court Restaurant - in that order. The friendly staff will greet you with a welcoming smile. Anyway, it is 2:00 p.m. on a Thursday. All I want is to lounge around the pool and dream about dinner tonight. Actually this is the real mission - to have dinner, but dinner with a difference, or so I have been told. I check into a non-smoking room it's not the Ritz New York but it's comfortable change into pool gear and off I go. The bar has people but is not overcrowded. Already I am in a different world. I cannot see or hear the city, I am out to lunch. Ordering a rum punch, I begin to read and that is it...dreamland. When I wake about an hour later, the pool invites me for a quick cool off and then it is time for tea. Well excuse me but I am one of those...tea please Louise. I choose from a display box brought to me and order some 'little tea crumpets'...scrumptious freshly baked pastries...found my little finger doing its tea fashion...you know...pinky up in the air...checking out wind direction and velocity. CHA CHA CHA, THE RHUMBA AND MORE I go up to my room and begin to prepare. Sexy outfit, dancing shoes. Yep, I have a date Latin dance lesson beginning at 6:00 p.m. on a Thursday in the Jonkanoo Lounge. I am prepared for the challenge. (Had a body-riveting massage at Massage Therapy before tea). Well people, what an experience. Rita Moreno has nothing on me, if you please. Samba, rhumba, chachacha and Merengue, hips flying here and there, Latin music in the air. Hello Marc Anthony, Miss Rose is here in Kingston, Jamaica, dreaming of a hip to hip revolution with you and only you. Dear Lord, life is so good and I do thank you for this music of the Spanish gods. But the best is yet to come. Dinner and a menu designed specifically for me awaits my presence in The Palm Court Restaurant on the Mezzanine. After a quick pull-yourself-together and powder-your-nose session, I glide up the stairs from the foyer to be greeted by Tricia Copeland, the lovely Assistant Manager who welcomes me with a twinkle in her eye. My table is set, my dinner companion rises and kisses my hand. 'Sir' Howard Escoffery, Senior Waiter, pulls out my chair and opens my napkin in one fell swoop. He places that special menu in my hands smiling warmly. He reminds me of Louis Armstrong but assures me "it isn't me!" Okay, when did you last see The gentleman with me yes, he is a gentleman and no, there is no name but I must whisper this...he is just needed to help me imbibe the wine. Oops, sorry Sah. Now that I am an uncontrollable wine lover (heh heh) Monsieur Olivier Lavoine, Food 7 beverages Director, has 'forced' me into tasting his new range of wines, and what better way than with a companion. I AM IMPRESSED We begin the evening with a Prosecco Di Conegliano "Venus" Drouhin at my side. Light, bubbly and fruity without being too sweet, it is the perfect accompaniment to my Salade du Jardin aux Chevre Chaud. Okay, okay so I want to impress. It's the creamiest Jamaican goat cheese you have ever tasted, and it's lovingly placed on teeny squares of "wow" garlic bread...Lord Escoffery smiles and gives me a knowing deep laugh. I am impressed. Next is Soup du Pecheur and I have specifically chosen the "Bricco Ross" Gavi di Gavi wine. The soup, garnished with half a sea crab (would have loved to nyam it up but hey, sometimes a little decorum), was light, a touch of cream giving that silky savour. Being the way I am, I have to put in my little two cents here. Monsieur French Chef, a touch spicier please, and watch that cream. If the liquid is too hot, cream curdles. And yep, I noticed. The chunks of divine lobster and shrimp and that bottle of Gavi di Gavi...oh, dear. By this time the adoring companion and I well... The piece de resistance, served with a good helping of Fernando by Abba giggle, giggle, just joking. Was it a coincidence that this Matador Music skillfully played by in-house guitarist David Hayle should herald in Tournedos Rossini (better known as Beef Tenderloin) blissfully rare, just how I like my meat well-done on the outside and young, juicy on the inside. Topped with a smooth Goose Liver and a smart Red Wine Sauce, garnished with mint and accompanied by rosettes of cream potato, this had to be served with my...my... Amarone Tommasi. Sorry! Just could not help it. One sip and I was away in my own glorious world. AHHH, LIFE IS GOOD At this point Harry, or whatever his name was, could have just upped and disappeared for all I cared. The tenderloin was melt-in-the- mouth and the Amarone melt-in-the-brain. Celestial. What a combination. Lord have his mercy. I am certainly spending a lot of time in heaven. I did have a taste of a Chianti Classico - Carpineto, that's because the one sitting across from me had to have his own. Very commendable, a good choice but sorry, don't mess wid me and Amerone. Ah, life the one thing that is constant in it is change. And so it was that now a Borgo Sambui Loazzolo '91 was poured and a dessert lover's delight served Creme Brulle aux Framboises des Bois (the first part is English also but Raspberry is the translation for the whole bois bit). Scrumptious. How about a little local touch here? Say a sorrel-wine compote...in fact with that particular wine, a touch of Passion Fruit would have been orgasmic. But I am so happy it was just to be Raspberry on this occasion....I was in enough trouble already! A brilliant Creme Brulle. The truth? I was not too believing that there was a well-kept secret at The Hilton Hotel but I am here to tell you, it is so. A demi-tasse (love to see the right cup used) of Espresso, a 21-year-old Appleton warming my soul and, believe it or not, a damn good Jamaican Mario Palomino cigar in hand (compliments of the French gentleman who shall remain nameless) and I was in glory, glory land. I just cannot report further than this.
|
