14 September 2007

1876 a wine club in Jamaica, organized a tasting meal in Mac’s. I have been in Mac’s a number of times over the last few months and have been increasingly disappointed with the fayre. Inevitably I order the filet mignon and the cuts of meat are always too marbled to be ordered blue or even rare. Quite obviously, the normal clientele order their steaks crispy and the chef orders his meat accordingly. The set menu for this meal will at least force me to try other delicacies, to see just how Mac’s can justify its reputation and price.

1876 is an interesting club as the proprietor takes a genuine interest in the wine and promotes them with huge enthusiasm. He partners with a Master of Wine who regularly co-hosts tasting evenings and waxes lyrical on the virtues of the wines. Unfortunately with the shipping and duty costs of bring wine to Jamaica, very ordinary wines become very expensive.

Starter of guinea chick lobster accompanied by a brandied lobster bisque was delicious. This was served with a white Hermitage. The wine was a terrible disappointment, flabby and tasteless most certainly not the honeyed richness our hosts were praising. This set a pattern for the evening where the food was well matched to what the wine should have been, had a decent expression been available or affordable.

The next course of pan fried Chilean Sea Bass with saffron was probably the highlight of the meal and the pairing with a good green and fresh South African Sauvignon Blanc worked very well. A cheap and cheerful screw cap that benefited from the good food, but it also certainly gave something back. The only complaint was the Croxetti pasta with which it was served, had a consistency of undercooked dauphinoise potatoes and was inedible.

The filet mignon ( I couldn’t avoid it!) was well hung and quite gamey and served with a reduction of the wine being tasted, a Napa merlot. The wine was a straight forward full flavoured, big alcoholic Californian wine. Little subtlety or delicacy in the wine thought it did stand up to the meat. More strongly flavoured than I would expect of a filet and still with some connective tissue, this certainly wasn’t cut from the thin end of the chateaubriand.

I thought at the time that final course of a roasted hazelnut and white chocolate mousse was a purchased desert, though I have since been told that it is a house speciality. Ridiculously with a demi-sec Anjou, the wine was lost completely.

Cheese were served with a standard LBV port, though the Roquefort was good and coffee was a very good Blue Mountain roast.

In all it was a decent meal let down slightly by the wines. Paul and Adrian must be slightly embarrassed at some of their offering, and it is probably just as well that to a majority of Jamaicans, fine wine is an unknown quantity. Mac’s definitely do some things well, but steaks are not a strong suit, despite the reputation.