There’s no shortage of good restaurants in Chamarel, but despite all the other great restaurants, whenever Mr “C” and I go to this area we end up eating lunch at the same restaurant- Le Chamarel. Overall, Le Chamarel is still one of the best in my book after weighing all the factors, especially quality of food and service and affordability.
As this weekend Mr C and I spent the weekend at Lakaz Chamarel http://mauritiusattractions.com/lakaz-chamarel-hotel-13.html , so before checking in we went to Le Chamarel for lunch. The temptation was too great to resist 
Don’t be put off by the never ending winding road to the top as it is well worth it, the view of the restaurant is stunning. At Le Chamarel restaurant you find a beautiful and comfortable restaurant with expansive views of the ocean below and the majestic mountains. It is located on a small plantation that grows and produces local coffee “Chamarel coffee”.
We were greeted at the front door by a hostess with a warm smile in a nice suit who told us the restaurant was full. We then entered the restaurant and found it really completely full- that moment I wished I would have made a reservation. Nevertheless, we agreed to wait 5 minutes on the bar.. We were then seated on their great terrace overlooking the sea
The design at le Chamarel is earthy, made of wooden chairs and tables with white table clothes. No doubt much attention is given to every detail and item in the restaurant.
At first, the service was good but not great, but I don’t think any completely full restaurant could have given better service. Three different people asked us if we already ordered before we actually received our drinks.
Once the restaurant became less full, service was amazing and we couldn’t have asked for more.
We started the lunch with a nice carafe of Rose wine (230Rs) and the complimentary warm buns and room temperature butter.
For starters we had the Smoked marlin and palm heart salad (Rs 395) and the tempura prawns (Rs 395). The tempura prawns were delicious, light, fresh and salty. They had us mmming and aahing, and Mr C and I both agreed we could have eaten a bigger portion of those alone for our lunch.
The Smoked marlin and palm heart salad was attractively presented and a good starter. The heart of Palm has a very mild flavour, but it was a subtle taste presence in the dish rather than a complete void of flavour. It was nice, although perhaps it didn’t have as much wow factor as the other appetiser we’d already tried in our past lunches there.
For main courses we had beef fillet with pepper sauce (Rs 695) and barbecued spare ribs (Rs 650).
The grilled beef was tender to the bite and had a smoky charred edge and was flavoursome enough on its own. The chef put the peeper sauce straight on th beef and which wasn’t to my liking. I love the taste of meat, and as such, I strongly prefer to have the sauce on the side and then can decide what to do with it.
In addition, the steak was smaller than I expected – much smaller than expected.
I plead of restaurant manager to write on the menu how many grams the dishes are. It is unfair to leave it up to the client to choose a dish without knowing its true value for money.
This is only achievable if you know the steak of XXX grams costs XXX+VAT. This steak turned to be 250 grams, which made it a little expensive.
The Barbecued spare ribs are proper, thick-cut numbers, but with the tinge of pink all the way through that you only get from long contact with smoke. They were tender, but not so that they fall away from the bone. And they are properly sauced, in the sticky Texas style.
For dessert, we had the Chocolaté fondant (Rs 265). Chocolate lovers, this dessert is to die for! The dough was so light that it looked and tasted almost like soufle – and the hot melted velvety centre was like a never ending lava river of chocolate… Simply amazing.
I had been here three times before, and was always very impressed with the food and service. For us, it’s one of the better restaurants in Mauritius.
Le Chamarel is Nothing short of inspiring, perched high in the Black River Mountains, flanked by the shimmering turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean is Le Chamarel Restaurant.
Blending an exciting and mouth-watering selection of Mauritian and European cuisine, Le Chamarel Restaurant plays host to a spectacular culinary experience, well worth the visit – even just for the view!
Comments:
-
All the prices mentioned in this review are VAT Exclusive
-
The restaurant accepts all credit cards and cash in rupees, euro and US $ – Cheques are not accepted.
We were guests of the restaurant.
Loading ...