Restaurant review – Coral Tree

Coral Tree at the Fairmont Zimbali Resort
When walking into the lobby of the hotel I was really impressed, the finishes, the décor and design make it an amazing venue.
In such a fine setting you would expect the food to match but unfortunately it didn’t.
The food was good but I really expected more, especially as I was there for Valentines Day.
On offer was a table de hote menu, with a starter of oysters with tomato terrine but they didn’t remove the oyster from the shell properly so when you attempted to suck it back it stuck to the shell – which is forgetting the basics.
The grilled asparagus crepes were divine and get full marks and now I was really looking forward to my intermezzo* which was supposed to be a champagne and rose petal sorbet.
Unfortunately our mains arrived before we were served our sorbet and when we asked the waitress about the sorbet she said she would bring it, but the sorbet  finally arrived after we had finished the mains. After all that, it was a peach sorbet because they had run out of the one on the menu – very disappointing.
The prawns on the prawn platter were very nice – well cooked and of impressive size but the accompanying tomato relish lacked flavour.
The fillet was grilled to perfection but needed more sauce as fillet is tender but doesn’t have much flavour compared to a sirloin or rib eye.
The desserts were the highlight for the evening but I didn’t get my chocolate macaroon with my mousse as per the menu.
In short the food lacked personality. The service also needs some major work as I didn’t see any manager checking on tables, engaging with the guests. At a five star resort you expect some personal attention.
There are nine different restaurants at the resort so there is plenty of choice.
I think they have the potential to be the best in the area but they need to tighten up on service.  Zimbali is open to the public and Coral Tree is open for breakfast lunch and dinner, serving a wide range of food.