Creamed Cabbage

The new restaurant, the first one on the other side of the marina, along with its bar were very busy from day one, in March 2000. In the first few weeks, we listened to our regulars and tweaked things as we went. In a bid to break away from traditions, I decided no longer to serve our creamed cabbage. There was such an uproar from those diners who loved it that I immediately put it back on the menu. Blunders, I’ve made a few. 

Just after signing the lease, we found out that there was no natural gas supply on the South side of the lock gates and so we had to resort to using cylinders of Calor gas. In the fifteen years that Krimo’s was on the Marina, we fortunately never ran out of gas during service despite having a few near-misses and a frantic search for the nearest supplier.

In the first few weeks in the new restaurant, Madjid, our head-chef, found the going quite hard due to the increase in the number of customers compared to Seaton Carew. Although we already employed a few young chefs, we decided to look for someone with experience. We found the ideal candidate to help him, in the form of Colin who had worked alongside Didier for many years. Between the two of them, they took the kitchen to even greater heights. We introduced a few more North African dishes to the menu, such as Lamb Tagine which became one of our bestsellers. That was one of my favourite meals as I was growing up in Algeria. Even when I left home to go to boarding school and later to university, it was the first dish my mother cooked for me whenever I returned on holiday. There are many versions of tagines depending on the meat or vegetables used. The word itself refers to the terracotta dish in which the meal is cooked. My favourite includes tasty chunks of lamb and meatballs. Funnily, although it contains no fish, it is called Tagine Elhout which means Fish Tagine. It is flavoured with garlic, cumin, coriander and caraway, a mix of spices often used in fish dishes.

Although I was based mainly at Portofino, I spent a lot of time at Krimo’s in the first few months setting up systems and sorting out any problems that arose. I also managed to cross the marina regularly to help Karen out on busy nights. Having been brought out of semi-retirement to work nearly full time at the new restaurant, she too found the going very hard.

The Sahara bar was initially looked after by two pleasant barmaids, Lyndsay and Leanne with the addition of Delian, a gentle young Romanian who has since sadly passed away. The bar attracted very few marina residents and was rarely used for anything but pre-dinner drinks. It unfortunately never did take off as a stand-alone bar especially when more and more bars opened along Navigation Point.

Overlooking the lock gates, the restaurant’s window tables became very popular. Diners loved watching yachts and fishing boats entering and leaving the Marina. Often before service, I stood looking out at sea and dreaming of my sailing days on the Indian Ocean towards Madagascar.