James BryceBy Jon Clarke
IT was always going to be a bold move opening an intimate French brasserie on front-line Puerto Banus.
But clearly mood lighting, Provencal dishes and a cheeky wine list was not de rigeur!
For, after just three months, the owners of spanking new restaurant La Brasserie cut their losses and returned it to its previous guise as an American-style diner.
Welcome back Jacks, a restaurant that had become an institution on the Costa del Sol over the last few decades.
The largest restaurant in Puerto Banus on busy weekends it was known to do up to 500 covers in a day.
“A lot of people would have just stuck it out and tried to force it to work, but we decided to go the other way,” explained restaurateur Ram Nandkishore, who owns a string of restaurants on the Costa del Sol, including Mumtaz and Polo House, with James Hewitt.
“We were getting about a third of the trade of last summer and people kept asking to bring back Jacks.
“We decided we had to make a move, and here we are,” explained owner Ram, who sold celebrated London eaterie Kensington Roof Gardens to Richard Branson a decade ago.
So literally overnight they took out all the fussy French furniture, moved out the lights and – la voila – the old diner was back.
“Of course we had to get new signs made and menus, etc, but thankfully the place is nearly full again, so everyone is happy,” added Ram.
As Basil Fawlty might say, for the hoi polloi around here just fill a trough with baked beans and sling in a couple of dead dogs.
and for Banus…add a soup spoon of Columbian marching powder…
Marching Powder? Did someone mention my name???
Yay! More bland American crap to compete with TGIs!