Top restaurant to close despite Ronay accolade

GUERNSEY'S top restaurant is to close despite becoming one of the best in the UK. Cafe du Moulin has been listed in the Egon Ronay RAC Guide of the top 200 restaurants.

Owner Christophe Vincent said it was good for the restaurant to be recognised.

But trading conditions in Guernsey and people's reluctance to travel to St Peter's have prompted his decision to close when the lease expires at the end of September.

'Accolades are one thing, but business is another,' he said.

Mr Vincent has run the restaurant, at Rue de Quanteraine for nearly five years. It is the only Michelin Star-rated eatery in Guernsey.

The Egon Ronay Guide has been restarted after an eight-year interval and restaurants were inspected anonymously.

'My manager said that there was someone asking a lot of questions when they had finished their meal,' said Mr Vincent.

'The Michelin star was the first award and this is a bonus. It's nice to know we're still on track and

consistent.'

That was vital in a restaurant, he said, and was why he believed the Cafe du Moulin was tops when it came to receiving awards.

The restaurant also has a maximum two star rating in the Harden guide.

The renowned food critic said that the Cafe du Moulin was an excellent restaurant that richly deserved its rating in the top 200.

'As always, our inspection concentrated on the quality of the food and we were very impressed with our meal there,' he said.

The guide says that the Cafe du Moulin takes full advantage of the best of the daily catch from nearby Portelet Bay.

Roasted monkfish was quite rightly among the specials on the board when the inspection was carried out and the modest cream spinach and slow cooked lobster were also worth highlighting.

Mr Vincent comes from Annecy, in the French Alps, and he has lived in Guernsey for nine years

He said a lot of Guernsey people were more concerned with the price of food than the quality of it.

While the Cafe du Moulin was one of the more expensive restaurants, it compared favourably in terms of cost against places with similar ratings off island.

The high cost of buying property in Guernsey was mirrored in the cost of renting and labour costs were also high.