In our office, like probably every workplace in Guernsey, there appears to be two types of people.
Those who would eat at Vraic if they could afford it, and those who would never pay on principle for food that costs 10 times the price of a portion of fish and chips.
I’m solidly in the first group. I went to Vraic last summer with my wife and two now-adult kids as they were both flying the nest and we wanted to mark this once-in-a-lifetime moment.
And mark it we did – both my children described it as by far the best food they have ever tasted.
Vraic will not be everyone’s cup of seaweed.
My mum, who thought spaghetti bolognese was exotic cuisine, would have hated it, and my brother, who believes he need to go no further than Lidl for haute cuisine, would begrudge it.
But let’s get one thing straight. Everyone I have spoken to who has eaten at Vraic was literally blown away by the food – it is off-the-scale gastronomic inventiveness.
I’ve been to five Michelin star restaurants over the years and there have been times when I have looked at the bill and wished I’d invested instead in a thousand tins of spaghetti hoops.
But not at Vraic – Vraic was worth every penny.
Dinner at Vraic costs £175 per person, without drinks, so a group of four will be looking at a bill north of £800.
In the past year I’ve probably been to local pubs to eat six or seven times and spent the same sort of money over the course of those meals.
But would I swap that experience at Vraic for those half-dozen decent pub meals? No.
Will I remember that evening at Vraic in 10 years’ time? Absolutely. Can I remember what I had for dinner at a pub two weeks ago? No.
And that’s the point. You pays your money and you takes your choice.
