Restaurant Review – Brasserie Blanc, Chichester

Once again, my wonderful mother-in-law invited my husband and I out for lunch, this time to celebrate my husbands birthday (how lucky am I to have a mother-in-law who loves eating out?!). She had recently eaten at Brasserie Blanc in Chichester with friends, and was keen for us to try it.

Since opening its doors in Chichester nearly a year ago, I have heard mixed reviews, not in relation to the food, but to the service and portion size, so it was with interest that we embarked on a taste of France in the centre of Chichester.

We were offered a choice of two menus, the Dine with Wine and the lunch menu. The Dine and Wine is a special offer choice of a 2 course meal for £11 or 3 courses for £13.45, and a glass of wine starting from £1.75 depending on the option of wine you decide upon. My mother-in-law decided on the Dine and Wine and my husband and I chose from the standard lunch menu.

The choices available would satisfy every palate and making the decision of what to have for a starter had me tossing a coin in my head; smoked mackerel or grilled squid, smoked mackerel or grilled squid….the squid won. As luck would have it my husband chose the mackerel so I was able to sample it anyway! The third starter we opted for was goats cheese salad. The starters were delivered in good time and were all delicious. The grilled squid and courgette with a parmesan and rouquette salad was bursting with flavour and delicately dressed with sweet balsamic and I couldn’t fault the dish.

For mains we decided upon Pork Belly on summer vegetables, liver (served medium rare) and sage mash with buttered cabbage and I chose North Sea cod on salted cod and a tomato sauce. Again we were not disappointed in our decisions. If I had one criticism with my meal, and was being really picky, the skin on my cod was not as crisp as I would have liked it and there was a lot of oil, which I’m assuming was from the salt cod, which made it incredibly rich and I was unable to finish all of it – which is unlike me! But they were personal preferences and if it had detracted from my meal I would have sent it back, however I didn’t and the food was of a high standard that you would expect from a restaurant of this calibre. The cod was cooked to perfection (barring the skin) and the sweetness of the tomato sauce complimented the flavour of the salt cod perfectly.

My husband’s liver dish was cooked to perfection, blushing pink with a creamy sage mash, and my mother-in-law was delighted that the slow cooked pork belly came with ultra crispy crackling, an all time favourite.

We did come to the conclusion though by espying other patrons dishes, that when choosing from the Dine and Wine menu, the portion sizes appeared to be somewhat smaller than dishes from the regular menu. Maybe this was where the complaints had come from as the two options from the main menu were more than satisfactory in size. So much so in fact, we declined the offer of dessert and went straight to the coffee.

As for the staff, I have to say that we received impeccable service from the moment we entered the restaurant to the moment we left. Our waiter was polite and personable with the right level of attentiveness. The plates were cleared quickly, the wobbly table leg was resolved as soon as it was brought to their attention, and the servers that we spoke to throughout our visit were all professional.

The restaurant itself provides a relaxed atmosphere, with décor to match – ironically in the same colours as my kitchen. In the centre of the restaurant is a display of enticing produce to purchase, including oils and vinegars, being two of my many weaknesses, however I did manage to resist getting the credit card out, probably as my husband was keeping on eye on me. Although the restaurant was full to bursting, we never felt overcrowded or had to raise our voices to be heard and due to the clever table planning, romantic couples would still be able to enjoy an intimate meal even with all the hustle and bustle going on around them.

The Dine and Wine menu is exceptional value for money and ideal for an impromptu get together with friends or a light lunch. The Summer Lunch Menu, although noticeably more expensive, is worth the money in my opinion. But it’s not just the food that your hard earned money is being spent on here, it’s the ambience and experience, which I felt was worth every penny – or every penny of my mother-in-law’s anyway!

Star rating: 9 out of 10

Restaurant Review – The Lamb Inn, West Wittering

My wonderful Mother-in-law called the other day to invite my husband and I out for Sunday lunch. Being a foodie I of course jumped at the chance of consuming the culinary delights of another local establishment. We have a small selection of pubs and restaurants in our local area and I am endeavouring to work my way through all of them, which is proving to be an interesting and mixed experience.

The Lamb is a quaint pub situated on the main road running to West Wittering, so is an ideal location for attracting passing traffic. The car park is frequently full during the summer months, with holiday makers and day trippers stopping off before heading to or from the beach, and the pub offers various meal deals throughout the year to keep the locals coming back. Having eaten there only once in the last 5 years, with that only being a quick bar snack to fuel ourselves on our bike ride, I was looking forward to sampling their Sunday lunch menu.

On arriving we went to the bar and asked for a table, with only one being left inside (booking during the summer months is recommended), this all looked promising. If a pub is empty at the weekend during the tourist season, I’d be rather concerned as to why!

The menu consisted of light bar food, such as jacket potatoes, or more substantial meals such as ham, egg and chips. There was a specials board for Sunday lunches, consisting of 4 or 5 starters and main courses, including a Sunday roast, with a choice of beef or turkey. Unusually for a pub, we had table service rather than having to order at the bar, which also included our drinks being brought to us from the bar as well, a nice touch.

We all decided to order from the specials board, with my husband and mother-in-law ordered the roast beef with all the trimmings and I opted for poached haddock on crushed new potatoes with a caper, lemon and butter sauce. Our food arrived about 40 minutes later, which was understandable as the place was packed and we didn’t notice the time as we were busy chatting and catching up. The roasts looked acceptable and was served with roast potatoes, carrots, cabbage and cauliflower and a huge yorkshire pudding, which my husband commented was overcooked and hard, indicating that it may have been made a while ago and kept warm. The beef was medium to well done, which is usual when ordering a roast; it would be wonderful to find a pub or restaurant that served their beef medium rare at least, but alas, I’ve yet to find that elusive place. The vegetables were cooked well although had little taste, however the potatoes were a hit and hubby happily polished off his own as well as the one going spare from his mother’s plate.

My dish consisted of two fillets of poached haddock placed on a mound of crushed new potatoes, cauliflower and carrots and a hollandaise sauce with capers, which looked as though it had been sitting for a while and unfortunately the sauce had formed a custard like skin and had separated slightly. The dish lacked colour and was crying out for something green to liven it up, however I wasn’t going to let that put me off.

I don’t think even some greenery would have rescued my meal however; the haddock was overcooked, dry and slightly chewy, the vegetables were unassuming and tasteless and the initial taste of the separated sauce was acidic from the vinegar and capers. It wasn’t until I peeled the custard-like skin back and tried the next layer of sauce that I managed to get a taste of the lemon. I did however have 3 bones included in the fillet, for free! The saving grace of the meal for me was the crushed potatoes which were buttery and seasoned well, that was of course until I clamped down on a peppercorn, which then provided a burst of aromatic flavours which weren’t in keeping with the delicate dish I had ordered. All in all, a disappointment.

With the plates cleared away, we waited for a good 30 minutes before realizing that we were not going to be offered dessert, so had to request the menu, which consisted of pies, crumbles and suet puddings, all of which were a bit heavy following a roast. We therefore decided to pass on the puds and have coffee at home.

The waiting staff were all young teenagers and there appeared to be no supervision in providing them direction, resulting in below average service. We were not asked at any point during our meal if everything was to our liking and we had to request the dessert menu. Having said that, our waiter was polite, courteous and had a smile.

For around £10 per head for an average roast and a below average fish dish (with free bones!), there are plenty of other establishments I would chose above this pub, whose meals are actually worth their prices.

The Lamb is an attractive pub in a prime spot for passing trade and well known amongst the locals. Being fully booked on a Sunday lunch time is an accolade to the management that they have got what it takes to fill their restaurant. Unfortunately, on this particular day, they didn’t in my humble opinion, have what it takes to provide the Sunday lunch experience I was anticipating. Maybe my disappointing meal was a one off, I’d like to think so, therefore to satisfy my curiosity as to whether this was actually the case, I will be eating at The Lamb again, in the not too distant future, with the hope that it won’t be my final visit.

Duchess