(The Stranglers)
Browns Brasserie – Bluewater
We returned to Bluewater a week after we’d tried the ‘Five Guys‘ burger chain.
Val’s not a fan of burgers, I think the ‘Five Guys’ burger was only the third she’s ever eaten, so I thought we should try somewhere different. I’d spotted the ‘Browns’ sign from ‘Five Guys’, and decided to check them out online (and fortunately not on TripAdvisor as the other reviews might have dissuaded us).
We arrived at about one thirty, for lunch, and were carrying a voucher, downloaded from their website, entitling us to three courses for two people for £29.
No problem, we were showed to our table by the greeter, and the waitress explained that we could order lunch off the full A la Carte menu.
For starters Val ordered the Asparagus with Prosciutto and declared it so delicious that she requested a spoon to finish the poached egg and sauce. My Crab and Avocado stack was tasty, although the Avocado was a little tired.
Main courses were Chicken and Bacon pie for me, Fish and Chips for Val, both freshly cooked and tasty.
And the desserts – Salted Caramel Cheesecake and a selection of Crèmes Brûlée respectively, were quickly devoured.
The wine list was reasonable and there was a good selection of draught beers. Draught Pilsner Urquell went well with my Chicken and Bacon pie.
The delight for me about Browns was the overall atmosphere, they’ve created a Fin de Siècle ambience reminiscent of a Parisian railway station (think Martin Scorsese’s movie ‘Hugo’). It was possible to forget, for an hour or so, that we were in a massive, modern, glass and chrome, shopping mall.
There are some downsides, they were not prepared to serve me a burger less than well done – the ‘elf & safety’ fascists strike again – and the waitress service was erratic.
Had we been in a hurry, or the restaurant busier, then this could have been annoying – but overall we enjoyed a long, lazy lunch.
Rating: 
