In a previous post (link), and after a particularly good dinner, I suggested that Brasserie Blanc (link) might be Portsmouth’s best restaurant. Now, after a disappointing visit last Friday, I’m going to revise my opinion a little; Blanc probably serves the best food in Portsmouth (partly because the competition is somewhat limited) but as a place to dine with friends it is no longer at the top of my list (we’ll be at Greens in Wickham next time).
Why the change? Well mostly it is the menu, which is great for meat eaters or fish fans, but pretty awful for vegetarians. One of our party of four on Friday evening struggled to find anything she could eat as a main course, eventually settling, rather unsatisfactorily, for the Crispy goat’s cheese parcel from the Starters list. That wouldn’t have been too bad but it turned out to be deep fried and our friend dislikes deep fried cheese (to be fair, we might have been able to work this out by more closely inspecting the menu but a glass of wine at the end of a long week makes such diligence difficult).
To be fair, my slow cooked beef was excellent (although I should have asked for it without the parsnip puree, which turned out to be unavoidable once served) and the duck also looked pretty good. The French beans, served as a side order, were about as good as green beans can get.
The deserts, however, were not quite right. The steamed chocolate pudding, for example, tasted as much of steam as of chocolate and the lemon tart was truly tart; nicely made and well presented, but too tart for my taste.
On the plus side, the service was reasonably quick, friendly and polite, the bread served as we sat down was tasty and the atmosphere was fun; the arrival of a large party of birthday celebrators a slowed things down a little but that’s only to be expected and, to be honest, if you can’t find something to talk about while waiting for the waitress to take your drinks order you’re probably out with the wrong people.
So would we go back to Brasserie Blanc? I think the answer is likely to be “probably, yes”, but not until their vegetarian selection improves and not for a few months; good food is worth paying for but only if the whole experience is good and, unfortunately, this experience simply wasn’t worth the money. The food was generally good and it’s possible that a more careful inspection of the menu would have yielded better choices (for me, at least, if not for the vegetarian) and a move positive overall impression but that’s just too much work and I can’t be bothered to make the effort. I like to sit down, skim through the menu and pick a couple of dishes quickly without having to think too much. Brasserie Blanc failed the simplicity test; Greens next time for a smaller selection of better meals.
