Review written September 2009
E:S:I – Englishman, Irishman, And Scotsman

Three men walk into a brasserie …

AND CREATE A MODERN MENU WITH ENGLISH, SCOTTISH AND IRISH ROOTS. SINCE OPENING LAST YEAR THIS BRASSERIE HAS WON MANY FANS. IT’S LARGE AND AIRY WITH AN OPEN KITCHEN WHERE THE CHEFS BUSTLE ABOUT AND COOK YOUR FOOD TO A SOUNDTRACK OF CRACKING TUNES. IT ALL CREATES A WARM, FRIENDLY, LAIDBACK ATMOSPHERE.

I started with Earl grey and blue flower-smoked salmon with a crispy Yorkshire pudding and a horseradish cream (£ 5.75) and Mr Bite chose the smoked haddock and cheddar fritter with tomato chutney and mache salad (£ 5.50). My smoked salmon was an ingenious dish; the horseradish cream sandwiched together the salmon and crispy pud beautifully and the strong flavour of the capers bounced off all the components. Mr Bite’s fritter was puffball-shaped and oozing with cheese whilst the chutney had the spicy depth of flavour present in a good bloody Mary.

Main course for me was the pan- fried venison saddle on Irish boxty with green beans, a sweet beetroot puree and juniper berry jus (£16.50) and for Mr Bite, a sirloin steak done the Irish way: fried onions, flat cap mushrooms, colcannon and peppercorn sauce.(£18.95). English and Scottish versions are available with alternative accompaniments and trimmings as are rib-eye and fillet steaks. My venison came from Perthshire and was cooked tender and pink. I was entranced by the boxty which is a speciality from Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. Raw, grated potato is mixed with flour and baked in a bread tin in the oven. The result is a sort of superior rosti, crunchy on the outside and warm and comforting inside. Mr Bite’s steak was extremely tender, pink and juicy, and the peppercorn sauce pleasingly piquant. The onions were caramelised until extremely sweet and the colcannon was made to just the right texture with floury Maris Pipers and dark, Savoy cabbage.

Dessert was a shared cocktail glass of raspberry and lemon meringue style upside down cheesecake (£4.95). The pleasantly tart lemon and raspberry flavours mixing with a particularly buttery crumble. I had a refreshing, champagne coloured, dessert wine, Etim Verema Tardana Negre, Monsant, Spain (£ 4.75).

Comforting, yummy food in a nice atmosphere which left us purring with contentment.