Monday, 29 July 2013

Brasserie Vacherin: Sutton, London

Brasserie Vacherin

Date of Visit: 10th July 2013

Ambience
A small and cosy restaurant surrounded by large sketch-like canvases of buildings on the wall and big neutral coloured lampshades hanging from the ceiling.  Some tables on the side had booths which added to the cosy feeling and I liked the authenticity of French music playing throughout the evening.

Food
We had warm bread served with anchovy butter to start whilst we looked through the menu.  Soft warm bread always deserves an extra point and I enjoyed the anchovy butter – definitely something different.   We tried the mussels and Atlantic prawns with chilli, ginger and garlic for starters which were both quite flavoursome but I was quite impressed that the prawns were served with most of the shell off and only the head attached.  I get put off sometimes with ordering prawns if it is difficult to de-shell as I don’t like to get messy.


For mains, we had a sirloin steak and the duck confit with sides of fries and dauphinoise potatoes.  The steak was average but cooked as requested but the duck was really good, the meat so soft that it melted in the mouth and I enjoyed the sweet orange sauce.  Whilst most portions of the food were of a decent size, I was amazed at how small the pot of dauphonoise potatoes were.  However, it suited us just fine as it was quite rich in texture.




When it came to desserts, we had a small issue – we had asked for a crepe without the orange sauce and zest (i.e. a plain crepe with ice cream) but when it arrived, it was in the orange sauce without the zest.  This was quickly corrected when we called a waiter over but they were apparently unable to provide a crepe without the sauce so instead we opted for a crème brulee and a cherry clafoutis.  Both were ok, nothing special.



Service
The service was good and the small incident with the dessert was addressed adequately.  We were served promptly and had no issues with the time of the food arriving.

Summary

In summary, it was a pleasant dinner with good food at a reasonable price.  I would say it is worth a visit just for the duck alone =)

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