Brasserie 44, Leeds

Occasion:                      Birthday

Party Size:                    2

Overall Rating:              **** Very Good

Date Visited:                 September 2012
Price Per Person:           £30 Group-On deal, RRP £70 Main Course only

Brasserie 44 is located on The Calls and set in a converted grain warehouse alongside the river Aire. This restaurant is family run and this is evident in their attentive welcome and excellent service throughout. Brasserie 44 is renowned for its ambience and quality, featuring in the Good Food Guide 2012 and has been nominated for several awards.

 

When you see a Groupon deal advertised for this high end restaurant you can be sure it will sell out quickly, especially when the meal on offer is the Chateaubriand for 2. This dish alone has a RRP just shy of £70 so for this price you expect a fine dining experience that is near perfect in everyway.

So what did we think? Firstly we have been here before and had this meal and we loved it and highly recommended it to friends. When we saw this deal repeated at £30 we were both happy to return to celebrate my partner’s birthday as we knew what to expect.

On arrival we were warmly welcomed by the staff that attended to our coats and gave us the option of a drink at the bar or at our table. We opted to start at the bar and ordered a small beer whilst perusing the extensive wine list. We opted for a bottle of John X Merriman 2009 - Rustenberg, Stellenbosch, South Africa priced at £31.50. Not the cheapest on the wine list but there were other wines ranging from £16-£165 suiting all palates.

Once at our table we were situated against the far wall. The restaurant is fairly small and cosy with a relaxed ambience, certainly a venue worthy of a celebration and ideal for a romantic meal for two. The lighting is low, with candlelight at the tables and simple decor. Each place is set as you would expect with sparkling silverware and crisp linen napkins. However, we were disappointed with the wine glasses, they were rather standard - thick glass, we expected better quality to compliment the fine selection of wines they had on offer.

The deal we purchased was for the main meal only so starters, desserts, sides and drinks were payable on top. As we looked at the menu we were served complimentary fresh warm bread with an olive tapenade and a chive cream buerre which was excellent. The bread was moreish and the small ramekins of tapenade were very tasty.

We decided to share a starter from the Specials menu to leave room for dessert. We picked a platter of Italian Meats, Mozzarella and rocket which was definitely big enough to share and the waiter brought us more fresh bread which worked perfectly. The meat selection was ample and very flavoursome and the quality of the mozzarella was superb.  Starters were priced from £6-£10.

To follow came our Chateaubriand which was served medium rare and accompanied with homemade chunky chips. The portion of the fillet beef was ample for 2 and cooked beautifully. The meat was tender, no steak knife required and the flavour was as you would expect for this cut. The chips were a bigger portion than our last visit and on our last dining experience here my partner thought they were the best chips he had ever tasted. This time they didn’t quite live up to his expectations but for me they were good, although the steak was so filling we didn’t manage to finish them all.

The steak was served with a pepper sauce which was creamy and full of flavour. The menu price for this is supposed to be £67.50 and the quality of the beef was very good however, if I had paid £70 I would be disappointed that the meal was not served with any vegetables. A small selection of greens would have rounded off the meal nicely or at least in hindsight it would have been nice to have been offered a side at the time of ordering. If I were to have this again then I would ask for the Chateaubriand to be cooked rare as the quality of the beef is good enough to take it. We found having it medium rare that the ends of the fillet were medium to well done and only the centre as rare as we would like. Overall this main meal was plenty and left us both more than satisfied and we did really enjoy it.

As we were dining out to celebrate my partners birthday we had already decided that we would treat ourselves to dessert but unfortunately we had to leave our table and head to the bar as the dining area was so hot it was uncomfortable. There seemed to be no air circulating and the room was stifling making us both feel queasy. So we skipped dessert and headed to the bar to cool down, finish our wine and settle the bill. It was a shame to end a lovely meal feeling that you had to escape before you fainted!

Overall Brasserie 44 is a lovely restaurant; the service is faultless, the quality of produce used is excellent and the ambience is romantic. However, to be honest if I had paid the full menu price of £67.50 for the Chateaubriand I would have been disappointed that no side vegetables were included and was it really worth paying £70? – I’m not convinced. Coupled with the room being too hot and the glasses being a bit cheap I think overall it is a very good restaurant experience but not near perfect enough to warrant an excellent rating given the price.

However, I do recommend for those looking for somewhere relaxed yet special. I would love to go back and try something else off the A La Carte menu to see if the standard is consistent throughout. For those who are looking for something a little cheaper but not compromising on quality then Brasserie 44 offer a 3 course set menu with a bottle of wine for £23.95 per person served Mon-Fri 5pm-7pm with a good selection of dishes available.

Please note this restaurant is very popular so make sure you book a table in advance.

http://www.brasserie44.com/