The Restaurant at Brown Thomas – review

●●●○○

Anyone who has stepped into Brown Thomas recently must have noticed that change is on the cards. The flagship Dublin store has attempted to give Bergdorf Goodman a run for its money in recent months, vending €90 foundation from Charlotte Tilbury, a brand new fitting to its ground floor, and, since last Friday, its Restaurant was the latest to up its swankiness. The Restaurant on the third floor is under new management, with a menu inspired by Ireland’s only two-star Michelin restaurateur, Patrick Guilbaud. Out shopping with the family on a Sunday, we decided to give its appealing and surprisingly reasonable brunch menu a whirl.

A stone’s throw from the grossly premature Christmas Emporium, the Restaurant hasn’t had any aesthetic changes, composed of the glass walls, duck egg chairs, oak panelling and honeycomb mosaic tiling from its recent reincarnation. The menu is broad with classic brunch, small plate, salad and cold pressed juice options. I chose to start with an Americano — of which you have two blends to choose from, the house blend from Badger and Dodo (€3.30), or an organic offering by Java Republic (€3). I chose the former, a very decent cup served with a jug of steamed milk (a good touch in my book). Torn between the eggs Benedict (€12.95) or steak and eggs (€16.95), the steak won me over in the end.

What I had expected from the menu description was a petite minute steak chargrilled to my liking, served with two poached eggs sitting on top of a toasted brioche and a healthy splash of hollandaise on the side. I wasn’t prompted to specify my doneness, which I thought odd, but as it arrived it made sense — it was in the traditional eggs Benedict getup: two half brioche muffins, topped with shaped minute steak chunks to sit on top, two poached eggs covered with two dollops of hollandaise. I tried each component individually — the brioche was perfection, the steak very good, the poached eggs slightly overdone for my liking and the sauce a little thick but its zest just sharp enough — but it just didn’t work altogether. It was difficult to pick up on any flavour in combination apart from the odd milky hue here and meaty chomp there, not even a sprinkle of black pepper could spice it up. My parents had the hot smoked salmon and marinated chicken salad, which they assured me was nice, but seemed overly minimal to the eye. We also shared the broad bean and chickpea hummus and olive tapenade with toasted sourdough (€5.95 each), which were surprisingly lacklustre in flavour. The service was the perfect balance — smiley, infectiously helpful, attentive but not in your face.

Although desserts looked impressive with blackberry cheesecake and a flourless chocolate cake and pistachio ice cream being the highlights, the whole experience was a little disheartening to continue. To put Patrick Guilbaud’s name to a “high street” eatery takes courage, but sadly the food isn’t gutsy enough to make it work. Let’s just hope it improves.

Image via.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *