Brown's Restaurant

We live in an age when the unthinkable is thought with increasing regularity. In the case of the Old Corn Mill at Worcester this is great news, resulting in a building full of character and charm that was transformed into a truly magnificent restaurant overlooking the historic River Severn, convenient for the city centre and now home to Brown’s Restaurant, held by informed opinion to be a top candidate for the best of its kind in Worcester.

Because of the nature of the original building it has been possible to cleverly mould original and lively spaces, each suited to a mood, a great asset in a restaurant that caters for all sorts of requirements ranging from formal to party. This has undoubtedly contributed to their recent award of 2 AA Rosettes for culinary excellence, high standards and consistency, as well as another reassuring award with top marks of 5 Stars for their food hygiene.

At the time of writing (late 2009) new Head Chef Darren Comish is already making an impact on the vital kitchen department, and Browns has responded positively to the credit crunch with their amazing value Express lunch and Dinner offers. Seldom can food of such quality been available at the sort of prices charged.

The a la carte menu is served Monday to Saturday 2 - 2.30pm and 6 - 9.30pm. Six starting courses offer such dishes as mosaic of rabbit, red wine figs, cured ham and truffle marshmallow, or house cured salmon, spiced tuna, Caesar wraps, lemongrass pannacotta and roast watermelon. Menus are changed every five or six weeks but on the main course front look for saddle of local venison, one of life’s truly healthy options, especially when served with cannelloni of shoulder, confit root vegetables, curly kale and chestnut jus.

From the sea comes pan roasted turbot, feather beef and snail bourguignon, garlic and parsley puree and horseradish emulsion, a simply wonderful blend of flavours. An open ravioli of wild mushrooms, gem lettuce, asparagus and garlic espuma is popular, and for real local taste go for the plain grilled Herefordshire dry aged beef fillet, suitably accompanied.

Five desserts and a very worthy cheese board make a pretty thorough job of tempting the hitherto untemptable, the more so when banana parfait, liquorice ice cream, chocolate fondant and the glazed banana combine to divert defeatist thoughts. And if that is not enough dwell on the honey mousse, with honeycomb ice cream, honeycomb and muscovado sugar foam. I surrender.

A seven course tasting menu with a vegetarian option is an affordable treat to have up your sleeve for a special occasion. Events are held irregularly at Browns and when we visited Darren and his team were gearing up for a Beaujolais Night to welcome Georges Duboeuf’s new offering, with a suitably Burgundian menu backed by some top wines from the Region.

And talking of wine, with fourteen wines by the glass the sophisticated List at Browns is more than capable enough to cope with whatever may emerge from the kitchen and clearly there is harmony between the two.

For up to date information on menus and events a quick click on their Website will give you the latest.