Brummells Seafood Restaurant

Mrs Myhill (3 February 2008)

It was a special occasion and we wanted something special, we had heard of Brummells but had not been before, an oversight we intended to rectify immediately.

We entered the establishment down the side passage, opening into a cute yard, our coats were expertly taken and we were guided to a cosy little area in front of a real fire, where we were offered the menu and pre-dinner aperitifs. The restaurant was carpeted and furnished with sizeable tables well spaced apart, dressed with crisp white linen. My husband selected pan fried calves liver on a warm vegetable stew followed by a half lobster shellfish platter, while I chose the scallops with pomegranate chutney followed by steamed sea bass filets with prawn butter and leeks.

We feasted on our ambrosials, fresh and well presented the starter and main spaced with a refreshing pink sorbet. We were well satisfied, the desserts looked appealing but thought the cheese trolley sitting in the corner of the dining room irresistible, It was good to see cheese presented at the right room temperature. The selection proffered represented some local as well as other British and continental cheeses, served with frozen grapes and a wonderful selection of biscuits. Of course we had to wash it down with a glass of vintage port.

After, we requested our coffee and petit fours be served in the lounge area back in front of the fire. Brummells has the most amazing cognac list, it would have been rude not to partake. We opted for a Hine Antique apiece which rounded off the evening perfectly. I cannot recommend Brummells too much; we are going to make it our second home.

SimonK (11 November 2007)

A response from Andrew Brummell: "Clearly SimonK, you were not impressed with my restaurant very much. You are of course entitled to your opinion but I must protest and try to answer a few of the points which you have made.

Noticeably throughout your comments you refer the cost of the meal totalling £200, Well, I have also eaten in many restaurants across the world and we are by no means expensive. Your actual bill was £192 (Food £84.50 the rest made up of 2 bottles of white burgundy, pre and post prandial drinks, totalling £104). Clearly your alcohol intake may have affected your judgement.

All our fish is bought in fresh and sourced locally when possible, this notion that I go down to the coast every morning and raid the boats as they land is pure fantasy and does not happen in the real world. You referred to the skate wing being enormous, well this with many of our customers is a plus point (we would be happy to serve smaller portions if asked), you said it was served only with a salad, well all our meals are served with a salad or a choice fresh seasonal vegetables and new potatoes the finest selection in the land. Funny how the skate was too big and the Lobster was too small.

As to the cheese, our trolley service gives you the option to eat as much or as little cheese as you wish. As to your impatience on the wine, I apologise, but we clearly misjudged your thirst. We normally place the ice bucket to the side of the table but take pride in serving the wine without the need of the customer to stretch over.

You give the impression that we only served eight people on that evening this is also untrue, we actually served 14 people on that night, although not full, a large complement of our 20ish capacity, considering it was mid November.

I hope this elucidates how unfair I feel your words were, and wish you happiness in all your future culinary adventures."

The original review from SimonK: "Having eaten at many upmarket seafood restaurants and being advised that Brummells is Norwich's best seafood restaurant, my fiancée and I reserved a table there last night and were looking forward to some great local seafood. Well, it is enough to say we were extremely disappointed. It is overpriced, unimaginative with the food some of which is poorly prepared. Looking at the reviews on the site and after being there I now understand why the last review was posted well over a year ago.

The restaurant itself is very pretty, cosy and romantic. It feels different from the many other restaurants in Norwich with an eclectic mix of nick-knack scatter around the place, including an assortment of champagne bags and boxes stuck to the ceiling. It fools you into believing you may be on a good thing with its ambience so building you up for an even greater fall!

As we came in we were ushered to a comfortable couch to have an appertif and choose our meals. Upon asking what fish was from the local area we were advised that the Oysters, skate and lobster were the only local produce. It did surprise us a little as we had thought that being so close the coast would have allowed the restaurant to serve fresh local caught fish, but then again how do we know.

For entrée, I ordered the six native oysters in the half shell natural over ice and my fiancé, the seared king scallops with mixed leaf salad and pomegranate chutney. I must say I have never seen oysters quite so large, they were almost intimidating, but other than that were very fresh and creamy. The scallops, which I also tried were interesting and not bad although quite boring and were lacking in flavour.

Then the mains arrived, the skate and lobster. The skate was once again ridiculously enormous and was done in black butter. Flavour wise, it was extremely boring and with only a side salad to accompany tasted a little like fish and chips without the chips and lots of lemon and for £19, it was ridiculously expensive. Very disappointing – go to the local chippy instead of having the dish is all I could say. The lobster in garlic sauce on the other hand was a small lobster (£29) with the texture reminding me of the sole of my runners. It was absolutely abmismal so was left to be collected with the plates. Upon telling the waitress how bad the lobster was, she nervously looked around and told us she would let the kitchen know. We never heard another thing and to add insult to injury, we were charged for the lobster, which hadn’t been eaten.

Along with that and with only one waitress available in the restaurant and the wine being kept some distance from the table mid way through the meal, I had to resort to getting up, walking over to the wine, removing it from the wine cooler and keeping it on the table, otherwise I thought I might have died from thirst.

Considering the meal including a small plate of three cheeses, one coffee, and drinks was £200 the food was awful, and if it is Norwich’s best seafood restaurant, then I must say that Norwich just does not know how to do seafood. I strongly urge people to stay well away from the over priced restaurant. Anyway, I think the news is already out, as there were only eight people, including ourselves in the place on a Saturday night, which in itself should have warned us."

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