In the past two years I have hardly gone out for a nice proper sit down meal. That's one of the things I miss most, though on the upside I have saved myself a lot of money by not eating out. The other day I went out for lunch in a fancy restaurant, just because I felt like it. Sometimes we don't need a reason to indulge ourselves.
Muse Brasserie describes themselves as Predominantly French themed, the cuisine is an eclectic fusion of European and Local British favourites with a hint of subtle Asian flavours. I'm not sure exactly what French themed means, but my first impression was wow!!! What a beautiful interior. Not that I planned it, but I arrived earlier, before any other guests had arrived, and was able to take a couple of stunning shots. I love the mix of torquise blue and pale pink velvet chairs and the blue walls lined with wine bottles. I seen this decor before in other places, and it's a very clever use of recycle items to create a stunning effect.
I'm not sure exactly what French themed looks like, though the design of the menu was quite consistent with the restaurant decor. Personally I thought it all looked a bit fairy like. Maybe this is what French themed is? Any French out there how can shed some light on this?
Moving onto the food. This is something that you just can't recreate at home. I mean I can whip up a decent meal, but it's nowhere presentable and near fine dining level. That's something one have to buy with money, and it's something I'm happy to do so every now and then. The meals here were worth that. Let me show you.
My starter was a gin and tonic cured salmon. I love salmon, especially when it's smoked or cured. This one was delicious though the gin and tonic was very light, I could just about taste it. But that's ok as the rest of the bits on the plate were delicious especially the fried salmon skin, it was so light and crispy.
Hubby had the rabbit and chicken terrine, I tasted a mouthful, it was good but not as good as my starter.
My main course was a lemon and thyme chicken tikka. Somehow I misread the menu and thought it said leon and thyme chicken thighs, I nearly sent the dish back when they bought it to me! This was very tasty and the curry wasn't too spicy, perfect with the fluffy pilau rice and crispy poppadoms.
Hubby had the fish of the day which was a halibut. He said it was very nice. It's actually quite difficult for a good restaurant to not cook a good piece of fish.
I always look at the dessert menu before I decide on my starter and main.If there is a dessert I really like, I'll always go for a lighter main. The choice of desser was rather limited as this was a three course set lunch menu. I went for my favourit chocolate fondant and ice cream. The plating was top notch, bu the fondant was so so. I could do a better one at home. It was too mushy for my liking though the chocolate flavour was very nice. It's just the texture that wasn't too good. Anyway, I still gobbled it all up.
When it came to pay the bill, the bill came in an equally attractive box. The damage? Less than £40 for the two of us, that around USD52. All included, this was a very good value meal especially since the ambience and decor was very nice and didn't totally overshadow the quality of the food. Next time I'll probably skip the dessert though.
