Brasserie Blanc at Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth
Nineteenth century French brasseries (from the French, brasser, 'to brew') were originally small, informal restaurants attached to breweries serving beer, wine and simple food.
Thanks to Alsatians fleeing to Paris after the German occupation of their homeland in 1870, these ornate, elegant brasseries developed into much-loved restaurants – Brasserie Flo, Au Pied du Cochon and Bofinger, the oldest one, are all still going strong.
What is their pull? Simple, usually high quality food in relaxed, informal surroundings with the possibility of eating at all times of the day up until the early hours is certainly a great draw. There is also no expectation that you will eat a three-course meal. Just a coffee? A simple bowl of moules or a steak frites, a glass of wine, a basket of bread and cheeses, a lemon tart? At 3pm or midnight? Bien sur.
Chef-restaurateur Raymond Blanc, of Oxford's celebrated Manoir Aux Quat Saisons and TV's The Restaurant fame, has recycled them for the 21st century by opening seven Brasserie Blancs based on his mother's home cooking. His latest one is in the lipstick tower at Gunwharf Quays, a stunning take on the brasseries of les temps perdus.
OK, perhaps not as ornate as le fin du sicle ones but neither is the space or the food a pastiche of the genre.
Burgundy walls sporting vast colourful, lively canvases of original paintings by Winchester artist Jenny Muncaster based on Maman Blanc's recipes, dripping window candelabras, winding words of Jean de la Fontaine's Le Corbeau et le Renard on curving walls, black and white photography, subtle lighting, long bar, plush banquettes, white clothed and papered tables and some high-rise seating by the on-view kitchen are the welcoming sum of its parts.
You are encouraged to talk over food, not shout, the music at a low pitch unlike other Gunwharf competition. How civilised. Time to resurrect conversation.
Raymond and his very experienced team – John Lederer has opened no fewer than 46 restaurants in his career, Clive Fretwell has been the Manoir's head chef for decades – have a moreish mlange of dishes, some local sourcing taking place. The turbot and cod were from Viviers the night I visited. Smoked fish and Alresford watercress are other notables.
Start maybe with a plate of Maman Blanc's salads; rillettes; Loch Fyne mussels; wild garlic and courgette soup (4.25) or a cheese souffl. Or just have a plate of fishcakes; a chicken fricassee (16); beef Stroganoff (10.50); Cornish brill with Bearnaise; pork escalope with harrissa butter and chips; sirloin with chips, the extensive menu of simple dishes including grills and a Dine With Wine two or three-course bon march menu.
Indian head chef Susheel Gorka turned out a Moroilles cheese souffl studded with walnuts, sliced pear and frise which needed a tad more seasoning to make it really sing but kept his 'The French are Coming!' powder dry for the main course, English spring lamb's liver with capers, smooth mash and green beans (14).
Summer can wait if it means the finale of this remarkably satisfying well-judged dish, the escalope-cut lamb beautifully layered with a Madeira jus and delicate yet crunchy croutons.
'The potatoes, really a mousseline, took seven years to perfect,' Clive told me. And they were worth the wait. Maris Pipers never had it so good. This dish is what brasserie cooking is all about and rarely found these days, even in – quelle horreur! – Paris.
Other impressive dishes sampled included Scottish scallops with fennel; pork belly; and a chocolate fondant with pistachio ice cream. But a salty salmon trout salad disappointed. The wine list, mainly French, is equally well thought out as is the bread.
Well-trained mostly local staff show off their mainly new-found skills, the brasserie hitting the ground running and giving every other restaurant within the GQ precincts a marathon run for their money.
A recent meal in Bristol's Brasserie Blanc largely failed but here – well, it's the opening of the decade in central Portsmouth. Without a doubt.
Brasseries are again a living, breathing somewhat local, communal thing of beauty in 2009 thanks to Raymond – and not forgetting chere maman's part.
Brasserie Blanc, Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth PO1 3FR. (023) 9289 1320
Open: From 10am to late (midday to late for food) all week.
Food: *****
Service: *****
Atmosphere: *****
Disabled access: Couldn't be bettered.
How to get there: Follow the brown signs to Gunwharf Quays. Large car park. Look up to find the lipstick building on the east of the quays then look down to locate the Brasserie Blanc signage and entrance.
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Weather for Portsmouth
Sunday 12 February 2012
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