This review appears in April’s Bite magazine, and can be found online here.
What a difference a day (or three) makes. Mum and I had a date to try HN Brasserie’s recently launched Spring Prix Fixe menu. Keenly priced at £17.50 for three courses, it’s a great intro to Executive chef Stuart Muir’s modern Scottish cuisine, in this celebrated penthouse restaurant. Offering a pared down 3/3/3 menu plus a selection of side dishes, it also allows for quick picking.
I started with the roast pear and walnut salad with Dunsyre blue dressing. A troika of bitter endive leaves were filled with chunks of sweet caramelised pear, and the slightly candied walnuts were perfectly pitted against the salty tang of the cheese. Mum had the ‘Forth Floor’ corned beef with piccalilli and toasted sourdough. A pressed terrine of soft braised shin meat, it had a hint of piquant mustard flavour. Piled on to crunchy toast bites, this was another dish of clever contrasts.
My main course comprised two meaty chicken thighs roasted with Chinese five spice, sitting on sweet potato mash, and wilted pak choi. With its Asian-style sesame sauce, this dish might have ordinarily been teamed with rice or noodles, but the mash made an interesting pairing, if a little sweet. Mum’s fillet of salmon on a bed of crushed minted peas, garnished with a scattering of tempura shallots was a perfectly fresh dish for springtime.
(For purposes of illustration – Chicken take 1 and chicken take 2!)
To finish, mum had Scottish cheeses and oatcakes with quince jelly and plump black grapes which, admirably, didn’t carry a supplementary charge. The line-up was a dream team of mature Isle of Mull cheddar, Clava brie and joyfully, more of that Dunsyre blue. As for the chocolate pot with clotted cream? Think meltingly smooth, just the right level of sweetness, and with tasty little kumquat biscuits to dunk for the classic chocolate orange combination.
The Brasserie is famed for its spectacular views, but on this gloomy evening, I felt that the lighting scheme of ‘photographer’s darkroom’ red compromised the visual impact of the dishes. Three days later, on a gloriously sunny afternoon, lunch with a friend was hastily re-arranged so that I could ‘redux’. I ordered the same dishes which were all just as good, however the overall experience was enhanced by the natural light, and of course that skyline vista. Call me a fair-weather diner!
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