We went to Bracu - The Restaurant

My good friend, Barbara, kindly splashed out on a dinner for her sister, her daughter and myself at Bracu Restaurant up the road the other night.

I had not been back to Bracu for a while. Last time it was for my Birthday lunch last year with Debbie, my other good friend. Before that, we had been to the restaurant on special occasions from time to time (not regularly as it was quite pricey) and once were treated to the Kitchen Table and Rare Wine Library. I believe the restaurant has been through a lot of changes. It is now trying to attract more customers with specials and discount cards which is not a bad thing in the present not-so-brilliant economic atmosphere.

Menu:              Pork Terrine and Brioche

                        Gnocchi with Consomme’

                        Grilled First Light Wagyu 

Sorbet with Pineapple

Lemon Souffle’

The menu was a five-course degustation with bread and olive oil on the house to start with. The service was quick and efficient enough but could be abrupt at times (and no one offered to take our coats!). I asked the maitre d’ what the dish was at one point and might have caught him at the wrong moment so the answer was a bit terse that the other girl would tell us in a second (they might have rehearsed this bit but surely as a maitre d’ you can ad lib). However, he might have realised that he had been quite curt so after that he was rather nice and chatty.

We agreed that the bread was too heavy, olive oil and slat accompaniment was too bland - a bit of balsamic syrup would have been nice. Anita did not like the terrine and brioche. I thought the brioche was rather nice, a lot better that the ciabatta.  

Most of the dishes were on average side until grilled Wagyu (NZ grown by Firstlight ) arrived. All were forgiven – it was delish and I could have licked the plate. Everyone at our table went umm and ahh with appreciation over this dish.The palate cleanser/pre-dessert sorbet was also beautiful but my souffle’as well as Anita's was too eggy (quite disappointed really, Bracu’s desserts used to be divine). 

All in all, it was a good experience for our girls’ night out - thank you very much, Barbara. The most enjoyable thing was always being among good friends - we giggled and gossiped - so much fun and one of the reasons that we might come back here again is to have more grilled Wagyu and this time it’s going to be a main size. So guys -keep this dish on the menu and we’ll be back!