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The concept of Oxfordshire-based French culinary wizard Raymond Blanc. |
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I remembered Brasserie Blanc as a 'special' place to go to for good food, from a visit a few years ago. But then a few weeks ago, when I joined a friend's birthday dinner there the disappointment was huge. We decided to order from the Christmas menu, to make things easier and believing that they would get these dishes right, but whoever was in charge that night would have been fired in the first round of even the most basic TV cookery competitions. I won't dwell on details of the quality of the food, but let's just use the 'Creme Brulee' as an example. It was coffee-flavoured and brown, just like a pudding, and came on a flat plate - there was nothing 'brulee' about it, no crust or caramel flavour, just a flavoured vanilla 'soup'. Way off the mark, by any standards let alone a restaurant which claims to know about French cuisine. For £40 per head, with items which should have been easy to get right, I only have one advice: AVOID. Frank, 23/01/10 One of Oxford's best restaurants by far, "Brasserie Blanc" offers superb, well executed French dishes and the quality and value of their set menu is second to none. The atmosphere is relaxed yet buzzing, making it a lovely place to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon post Phoenix, or a Romantic evening "a deux". We visit on a regular basis and the staff is always efficient, and incredibly friendly, the food tasty and fresh and the menu changes often enough not to become boring. Their vegetables are glorious and as an avowed carnivore I was stunned by the deliciousness of a simple fresh salad of spring vegetables where flavours exploded in my mouth. I still remember it with a certain sense of awe! The a la carte is just as good though I must mention that my only let down from BB in many years was their most expensive item, the Fillet Steak which I found lacking in flavour and quite disappointing. I put it down to an off-evening from the chef but am reluectant to try it again because of the sheer cost of it! Brasserie Blanc has managed to avoid the pitfalls of being a chain and feels quite individual, a blessing in these days of uber-corporate blandess. I feel lucky to have such a restaurant in our fair city as good food at reasonable prices is becoming increasingly difficult to find. Brasserie Blanc so far ticks all the boxes for me and long may it live. Pamplemousse, 06/01/10 I loved Brasserie Blanc, the staff were all very friendly. The food was a perfect complement to the house wine. All in all, 10/10 27/10/09 We visited Brasserie Blanc on a Tuesday lunchtime with our two year old son and 3 month old baby daughter and we were pleasantly surprised. All the staff were very friendly and welcoming to the children and the service was excellent. The tables were a decent gap away from others which was good as we were the only family in there and the restaurant soon filled up with business people. The staff made us feel valued customers and we never felt awkward that we had two children (who thankfully were beautifully behaved during the time we were there). We were served bread as soon as we sat down which was great especially when you have a hungry little boy with you! It is worth noting that the bread comes 'free' which is rare these days in any restaurant around Oxford. We ordered the lamb which was delicious and the vegetables were good too. We ordered pea and ham risotto for our toddler which he enjoyed and then he and I had a delicious 'strawberry ice cream' which was the sorbet - wonderful! It was a very relaxing and delicious meal, excellent value for money and we look forward to returning. Goosey Lucy, 06/06/09 Please give Brasserie Blanc another chance! I know, it went desperately downhill at one point and having had a dire meal there a while ago, my partner vowed never to return. However, I went recently for a work do and was sufficiently impressed that last week, I dragged him, kicking and screaming back to Blanc’s for another chance. He loved it - and this is praise indeed when he didn’t particularly enjoy his meal (my fault; I will explain). This time around, I ordered the Salmon Gravad Lax which was very good indeed. Thick, smoky, soft layers of Salmon literally melted in my mouth leaving just the tang of Dill to remind me of the beautiful sensation. This is such a simple starter, that should work beautifully, yet so many restaurants do themselves a disservice by scrimping on the quality of the Salmon. I can assure you, this was not the case at Brasserie Blanc. My partner had the snails, which were fantastic and arrived swimming in Garlic and Parsley butter. After eating these little beauties you will horrify anyone who comes close enough to smell your breath, but they’re worth it! Let’s talk main courses. I confess, I chose the fillet steak. I know that may sound terribly boring, but when in a French restaurant… I adore dining at restaurants that can cook a steak well, as I rarely treat myself to red meat. My preference is Bleu, but it’s equally important to be able to cook any other variety of steak just as well. There is a point to this! My partner ordered lamb and was asked how he’d like it to be cooked (joy!). He looked at me and in my excitement I piped in with ‘rare’! His lamb came (perfectly) rare, which unfortunately, was a little too bloody for his liking. I devoured it, shamelessly, but did sacrifice half of my steak having asked the very nice waitress to whizz it back to the kitchen and cook it for a bit longer to his liking. Firstly, they did this without question and with a smile and secondly it came back beautifully pink and tender. He thought it was delicious and eyeing it up from across the table, it did look so. The chips come skin-on, salted and just the right width between ‘skinny’ and ‘wedge’. They brought me English mustard as requested and both the white and red wine we sampled were excellent. I couldn’t have been happier. I can’t comment on desserts, as we were both sated by starters and main courses, but if I had had room, I would certainly have opted for the French cheese selection. Prices are reasonable, the staff are wonderful and eager to please (in no biased way, I promise, thanks to their fantastic GM, who I had the pleasure of working with at Quod a few years ago) and the French bread and butter they bring you with your drinks is so authentically tasty that it’s difficult to restrain yourself from filling up on that before your food arrives (and yes they do top it up, free of charge, if you’d like more – be warned!). My final morsel of advice is to be careful with their menus. So engrossed in conversation were we, that thankfully, our on-the-ball waitress managed to whisk my partner’s flaming menu out of his hands before he caused too much damage! Very large menus + fairly small tables with candles = FIRE, FIRE! Dr Mukti, 27/05/09 Previous reviews of this restaurant have been so mixed that I was quite looking forward to finding out why. Did they have particularly unreliable suppliers? A chef with a split personality? One visit was enough to suggest an explanation: there’s nothing much wrong with Brasserie Blanc; the food is pretty nice, and definitely well-cooked, and the service is better than average, but while people who go there expecting a higher end British restaurant - food good, but not amazing, price high, but not terrifying - should come out reasonably satisfied, anyone expecting an authentic French brasserie experience will be horribly disappointed. Raymond Blanc is quoted on the restaurant’s website as saying that they seek to provide ‘simple, high quality food that comes as close as possible to the meals that my mother prepared…at a price that encourages you to visit us regularly’. Perhaps in comparison to Blanc’s flagship, Le Manoir, Brasserie Blanc is indeed informal and affordable, but the atmosphere is very far removed from the traditional French and serving my steak on a wooden board is not going to change that. Anyway, enough banging on about that. You can see what they’re trying to do, it doesn’t really work, but visit it with that in mind and you may well have a very nice meal. We started with Loch Duart salmon dill gravad lax, and Maroilles cheese soufflé with pear and walnut. With good salmon you really just want to be sure they won’t mess it up, and this was nice, delicate and not over-flavoured. The soufflé was a bit disappointing, certainly it should have been a subtle dish, but it ended up being rather bland: beautifully presented, mostly lacking in flavour. Their free range Aberdeenshire rump steak with Bearnaise sauce and chips came in at a hefty £15.50, but tasted well worth it, beautifully cooked, with a tiny amount of sauce and garlic sunblushed tomatoes, which somehow made a perfectly sufficient accompaniment. Similarly, great pleasure was taken in the rack of English spring lamb with dauphinoise potatoes and buttered cabbage, the meat delicately pink, the potatoes light and the cabbage actually worth eating. We liked the main course, and you might do your pocket and your palate a favour by sticking just to that. That said, there wasn’t much wrong with their desserts, a dark, sweet chocolate fondant with pistachio ice cream,and a lemon tart which was mostly delicious sharp lemon filling with a very thin layer of pastry to offset it. We had pretty good service, more friendly than efficient, but never intrusive. Once or twice our waiter bustled off when we suspected he hadn’t heard the entire order, and indeed, our coffee didn’t arrive, and when we asked again we ended up being charged twice, but this was rectified quickly and terribly pleasantly. The atmosphere was a little bit stuffy, possibly because the natural brasserie clientele were all down the road in the gastropub, while the remaining diners were all rather respectable and grown up. We paid £85 for three courses, wine and coffee. What really makes French brasserie food so special is that compared to British food, it’s exceptional value; you can eat something totally delicious, sumptuous, made with high-quality ingredients, for the cost of a sensibly priced pub lunch, which should hopefully result in a lively, bustling atmosphere. I’m afraid, whatever the intention, this is not what Brasserie Blanc produces. But hey, their steak is really good. Susie Cogan and Su Jordan, 03/05/09 I recently visited Brasserie Blanc for the first time & was very impressed with the whole experience. The sommelier was very helpful & made a fabulous suggestion that went with our meal perfectly. We experienced a relaxed yet attentive atmosphere & the food was delicious. I’d certainly recommend this restaurant. Miss M, 03/03/09 I recently went to Brasserie Blanc for a Christmas lunch with work. I have to say that while the staff and atmosphere were great, the food was a major disappointment. An uninspiring menu to begin with I was shocked to find crab stick in my seafood pasta and a slurry of cream and mango puree for dessert. I would have expected the food to be the highlight with fresh ingredients being used but I have to say, for £15.40 per head, I could not have been less impressed by the efforts of (what I thought was) one of Oxford's best restaurants. 12/12/08 This is the best place in Oxford! We recently revisited this brasserie and we were so impressed with the whole package. The outstanding warm service was so refreshing. The food was fantastic with fresh flavours, no fuss, just great cooking. At last a place where the waiters knew their food and they truly care. This is a rare thing these days. I am glad that we have finally found a place which we trust and will return to over and over again, and I am sure my friends will too. Matt, 23/10/08 What on earth has happened to what was a very pleasant venue? Our most recent visit was a disaster. The tables seemed to be very much closer, it took for ever to order, ditto arrival of order. The food itself was unimpressive - the prices, unfortunately, not so. Chris, 04/03/08 We went to Brasserie Blanc at the weekend (having booked it before I read the reviews below!). I had the Boeuf Bourgignon, which was delicious, and my husband had calves liver, which he enjoyed. We didn't fall for the water trick (thanks for the tip!), and both had desserts (apple tart tartin/treacle sponge), which were fine but nothing special. We did have very speedy service even though it was busy. The biggest problem I had with it was that the portions were small (their ice cream scoop is a melon baller I think) and we could have easily managed some chips from over the road afterwards! They don't serve vegetables with the meals unless you order (and pay) for them separately, which is common these days but which I feel is a bit tight considering the main courses average around the £15 mark. On the whole the meal was lovely, but pricey for what we got, so I doubt we'll be racing back. Sonia, 26/02/08 Brasserie Blanc used to be Le Petit Blanc, and it used to be good. Now, it's Café Rouge quality at twice the price. Don't bother. Stephanie, 17/02/08 After reading all the nice reviews, four of us set off for an evening at Le Petit Blanc. I expected small portions and high prices, but it was actually much worse than that. We ordered our food and drinks (juice and lemonade) and the waiter was pouring water every time he saw an empty glass. We didn't order water, but found it was a very nice service ... until we discovered in our bill: "3 Bottle Still" for £9.60! How cheeky is that, to open and serve the water without us ordering it and then to charge for it! At the end of the meal in our bill (which amounted to more than £100) we also discovered that apparently we had 2 glasses of red wine (which we didn't). When we asked the waiter to explain he said that wine was included with the meal. When we asked him why he didn't mention it, he said that we ordered other drinks (juice and lemonade) and anyway it was written in the menu. He became rather argumentative and told us that we should have asked for wine (complimentary) if we wanted it. I thought that in this kind of a restaurant it would be a waiter's job to offer us wine especially if it was complimentary and included in the price! But the highlight of it all was a line in our bill "1 Food Non Categorised": £1.50. When we asked the waiter what it was he said that it was the charge for an extra basket of bread! I've been to many French restaurants in different countries, but have never ever been charged for an extra basket of bread! So, what was supposed to be a nice and relaxing evening was actually quite a disappointing and expensive experience. The food was all right, but far from delicious and quite overpriced for the amount and quality you get. Not coming back there, no way. There are plenty of restaurants in Oxford (including other French ones) where you can have a real feast for this amount of money. Big disappointment! 14/02/08 The food here is very nice. I had a very tasty sirloin steak (although the chef didn't seem to know the difference between blue and rare steak) with delightfully creamy mashed potatoes. The sorbet selection for dessert was nicely varied and genuinely tasted of the flavours they were supposed to be rather than chemical flavouring. However - although it was not particularly busy the service was very slow. We were kept waiting for significantly longer than one might reasonably expect between courses. Our own waiter was nice and helpful, but the rest of the waiting staff blatantly ignored us to the point where when we asked one of them for the bill (our own waiter being busy on the other side of the restaurant) he replied "Of course" and then simply wandered off. Earlier when we had been trying to get the dessert menu it seemed the waitresses in the room at the time were looking straight through us. It took half an hour from our finishing dessert until we were able to pay and leave, and what had been intended as a brief but pleasant 2 course dinner ended up taking 2 1/4 hours. CO, 16/08/07 I can't speak highly enough of the quality of the food at Brasserie Blanc. Every dish without exception was exquisite. The Stinking Bishop, pear and walnut souffle was not overpowering and the flavours went very well together. My boyfriend said the duck in his main course was the best he'd ever tasted (and he's a big duck fan). The vegetable risotto was packed with flavour. If you have room the liquid centre chocolate pudding lived up to all my chocoholic fantasies but for once I was almost jealous that I hadn't chosen the lemon tart - sublime! Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at the range of choice on the menu. Vegetarians are unusually well catered for - four of the main courses and about half the starters. The restaurant was surprisingly quiet on a Thursday night but this worked in our favour as I would say the tables looked as though it could be a bit of a tight squeeze when the restaurant is full. All in all, though I can highly recommend it for a special occasion meal. The menu and prices are on their website so you can check out what you're letting yourself in for (surprisingly reasonable for the quality of the dishes) SP, 04/08/07 Fantastic Christmas dinner for 11 of us in total last Friday night. The menu was delicious (you must have waited a long time for the meal - ed.), with both the traditional choices and other tasty dishes, enough choice to satisfy everyones tastes. My salmon, turkey and Christmas pud were all of exceptionally good quality and beautifully presented, and while not overloaded with food were enough to happily satisfy anyone who enjoys a posh Christmas meal. Crackers were provided at no extra charge (with decent gifts enclosed), and the half litre carafe per person which was thrown in turned our meal into excellent value for money alongside so much complementary bread. At £29 a head for 3 courses, plus coffee and mini mince pies, wine and bread, we would all thoroughly recommend Brasserie Blanc's Christmas menu if you are part of a group wanting an enjoyable meal together. 05/12/06 Yup - my favourite restaurant in Oxford too. There's always something sublime on the Menu Fixe, you just need to be thoughtful AND lucky in your selection. Last time I had Onion Soup which was the best I have ever eaten. I have been basking in the pleasure of the memory ever since. Tortoise, 15/11/06 Le Petit Blanc is one of my favorite Oxford restaurants, and I try to have at least one dinner there when I'm in town. During my prior visits I had noticed a problem with ventilation, which was mildly annoying but not unbearable. The last time I ate there, however, I could hardly finish my food and left the restaurant smelling like a giant piece of grilled hake. They definitely need to do something about ventilation in that space. Stella, 03/06/06 I went for dinner there and I have been all around Oxford, but I never expected this quality of French food in Oxford. It was my most fantastic dinner ever. To start with I had the butternut squash rissotto, which is so full of flavour. Although my party were not fond of butternut squash, they were impressed by the way the rissotto was cooked to perfection. For the mains we had a mixed reaction. I had pork belly with prunes and it was really good: cooked to perfection; it just melted right in my mouth and the dish itself looked out of any Michelin kitchen. Some of my friends tasted the gnocchi and its sauce was just amazing. The trout, however, did not live our expectations, but the moules were from heaven. The dessert which followed was absolutely superb; the banana pecan is a treat in itself, and with the chocolate ice cream it was really fantastic. Everything looked so gorgeous on those plates. After all these heavenly treasures, the bill was a surprise - after such a beautiful evening it was just perfect. Guys, you gotta go and try their stuff - they keep on getting better, although I know every place in the world has its off days. shell, 11/01/06 This is the third time I have visited this restaurant in a short period and every time the food as been, as my guide to Oxford accurately put it, hit and miss. Sometimes it is great but equally often it is very disappointing, so that some members of our group usually end up regretting their choice. The staff are friendly, the pricing is good, but the food is not a patch on the Quat Saison (nor are the wines). My salad was actually rather bad and completely drenched in balsamic vinegar - though those of our party that had the fois gras were much more impressed. The pasta was not great (my friend actually ended up leaving it) and having had the risotto on a previous occasion I would advise going with the French dishes which are generally much better than the Italian ones - the pork belly was excellent. If you are looking to impress your parents by all means give it a try - alternatively, invite them to your college or cook them something yourself instead, equally impressive, cheaper, and probably just as good. Jules, 29/12/05 North Oxford has rapidly become a gourmet's paradise, the streets lined with restaurants of all types offering great food at usually very reasonable prices. When people think of a Raymond Blanc restaurant, value for money may not be at the top of their mind, but I am here to tell you Le Petit Blanc represents great vfm. Everything about this place oozes quality - the restaurant itself seems airy and open even when packed to the rafters - the staff are attentive, courteous and inconspicuous. The food is superb and diverse - the tuna steak is marvellous, the frogs' legs divine, even the humble steak is elevated to a new level. And as for the deserts, well, even now I lay awake at night, salivating at the thought of the chocolate mousse. And the price? Well you could really spoil yourself for £25 a head (last time this got me a G&T (heavy on the G), 3 courses and wine), or you could enjoy yourself equally with a £15 budget. Next time the parents are down, go here. Next time you want to impress your partner, go here. Next time you have a birthday celebration, go here. Top marks all round. C.R., 08/03/98
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