Brasserie 44

Meal number two, and we knocked all the Michelin rated restaurants in Leeds out of the way.

Food

The food is quite homely and unfussy. Pate, soup and steak all come as it is, unadorned, not fussed over. The food won't knock your socks off, and the service is extremely casual for the setting and the price, but they are generous, ensuring that you won't leave hungry.

We were offered a choice of bread to start, and chose the Foccacia, which was still slightly warm, although a little oily. For entrees we chose the Country Pâté - pumpkin and date chutney which tastes like all other pates, the chutney was nice enough. The Warm Asparagus Quiche - tomato and red pepper coulis was very disappointing though. The egg was too set and the filling was not creamy. What’s more, the pastry couldn’t redeem it.

Things picked up slightly with the mains, the Fillet of Seabass - caramelised lemon chicory, orange butter sauce was extremely generous, the sauce went very nicely with the perfectly cooked fish. The Confit Leg of Duck - chestnut mushroom and tomato ragout was a little dry, but if you smear it with the sauce, it’s very eatable. We were given we sides (we didn’t get a choice). The Hand-Cut Chips were sensationally fresh and crunchy, while Green Beans with Shallots overcooked and tasteless. My half bottle of merlot was decanted already, and I wasn’t told what I was drinking, but it tasted quite nice at least.

Desserts were very boring, and I was happy to skip them, but since they were included, we had the New York Cheesecake - red berry compote, which really tasted like supermarket cheesecake, there was a bit of quite tasteless berries on the side. The Banana Pudding was comforting, more like a banana cake with custard poured over. Not spectacular, a bit sweet.

As you might have expected, this didn’t quite meet my expectation, I was definitely under whelmed after the experiences at J Bakers and Anthony’s

Rating - 6

Atmosphere

Even though Brasserie Forty 4 is situated right by the river, and looks stunning, the service and the food they serve says otherwise. On one hand, the setting seems to convey a special occasion restaurant, but the food and the service is so casual, it seems to want to be your local. There is a small bar at the front, where you can wait for your guests to arrive. The restaurant proper is situated on a split-level, open space. We had the privilege of sitting next to the window by the water. The place filled up early, with many people enjoying the early-bird deal, a mixture of jeans and dresses, so we really didn’t know how we fit into the scheme of things.

Rating - 1.5

Service

This was where it all fell down. Water was plonked onto our table, service was extremely casual, by that I mean we have to pour our own everything. It took us a while to get anyone’s attention, especially as the restaurant started filling up.

Rating - 2

C-factor

We dined on the early bird menu, which consisted of 3 courses, sides and half a bottle of Chardonnay or Merlot for £19.95. For the amount of food we got, extremely good value, but the standard was not really up to Bib quality.

Rating - 1

Brownie Points - 10.5

Info

44 The Calls
Leeds
LS2 7EW
Phone +44 (0) 113 234 3232
Website