The setting for our ladies night, yet another pub/bar at Canary Wharf. Browns is yet another chain, and I heard mixed reviews about the place, so I approached with apprehension.
Food
We started off with two Antipasti Plates, served with a bowl of fresh breads. The Italian Meat (£10.50) had the usual sliced meat, with olives, chargrilled vegetables and cheese making up the rest of the plate. I didn’t try much, but what I tried tasted like any standard antipasti plate. You can’t really muck it up. The Seafood (£11) was more unusual, in that you don’t see it very often. The plate consisted of some smoke fish (which I didn’t get to try), a vinegared fish – very nicely balanced with firm flesh, fish salad (plain), and some skewers of prawns (terrible, as prawns go). The walnut and raisin bread that came with it was excellent though. My favourite entrée was actually the Flatbreads, thin and crisp, topped with Garlic, Rocket and Parmesan (£4.85), which was crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle, with fresh rocket and not too much Parmesan to overpower it.
I didn’t drink (alcohol) since I was not feeling too well, but the organic Farm Pressed Juice - Apple & Crushed Ginger 250ml (£2.00) was a treat. I love ginger in drinks and this, paired with the cloudy apple juice, was refreshing. My Swordfish Salad (£13) - chargrilled line-caught swordfish steak with baby spinach, tomato and puy lentils was pretty simple, nothing that hasn’t been done before, but I liked it that way, a simply grilled fish that was thankfully not overcooked (in fact, they seem to undercook all the food here as the people who ordered steak can attest). The salad was fresh, otherwise not overtly special.
I was too full for dessert after that, but the cold did make it order a Cappuccino (£3), which was huge, but tasted like all the other bad cappuccinos I’ve had.
Rating - 6.5
Atmosphere
We decided to take advantage of the sun (or more likely, non rain) and sit outside. Actually, the decision was probably because the smokers wanted to be able to enjoy themselves a little more than usual. There were lots of people there, co-workers, friends, family, hens night, they all seemed to be there. As a result, the atmosphere was great, with everyone enjoying the great outdoors.
Besides the fierce wind and the fact that a pigeon knocked the coffee out of my hand, it was great.
Rating - 2
Service
A little slow, but is understandable because they were so busy. What is not acceptable though, is them forgetting one of our dessert order and getting the wine order wrong, and delivering dirty glassware to our table!!
Fortunately our waiter was apologetic and didn’t make the bad points worst.
Rating - 2.5
C-factor
Fortunately, we only paid for our part. For a “pub” meal, it is very expensive. But for Canary Wharf, it’s quite acceptable, as the portions are quite generous and at least the taste is not bad. Much better than Ta Tasca next door.
Rating - 0.5
Brownie Points - 11.5
Info
Hertsmere Road
London
E14 8JJ
Phone +44 (0) 20 7987 9777
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