I last went to Brickyard with
Vicky in August 2014 (post - Restaurant Review: Brickyard) and it has changed
since then, which is one of the reasons we prolonged our visit. This time,
Callum and Ash joined us and the four of us caught up last Saturday night.
While the menu has changed quite
dramatically, everything else remained very much the same. It’s still
two-for-one on selected cocktails until 9pm – something I immediately took
advantage of, as we met Vicky and Callum at the bar. The strawberry daiquiris
are honestly to die for: they’re full of rum, frozen and blitzed to perfection
– ideal for soothing my sore throat, but also meant I drank them far too
quickly! After a quick catch-up, we were shown to our table, which was in the
main restaurant (where we sat before), as opposed to the more private and
exclusive booths at the back of the building.
The decor and ambience was also
the same – the restaurant is so modern and luxe and the music playing in the
bar extends to the restaurant too. It does make conversation quite difficult,
especially when the restaurant is busy – and there were a couple of larger
parties on Saturday night: a lad’s birthday knees up and a Hen Do. Thankfully,
this didn’t deter the evening and again, the service was good.
On Saturday nights, there’s a set
menu as opposed to the usual a la carte – three courses for just under £35. It
is very similar to the usual menu but something all the diners must have. I
admit I was a little daunted by the concept of having three courses, especially
when I can barely manage one – but there’s plenty of choice, including a
specials board. I spent far too long chatting and drinking, that I completely
forgot to look at the menu so I did make a very quick decision when the
waitress arrived at our table.
We actually all opted for
different starters: Soup of the Day (a herb based tomato one) for Ash; chicken
wings for Callum (following Vicky’s recommendation); the beetroot and goats
cheese salad (which looked colourful and incredibly tasty) for Vicky and I went
for the tempura prawns. The batter was light, crisp and well-seasoned and I
loved the fresh flavours of the carrot & coriander salad. The sweet chilli
sauce wasn’t too overwhelming and there was even a dash of garlic mayo. I don’t
usually order starters, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one!
In terms of main courses, I feel
as though I lucked out with my choice: the chilli & lime rump steak from
the specials board. It came with a side of skin-on fries, a mixed dressed
salad, grilled tomato and Portobello mushroom – there was just so much food!
The marinade on the steak was lush and not too spicy and the meat itself was so
tender and grilled to perfection. I had asked for mine to be rare (as I always
do with steak), but the waitress recommended medium – I decided to go with this
and when the steak arrived, it was definitely still rare and cooked to my
liking. I wasn’t a fan of the chips last time and they’ve certainly improved –
I just could not manage any of the other sides. Callum also chose the steak –
also cooked medium – while Vicky kept it simple with the grilled chicken breast
and Ash went for the honey roast duck breast. It looked delicious and was
presented beautifully – if I wasn’t so full and could handle more red meat, I
would have tried some.
As Happy Hour was coming to an
end, we ordered some final cocktails for the table. Somehow there was a bit of
a mix-up and instead of ordering two daiquiris (one each), we ended up with
four! There was further confusion with the dessert menu. We were all feeling
suitably full and the waitress said to leave the menus face down until we were
ready to order – giving us time to talk and to get our appetites back. However,
she came back to the table almost instantly, much to Vicky’s amusement.
I panicked when I came to ordering
dessert, as I really couldn’t manage anything else – but I chose the same as
Vicky: the cookies & cream parfait with chocolate chip cookie and chocolate
shot. It was quite sweet and rich, but the parfait was a lovely consistency.
The homemade cookie was gooey and complemented the parfait well, while I didn’t
think the shot of chocolate sauce was needed. I couldn’t finish that, or my two
frozen drinks.
Brickyard was just as good as I
remembered and on the whole, I don’t think it had changed that much. Although
the music can be quite loud, making it difficult to converse, it’s great for the
bar scene. The restaurant is perfect for larger parties and it’s also a good
place to begin the night, before moving on to somewhere else.
Love, Lucy xx
So lovely to see you both. Still thinking about my dessert!! X
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