1709 The Brasserie, Lichfield
With three courses for just £12.50, you won't be breaking the bank with a visit to this brasserie, writes Harry Gottschalk.
With three courses for just £12.50, you won't be breaking the bank with a visit to this brasserie,
.
Lichfield city centre has a rich choice of restaurants and pubs with good food, so that must explain why 1709 The Brasserie is such fantastic value.
Situated on the corner of Lombard Street and Tamworth Street, the restaurant offers a two-course menu for £10.50 and a three-course choice for £12.50.
So, with such appealing prices, I took my partner out for a mid-week feast.
With autumn well and truly here, 1709 is at first very welcoming, with warm colours and traditional looking wooden tables and chairs. It would be a nice, cosy restaurant to escape the freezing cold during the heart of winter (recent heatwaves aside!).
For a mid-week meal, the restaurant was fairly busy, but not so overrun that the service begins to slide.
With such a cheap menu, you would think at first that the menu would be boring and limited, but we had the opposite problem – a vast choice of delicious sounding starters.
The waiter asked if we were ready to order while we were still debating what starter to have, I hadn't even made it to looking at the mains.
I whittled it down to three: Homemade leek and potato soup, with croutons, served with Hindley's thick cut bread; bantry bay mussels, cooked in a Provencale sauce, served with tomato garlic bread; or chicken, smoked bacon and garlic pate, served with onion jam and thick cut toast.
I always have pate – I can't help it. I'm always worried that whatever else I order will be horrid and I'll wish I'd had the pate.
It was a good choice though. Soft, creamy and very tasty. I was dubious about the onion jam, but I have to say it worked.
My partner had the fried goat's cheese, spinach and pepper parcel, served with homemade pear chutney. It was a hit. "Ten out of ten," she said.
So on to the mains; I had char grilled rump steak from Wood End Farm, Yoxall, served with sautéed potatoes, wilted greens and peppercorn sauce. Admittedly, I am not the biggest vegetable eater, but I wasn't a fan of the wilted greens. However, the rest of it was very, very tasty.
The potatoes were lovely, crispy and creamy and the steak was perfect (medium rare for those who want to know) and the sauce was yummy.
My partner had the Confit of Gressingham duck leg, served on roast garlic mash potato, with braised red cabbage, and red wine, and port jus.
Although she didn't get quite as excited as she did about her starter, it still didn't touch the sides. We both nearly went for the slow roasted belly pork, served on roasted butternut squash, with a tomato and onion sauce, although we both made the right choice.
Being the greedy man, I decided to push on with a third course, but my partner was beaten.
Feeling pretty full myself, it was probably a good job, that I went for the Staffordshire strawberry and cream cheesecake, with homemade strawberry coulis, as the portion was tiny.
The value gets even better in the day, when 1709 offers a two-course feast for just £5.50.
The restaurant gets its name from the birth date of the UK's most famous Lichfeldian - Dr Samuel Johnson.
The medieval building matches the historic theme, with its creaky floors and timber framed walls. 1709 is perfect for any type of meal outing, be it a family get-together or a romantic meal for two.
There has been a bistro on the site since 1999 and it has been known as 1709 The Brasserie since 2008.
The description on the website is pretty accurate: "Our menu is simple and stylish with the emphasis on locally sourced and homemade fantastic produce."
Including side vegetables, a glass of coke and a bottle of wine, the meal came to £41 – great value.
The restaurant is open Monday to Thursday 12pm to 2pm and then again between 6pm and 9pm. On Friday and Saturday, 1709 is open between 12pm and 2pm and then again between 6pm and 9.30pm.
ADDRESS
1709 The Brasserie, 3-5 Lombard Street, Lichfield WS13 6DP
Tel: 01543 257986
