Bronte

Bronte has closed down*

I’ve always loved theatre. Coming from a dance background, I’ve always been drawn to theatre and shows. That’s one of the things that has drawn me to London as well. Last Friday, my colleague, a.k.a theatre buddy, and I decided to go for a long-due girl date to catch the new show The Grinning Man. Just round Charing Cross, we managed to find Bronte as our spot for a pre-theatre meal.

About Bronte

Bronte is a contemporary Pan-Asian fusion restaurant located just off Trafalgar Square. The restaurant has a very sophisticated setting yet with a very fun and socializing ambience. As described on their website,

“Tom Dixon design sets the scene for those looking to let their hair down in a fun flirty and sophisticated manner”.

On the outside, I absolutely loved the flowery setting framing the entrance. There are lots of outdoors seats too with heaters on. As we stepped inside, the bar section was buzzing with blasting music. Then we were led to the dining section, which was much quieter. The decor definitely reflects that “sophisticated yet fun” setting. It’s slightly fancy but not at all pretentious. We got seated comfortably by the sofa seats and got greeted by really friendly waiters.

The Food (What We Ordered)

Please note that Bronte does not serve halal meats. Plenty of seafood and vegetarian options are available.

Miso Soup (£4)

To start with, we got the Miso Soup. It is made with silken tofu, nameko mushroom & wakame seaweed. Though just a simple dish, this Miso Soup was pretty impressive. The flavours were so fresh and sends a very hearty sensation upon each sip. It was rich in flavour – umami and savoury yet clean to the palate. The soup was served in a pre-heated Japanese cup and can keep it warm for quite some time!

Snow Crab California Roll (£10)

I am not a huge fan of both avocado and cucumber, so I thought I might not really like this dish. But I was wrong. I absolutely loved it.

In this Snow Crab California Roll, there is, obviously, the snow crab, paired with avocado, cucumber and tobiko, (fish roe). Despite the “disadvantage” (i.e. me being a picky eater not liking some of its ingredients), it manages to hide the flavours that I didn’t like and really highlight the good stuff. It is all down to the quality of ingredients and fine execution by the sushi chef.

The most outstanding part for me is the tobiko. You can definitely taste how great the quality is and the flavours really shone. It’s incredibly light and refreshing to taste and moreish.

Soft Shell Crab Burger (£12)

Isn’t this burger so visually stunning? The burger is bound to make you let out a little gasp and whisper “wow” upon serving. The burger was supposed to be layered with mashed wasabi avocado but I opted it out as I’m not an avocado fan. The staff then kindly suggested swapping it with mayo, so I went with it.

The soft shell crab has a very light and crispy tempura batter, which enveloped some pretty meaty crab meat. The taste of crab didn’t pop out as much as it did with the sushi, but it was still very delicious. As I was munching away my burger, I kept feeling something was missing. I later figured out it was the sriracha aioli which I didn’t notice being served on the side! After slabbing that all over, all the flavours started to sing and dance on my palate. For me, the tempura batter itself was a bit under seasoned and needed that extra kick of sriracha aioli to boost it up.

Skinny Fries (£5)

To go with my burger, I ordered some Skinny Fries for sides. On the menu, it is described to be with nori, rosemary salt & sriracha aioli. The sriracha aioli was served on the side, which was very moreish as mentioned above. I didn’t manage to taste much of the nori, i.e. seaweed. It has a very touch of rosemary salt but I felt it was slightly under-seasoned overall. I guess I was expecting something exceptional but it’s just some decent ordinary fries.

Summary

All in all, our meal at Bronte had been incredibly enjoyable and we both loved it. The food was pretty good, the atmosphere was amazing, the service was great, and the prices are fairly reasonable. Everything was simply very satisfactory!

P.S. we really enjoyed The Grinning Man! It was certainly something different from the usual musical as it involves a mixture of puppetry, stage interaction (actors appearing at every corner of the theatre and even climbed up the seats), dark storylines and plenty of humour. I was fully immersed in every second of the show and definitely had a good laugh. And I must say I was very impressed with the singing as they all have magnificent voices!

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Tel: 020 7930 8855
Website: www.bronte.co.uk/

Closest Underground Station: Charing Cross