On Sunday, we went to Browns in Nottingham for a special family meal for my mother-in-law’s 70th birthday. I’d been to Browns a couple of times before, but never with the kids, so I was looking forward to see how well it caters for families.
Browns is a bar and brasserie near to Nottingham Castle. I really like the fact that it’s more upmarket than a pub, but not too formal and stuffy, so it was the perfect choice for a special family meal.
We all met in the bar and had a pre-dinner drink. There’s a really good selection of cocktails, which is always gets a thumbs up from me. The kid’s drinks were served in little glass tumblers with handles, which they loved. We ordered them blackcurrant cordial with soda water.
When we arrived we sneakily gave the staff some balloons and a banner for them to put on the table and when we were shown to our table, they’d decorated it really nicely, which was really good of them to do.
We browsed the menus. There was a good selection of dishes, all around £10-£20, which I thought was reasonable. There were also some good options on the childrens’ menu too.
Everyone opted to have a main course and a dessert. I chose the Browns toad in the hole (£13.95), with a side order of cheddar mash (£2.95). The kids all chose from the childrens’ menu, which was £7.95 for two courses. Oscar has sausage and mash, Heidi had a roast beef Sunday dinner and Henry had fish and chips. Other’s in our party had pork belly, seabass and fish and chips.
Everyone was really impressed with their meals. The kids portions were big, which is always good and they all ate a decent amount. My toad in the hole was delicious, although I was glad I’d ordered the extra mash as it didn’t come with any potatoes. The sausages were really tasty and the yorkshire pudding (the hole) was perfectly cooked. Simon also enjoyed his seabass, which came with mussels, prawns, octopus and new potatoes.
For dessert, I went for sticker toffee pudding, which came with ice cream and had a lovely hint of ginger – it was delicious. Oscar and Heidi went for the kids salted caramel profiteroles – I had a sneaky try and they were AMAZING! My sister-in-law had the apple pie, which was also delicious and my mother-in-law went for the poached pear, which came out with a candle and on a slate board, decorated with ‘Happy Birthday, which was a really lovely touch.
The service was great and the staff were really good with the kids, letting them order and also providing them with smaller cutlery. We sat down for our meal at 3pm, which was the perfect time, it was busy but not absolutely packed.
We all had a great time. The food was tasty, the portion sizes were good and the cocktails were varied and delicious. The restaurant catered really well for kids too. The atmosphere is perfect for family occasion. It feels upmarket, but is still lively that you don’t need to worry if the kids are being loud!
We’ll definitely be back!
Jemma
