Brancusi — Restaurant in England

For a year, Brancusi was the restaurant in York that I was most desperate to try.

And normally, this would set a person up for certain disappointment.

After all, it's unlikely that after so much anticipation, Brancusi would then live up to the 'hype'.

However, this is not one of those instances.

This is one of those rare occasions when a person's lofty expectations have been met...

My girlfriend and I had an early dinner at the restaurant one Friday in late August.

It was perfectly quiet, which meant that we had the full attention of a very polite and chatty waitress.

The inside of the building was tasteful.

The back of the building had a glass ceiling, like a conservatory, but more upmarket.

I also remember an apothecary cabinet set against one of the walls, laden with jars of preserves and pickled vegetables.

Courtesy of the stunning interior and the attentive (but never pushy) service, we felt very peaceful at our little table.

In stark comparison to the setting, the food at Brancusi is loud, strange, and (in some cases) completely outlandish.

And I have to say, I am fully on board.

To begin with, we had the pan-seared king scallops with charred peaches.

It was light, delicate, and perfectly balanced.

The rich meatiness of the scallops paired wonderfully with gentle, citrusy flavour of the peaches.

We followed this up with the radicchio, which (in my opinion) was outright wacky.

It somehow managed to be both sweet and savoury... Crispy, yet tender...

I would have to say that it steered more towards the sweeter side, but I wouldn't call it a dessert by any means.

In light of our earlier choice (with the charred peaches), we then transitioned to the roasted pork with roasted peaches.

This was my girlfriend's favourite dish, out all those we tried.

The crackling on the pork was as tough as leather, though it hid a beautifully tender cut of meat beneath.

I think that when pairing pork with a fruit, your immediate instinct is to go for apples (pork with apple sauce, for example), so you fail to consider any of the alternatives.

But I have to say, apples would have paled in comparison to the roasted peaches, which accompanied our pork.

They were much tangier than the charred peaches from before, and they gave an interesting sweetness to the meat.

Our final order at Brancusi was a crab fettuccine, which wasn't the best dish that we tried, but it was still exceptional.

The pasta was served al dente and had a nice chewy texture. Whereas the crab was so flaky that it blended into the sauce, taking on a light, tomatoey flavour.

Oh! And we also got a side plate of roast potatoes. They were pretty great, too.

Overall, Brancusi lived up to my sky-high expectations and has become one of my favourite restaurants in York.

I would especially recommend it for...

2.5/5. Sadly, a rather disappointing experience here. I'll start off by saying, I resent greatly the "optional" 10% service charge. How is this an acceptable practice now? At no point were we given the opportunity to remove this charge from our bill. Really unhappy with that.

Onto the rest. The menus sounded fine, although it wasn't very clear how the good menu worked, with no clear explanations for certain items (e.g., "Gildas"), nor how items should be combined for a full meal. The wine menu was disappointing. A decent variety of wine styles, but no vintages stated and missing details on some wines, such as the Grüner Veltliner. I had 2 glasses of wine, and neither wine was poured at the table, which is something I would expect from a good restaurant so I can check the bottle and it's condition.

The food was tasty but nothing special. Nice bread and Gildas to start. Also shared the pheasant goujons which were also fine, but the breadcrumb coating lacked flavour and the sauce did not work in my opinion.

I had the venison pie main course, and this was tasty enough but had several issues. Firstly, it was served in a totally bizarre way. A pie tray with angled sides, sat on a kitchen towel, itself on a tiny wooden board. Every time I tried to cut into the pie it wobbled and threatened to fall onto the table. Totally unacceptable way to serve food. I asked for a plate to put it on and the waitress brought me a cold plate. Had to ask again for a warm one. The pie was fine, as was the very small serving of red cabbage. The whole thing however was too dry and desperately needed a sauce.

For desert I had the baked chocolate pudding. This was also disappointing. The pudding was barely baked (almost entirely liquid) and the amount of ice cream meagre. Apparently it was a newly adjusted recipe.... This made me feel more like a test subject rather than a customer.

Now the biggest issue, the price. Simply too high for the amount of food and quality. 3 slices of bread with a tiny bit of oil to dip in, 6.50 (before service charge)? Are you serious?

In summary, the food was fine but had many issues. The price was too high, made worse by the service charge, which was not made optional to us at any point by...

In York today to visit the annual Ice Trail and as I got here early I had some time to kill so decided to get breakfast.

Brancusi is located on Micklegate in York. I entered at about quarter to 10 and at that time there wasn’t too many people inside however by the time I left at half 10 I could see the venue was very popular, almost every table was taken from what I could see!

As a solo diner I found the staff were very polite and they were quick to take my order. The venue was nicely presented, clean, tidy and warm since it was rather chilly today. There is also customer toilets on site.

To eat I had the French Toast and a glass of Orange Juice. The food itself was nice and I enjoyed the flavours of it.

Downsides, I thought the food was over priced for what you got. Yes it was nicely presented and appealing however I think it was a touch on the expensive side. The French Toast was £15 and the orange juice was £3 for a small glass! £18 in Total.

The overall service was good despite how busy it was getting. Unfortunately they let themselves down when it came to the payment. I asked to pay and a waitress promptly came across with the card machine and told me it was £19.80. I was a bit confused as I thought it was lower than that and perhaps I had made a mistake. Afterwards when I left the venue I figured out what the difference was! 10% of gratuity!

Now in hindsight I should have asked them for an itemised bill which is my own mistake I can accept that. Yes the service was good but it should be my OWN choice whether I decide to leave a tip. It shouldn’t be forced upon me by just being told the total to pay without being given a break down. That spoiled the whole experience for me.

I recommend you give the place a try as the menu looked varied from what I saw just slightly over priced. However just be prepared to ask for a itemised bill...