Bonne Brasserie: Constitution Wynd, Aberdeen
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CAN good food and drink bring about world peace?
I wouldn’t have thought so either but, after eating at Bonne Brasserie, I’m having second thoughts.
You see, in the hours running up to our meal, my fiancee and I were having what Jeremy Kyle might refer to as “a bit of a barny”.
I don’t even recall who started the argument (although given that it crescendoed with my beloved hurling a slice of cheese on toast across the living room, a safe bet would be me).
Fortunately a mid-afternoon ceasefire had worked wonders (we could now vaguely tolerate each other) and so the meal was back on.
Walking into Bonne Brasserie, the atmosphere is virtually guaranteed to make you relax and forget your troubles: gentle music and great smells.
To start I chose the sauteed chicken livers with a brandy cream sauce and garlic focaccia (£4.95). Cooked perfectly pink and doused in the rich sauce that turned the focaccia deliciously soggy, my only complaint was that there were perhaps a few too many for it to feel like a starter.
My fiancee’s Sicilian bruschetta with sweet tomatoes, peppery wild rocket and avocado oil packed a real garlic punch.
As the main courses arrived, things were virtually back to normal. We’d tasted each other’s starters and the cheese on toast incident was but a distant memory.
My seabass with sauteed onion, garlic, peppers and basil (£14.95) wasn’t quite perfect. For a start it was touted on the menu as “whole seabass” but when it arrived it was just the fillets. Less fish, but the same price. Flavour-wise though it was a thing of beauty, with or without a head or tail.
The fish was melt-in-the-mouth fresh and the soft, sweet peppers burst flavour with every bite. Let’s just say it wasn’t too much of a chore to devour the lot.
Across the table the two pieces of Cajun-spiced cod and rock turbot (£14.95) were obviously hitting the spot as well.
Spicy yet not overpowering, the seasoning gave the fish a light-brown colour, which splintered the second you forked the flesh, revealing brilliant white flakes.
The creole dipping sauce was the only let-down as it tasted like luke-warm mayonnaise.
Finishing the meal over a shared chocolate mousse dessert (£4.25), peace had finally been restored and we were actually laughing about our row.
So, as I think we proved, good food, good service and a great atmosphere can bring about peace.
If only they could also get cheese stains off walls ...
