Shopping these days has become mainly an online affair, but nothing beats an afternoon browsing for clothes bookended by a bite to eat. Until I moved to London, my experience of this was limited to Bluewater and KFC, but the city (coupled with adulthood and personal autonomy) opened up a world of exciting restaurants and cuisines that were to be my post-retail therapy fuel. This is why I was excited to venture to Selfridges AKA the best department store in the world (a four-time winner at the Global Department Store Summit no less) for dinner at Brasserie Of Light.
The crystal-encrusted Pegasus has a 30ft wingspan and illuminates the brasserie.
DesignMyNight Review Of Brasserie Of Light
Located on the first floor of the Grade II-listed building, Brasserie Of Light shines next to the men's jeans department. The bejewelled, glittery, Art Deco-inspired restaurant took my breath away upon arrival as, as my dinner date and I were led round to our seats, a ginormous 24ft-tall, crystal-encrusted Pegasus welcomed us, spreading its wings and galloping in the air. The sculpture, designed by Damien Hirst, made for quite a distracting centrepiece, but after we became used to the mythical creature soaring above us - a sentence you don’t read every day - we settled into our rich blue and mustard yellow leather seats and regained focus on the menu.
We began our meal by sipping on incredibly fruity cocktails themed around swimming - I tried both the Making Waves, made with Tanqueray gin, Monin peach, watermelon cordial, and lemon juice and the Cîroc Vodka-based Gold Medal, with notes of mandarin, kiwi and yuzu juice.
The former was incredibly sweet, the colour of candyfloss, and topped with a singular, plump raspberry - it left an almost sherbet-like aftertaste which I wasn’t too fond of but was swiftly counteracted by the orange notes in the Gold Medal. This was my favourite of the two as it had a slightly more mellow flavour that, thanks to the mandarin, even the zing of yuzu couldn’t overpower.
The popcorn shrimp was a real highlight of the Brasserie of Light menu.
Soon after the drinks arrived came a plate of popcorn shrimp, smothered in an undisclosed creamy, spicy sauce, alongside pickled mooli and sesame. I’m a sucker for popcorn anything, so popping juicy curls of crispy crustaceans into my mouth was an absolute snacking joy.
For what they lacked in the heat department they made up for in addictiveness and smokiness with a sriracha-like marinade. I could’ve eaten buckets of this dish, an intent that was echoed by the man sat next to me who asked the waiter for a ‘very large portion’ and, when that was declined, improvised and ordered two for himself instead.
My main was a visually striking affair that was almost too pretty to eat. Ribbons of red tapenade were swirled around a harissa and pomegranate aubergine on a bed of wild rice, topped with coconut yoghurt, pomegranate seeds, crumbled pistachio, edamame beans, mint and delicate flowers. I found that the aubergine fell apart as I cut through its soft, purple exterior and my lips were met with a charred tomato flavour from the sauce.
There were a lot of textures going on at once, an element I enjoyed, however I felt the distribution of pomegranate seeds was sparing and a handful more would’ve added more of an enjoyable sweet and savoury element to it.
A chocoholics dream: the dessert featured four different types of chocolate.
Sole goujons then arrived in shiny silverware with minted peas (served in a miniature gravy boat), tartare sauce and fries - a suitably elevated version of the chip shop classic. After squeezing a lemon wrapped in muslin over everything, my friend attested that it was delicious and that he quite enjoyed having multiple mini battered fishes to devour individually; their salty, golden crumb was crisp and light, and the chips well-seasoned.
For dessert, we shared an incredibly indulgent bowl of what resembled a Christmas tree decoration but was actually Chocolate Bubbles, a rich concoction of Valrhona Guanaja dark chocolate, dark chocolate mousse, chocolate brownie, vanilla ice cream and chocolate pearls. For me, the sweet spot when it comes to cocoa percentage is 70%, so I was glad to see a dark dessert on the menu but the combination of so many different chocolates was too sickly for both of us.
We made a valiant attempt to scoop up airy spoonfuls of mousse but were ultimately defeated. Feeling full, we left and ventured out into the brightly lit jungle of men’s denim - a dangerous floor to be on if you’re a guy after a nice meal, a couple of cocktails and Apple Pay.
Brasserie of Light: Overall
Brasserie of Light on Oxford Street is a contemporary and swanky restaurant that’s affordable when you consider the fact it sits in the heart of Selfridges, one of the most iconic department stores in the world. The quality of food is good; paired with next-level service where everyone’s treated like a VIP, it makes for an inviting place to eat.
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💰 Price: £58.90 for two, excluding service charge. 📍 Address: Selfridges, 400 Oxford Street, Duke Street, W1A 1AB. 👌 Perfect for: An affordable dinner after an afternoon shopping. ⭐ Need to
know: Brasserie of Light's autumn menu is
running now, and they'll be transforming into the Brasserie of
FRIGHT from the 21st to the 31st of October. |
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