Address: Danesbury House, Sidbury, Worcester, WR1 2HU
Telephone number: 01905 611 120
Website: www.theglasshouse.co.uk
Date of visit: February 201124
Approximate cost per head: £20 plus for 2 courses
Cuisine: modern British/French
Comments on wine list/beer: Fairly basic wine list at low prices. Quite a few under £20 a bottle.
Summary:
There are 3 restaurants listed in the Michelin Guide for Worcester and the surrounding areas. They were all rated as 2 knives and forks. I have been to the Venture In several times (last reviewed on 24 July 2010). It is fairly “old fashion French” which means lots of heavily reduced sauces and heavy use of cream and butter. It was Margaret Thatcher’s favourite restaurant when she visited the area. The other one is Browns (24 Sept 2009).
Glasshouse Brasserie is the third place recommended in the Michelin Guide. Similar to Browns, they serve modern British cuisine and French food.
I took my friend M along on a Thursday night and the place was over half full. There is a sort of bar/dining area downstairs and there is a dining room upstairs that can take 40 covers plus a private dining room for about 12. The whole place is very modern.
We had a table upstairs. We started off with a rustic bread (£3.95) which were large chunks of grilled buttered bread with a pot of tomato chunky sauce and a whole head of baked garlic which was original and nice.
M then had the roast rump of lamb (£15.95) and I had the ribeye steak with triple cooked chips (£17.95) . I was told that the rump was good. It was served with a pesto sauce but this version of pesto sauce had mint in it. I thought that pesto was basil and pine nuts chopped together.
Now, let me tell you about my steak and chips. The chips came as huge cubes and the best way to describe it is that it is mashed potato with a crispy skin.
As far as I am aware, triple cooked chips were invented by Heston Blumenthal. It is now copied all over the place. The Hind Head (owned by Heston), Riverside Brassiere, The Royal Oak (Paley Street) and The Hand and Flower all do triple cooked chips well.
According to Heston’s book – In Search of Perfection, Triple Cooked Chips (page 229) should be simmered until the chips are nearly broken up (it is the fissures that form as the potato breaks up that trap the fat creating a crunchy crust)………
The so called triple cooked chips had no fissures. I can’t understand why if they went to all the trouble of declaring that they do triple cooked chips, they then can’t get it right. You may recall that The Three Horseshoes in Radnage, another pub recommended by the Michelin Guide also try to palm of their rubic cube chips as triple cooked (24 November 2010).
Back to the steak. It was cooked medium and was perfectly all right. It was declared as 10 ounces on the menu and I would have preferred a thicker cut than the 1cm cut that I had and the steak trimmed. They did that at the Blacxk Cow in Launceston.
By the way, we also shared a bottle of 2008 Ch Bellefontaine which was quite drinkable at £24 – the second most expansive red wine on the list.
To be honest, it was a pretty good meal and you do get veg with your main course, but, I get annoyed when people try to copy Heston and can’t get it right.
E