La Brasseria Review
After the excitement of the Marylebone Christmas lights switch-on we headed to La Brasseria. This is a family-owned neighbourhood Italian restaurant situated in the heart of London’s Marylebone.
No matter what time you’re hungry La Brasseria has you covered, serving breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner. For the dinner menu there’s antipasta, pizza, pasta, cotoletta and more. I liked how they also habve three sharing pasta plates and if I go to La Brasseria again I’d be very tempted by the Ossobuco alla Milanese- saffron risotto with slow cooked veal shanks, parsley, lemon and garlic dressing (£62).
To start, my friend and I shared Arancini al Tartufo-Truffle Arancini served with Parmesan sauce (£9). They were crisp and we loved the sauce.
My problem with Italian restaurants is that pasta is one of my all time favourite foods- put me on an island but let me have pasta!. So I went in thinking I would choose between either thr Tagliatelle zucchini e gamberi (£25) or Rissotto con Capsante (£32). Then I started thinking perhaps I should try the Cotoletta all Milanese (crispy breaded veal on the bone) as this is a one of the restaurants classic dishes. I asked the waitress for her recommendations and straightaway she suggested the Rissotto con Capsante. This risotto had four pan fried scallops with carrot, celery, onion and tomato concase. It was light in flavour to really bring out the freshness of the scallops and was very enjoyable.
My friend is vegetarian and chose the Fettuccine della Casa (£24). This is fresh fettuccine with Trevisano radicchio and truffle cream. My friend said it was nice but the sauce was a little too thick and creamy for her liking.
There’s always room for dessert. We shared a Tiramisu (£10.50) and Torta de Marylebone (£10.5). The former is always a good shout at Italian restaurants and we liked how the coffee was not overpowering but how it remained a rich and creamy dessert. For the latter we liked the contrast between layers of puff pastry and homemade custard cream to create a rich and light dessert. Both desserts were of decent portions.
To accompany the mains I had a white wine. The choice was extensive in the 15 page menu (including cocktails and mocktails) so I asked the waiter to bring what she’d suggest would go well with seafood, and the product was crisp and light. We liked how there was a variety of wines from provinces throughout Italy. The service was a little slow – we had to ask the waiter a couple of times for water and our drinks took a little while. In contrast, once ordered the food came promptly. We put this down to to it being a very busy night as the Marylebone Village Christmas light-switch on with Martin Freeman had occurred a short time before and given the location of the restaurant right at the heart of Marylebone Village where those event occurred.
La Brasseria is a smart Italian restaurant in a good location. We sat on the ground level inside and could people watch those enjoying the Merry Marylebone event, even seeing people already purchasing their Christmas trees. There’s also some outdoor seating, which would be lovely on a summer’s day but which also was quite bustling on the crisp evening we went. Descending the stairs you’ll find another bar and four hidden alcoves.
La Brasseria is now open for Christmas and New Year bookings. The festive menu are from £50
And combine seasonal classics with homemade Italian dishes.
For La Brasseria
Address: 42 Marylebone High Street, W1U 5HD
Website: https://www.brasseriafamily.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brasseriafamily
Phone: +4402074863753
