Please note that since writing this blog post, Brasserie Bark has closed down
I should probably write a series about embarrassing restaurant scenarios. Two weeks ago, I managed to (almost!) walk out of a restaurant without paying half my bill because I didn’t count up my bank notes correctly. Had it been a terrible restaurant, it might have been less unforgivable, but I’d actually intended to leave a decent tip!
That little crisis averted, last Friday I arrived at Brasserie Bark – an old-school French brasserie in the museum quarter – announced my booking at the front desk, and plonked myself down at a table for five. Two minutes later, I was looking around wondering where my friends had got to… when one of them sneaked up and tapped me on the shoulder: “Care to join the rest of us, Vicky?” asked one, pointing to another table for five at which everyone else was already sitting. Embarrassing restaurant scenario #2: sitting on your own waiting for the rest of your group while they’re at another table all along.
Anyhooo… I crashed on with dinner, and after a few glasses of wine my embarrassment was all forgotten. Meanwhile, there was the food to think about. Brasserie Bark’s menu seemed to favour fish, so I opted for a pescatarian dinner of scallops followed by lobster. The scallops came with a buttery sauce and a sort of loaf-shaped slice of something that was supposed to involve cauliflower but tasted more like a Spanish potato tortilla. Perfectly pleasant, but not what I was expecting.
