Brookfield Hotel, Emsworth

UPDATE: January 2017. 

For the last few years our cycling club has had their annual award presentation and lunch at the Brookfield Hotel. This year there were around 60 of us and the three course menu with coffee and a chocolate brownie with it was priced at £19 each, pretty reasonable. For that kind of thing it was very good I thought, the staff were very friendly, helpful and polite.

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Our annual cycling club’s presentation lunch was held at the Brookfield Hotel in Emsworth for the second year running. Last year’s meal really was good but I never got around to reviewing it and so I hoped that this year would be just as good.

When we arrived we ordered drinks at the bar and mingled there for a bit before taking our places for lunch.

The staff were friendly and unobtrusive whilst serving us and made sure that a friend next to me was given the gluten-free options of each dish.

First course was a lovely large and juicy field mushroom with caramelised red onion and melted cheese, some salad leaves around the edge of the plate and drizzled with a balsamic glaze which was nice and sweet. This dish was really tasty indeed. Even my husband enjoyed it and he doesn’t like cheese.

Main course was a chicken breast wrapped in a rasher of bacon and cut in half, served with a saffron potato cake and fresh carrots and broccoli and a really nice creamy sauce.

Dessert was a slice of Bakewell tart which wasn’t terribly almondy but it didn’t matter as it was fresh and tasty and served with a sweet vanilla sauce/custard and a few red currants. My gluten-free friend offered me some of her fresh fruit salad as she couldn’t manage it all. Some really nice ripe melon, grapes and oranges with cream, it truly was quite tasty and refreshing. I wouldn’t normally go for a fruit salad as a dessert, but I must say I wouldn’t have been disappointed had I been given this instead.

With the meal we had a very nice bottle of Siete Soles cabernet sauvignon from Chile, nice and fruity.

Everyone I spoke to had enjoyed the meal very much. Afterwards we had a talk from a young couple who had cycled around the world which was very inspiring. And at the presentation I came away with not one, but two trophies.

Coffee was served along with a plate of freshly baked chocolate brownies.

So, after another very good meal at The Brookfield Hotel we decided to return, this time for afternoon tea. I spoke to Tracey on the phone who was very nice, friendly, polite and helpful. Geoff doesn’t like egg sandwiches, salmon, cheese or prawns so I asked if we would have a choice. We had a laugh about what he could have apart from ham. Jam, peanut butter and jam etc., She was going to ask chef if he had coronation chicken.

Service was from a very attentive young man by the name of Olly. He made sure that our teapot was topped up and came across often to see if we were okay and if there was anything we wanted/needed.

It was a little chilly where we were seated, which was really part of the reception area and we could hear the receptionists and people arriving and booking in to the hotel, plus of course the door opening and a draught going through. I’d forgotten my cardigan although I did have a long sleeved blouse on but Geoff had a jumper on and was also a little chilly.

We decided upon the prosecco afternoon tea which was slightly dearer. The prosecco was nice and fizzy. We had a plate of canapes which consisted of a soft base with smoked salmon, cream cheese and a little grated lemon zest. These were very nice and even Geoff tried one.

Eventually we asked to move as we were getting a bit too chilly. There was a fireplace (which wasn’t on unfortunately) and we thought it would create a barrier from the door. But the fireplace was cut through to the other room so we were kind of in the same situation only even more inline with the door! We couldn’t ask to move again as poor Olly the waiter had to move the tables for us as the one by the fire was only a small one.

We had three sandwiches made with fresh brown bread containing tuna and mayo’ with cucumber which were very nice, Geoff had his ham and Branston pickle ones and there were three coronation chicken sandwiches which were on white bread with the crusts removed. the sandwiches and the salmon canapes were served on a bed of lettuce leaves which were a little limp. And I remember, the mushroom at the presentation lunch also had rather limp rocket leaves.

Next up were the cakes!! On the top tier we had four miniature tarts. Two containing a very nice smooth dark chocolate, with a cherry on the top and another with a dulce de leche-type rich spread and a swirl of sweet cream on top.

The second tier held chocolate brownies which had a hard crust on top. Brownies should indeed have a crust on top but these were perhaps a little too hard a crunchy crust and it took away the gooeyness of the centre. Not the best but by no means the worst I’ve ever had. They weren’t as good as the ones we’d had at the presentation lunch. The cakes were a slight disappointment. Two small pieces of sponge which weren’t terribly fresh and a bit dense with flaked almonds on top, the other almost identical but with a lemon drizzle topping. I swapped my two pieces of cake (after eating half of them) for Geoff’s little tarts from the top tier.

On the bottom were the scones, two plain and two fruit. They were quite hot when they arrived which we were warned about. Sometimes this can mean that they aren’t very fresh and they warm them to make them a bit softer, but this was not the case whatsoever. They had that lovely fresh ‘just baked and out of the oven’ smell.  The jam I think was raspberry but more of a thick jelly. It would have been much nicer if it had been a proper jam and perhaps even a local one as there are many farms around the area which produce home-made jams. Because of the jelly-like texture it was hard to spread. The clotted cream was lovely and of course we ate them the correct way with the cream on top 😉

We were so full what with the copious amount of tea we’d drunk and all that food. I had to leave the little chocolate tarts 🙁 I did think of wrapping them up to take home but with the fresh cream etc., on top of them I think they just would have made a mess in my handbag!

Ambience – 8 for the 3 course lunch and 6 for the Afternoon Tea.
Value – 8 for both
Service 9 top notch on both occasions
Quality – 7.5
Returnability – more likely for an evening meal in the restaurant as we’ve already ‘done’ Afternoon Tea.

Living life, loving cake

A x