Museum Brasserie

A trip to the National Museum of Scotland, on Chambers Street, is always fun. I can still vividly remember trips there, in the early 1980s, when I first found out about the Wylam Dilly. It was nice to renew acquaintances, today.

While the younger members of our party tore round the place with youthful enthusiasm, the rest of us soon turned our attention to food, as it was nearing lunchtime. We decided to try the Museum Brasserie, which is run by caterers Benugo.

They offer a nicely balanced menu, with our eyes taken by the Cullen skink, the seafood main courses, and the burgers, about which I’d heard good things.

I was joined today by Ayla, Brian, Hande and Patrick, so we were able to sample of good range of dishes, although burgers did dominate our attention.

Ayla is showing great promise in her culinary endeavours, regularly choosing lunchtime soup. This was accompanied by hearty ekmek (bread).

Brian chose a large portion of the salmon and cod fishcakes, then Patrick, Hande and I went for burgers, with the gents opting for beef, while the lady chose veggie. Both Patrick and I were given the option of whether we wanted our burgers cooked medium or well-done. We both opted for the former.

The extremely helpful and accommodating waitresses firstly brought a little artistic diversion for Ayla, then her soup arrived first of all, so she could get to work on it, immediately. She enjoyed it with her usual vigour and relish.

The rest of our dishes soon arrived, presented in an unfussy way. My burger, which was topped with “the works” (bacon and cheese), was firmly a knife and fork job. Sadly, I found the burger too lean and rather lacking in flavour, and the bun wasn’t great, either.

I’d been on a pretty good run with meaty burgers, earlier in the year, with excellent examples in Elbow, Nobles, Greenmantle and Field, but this was back to dry and crumbly disappointment.

However, everyone else had much better fortune, with Hande very pleased with her veggie burger, and Brian finding his fishcakes to be pretty tasty. Patrick was quite happy with his burger, too. I suspect his was cooked more to the medium specification than mine, which would have undoubtedly helped.

So overall, I didn’t do well at the Museum Brasserie, but others round the table did much better. I really liked the place and the staff were extremely helpful, so I’d be happy to go back, but I wouldn’t order the burger again, as it wasn’t to my tastes, at all. I look forward to better dining luck, next time.

Scores
Blythe scores the Museum Brasserie
3/5 for food
3/5 for presentation
4/5 for setting
4/5 for service
giving an overall 14/20

Today’s questers were: Ayla, Hande, Brian, Patrick, Blythe

We ate: salmon and cod fishcakes, tomato and basil soup, burger with cheese, burger with “the works”, veggie burger

We drank: sparkly water (3), water, white wine

We wore: scarf, polo shirt; purple sweater, bear top; jeans

Total bill: £52.30