Ciro’s Brasserie – just keeps delivering #Review

Gaile Wundke
27th June 2016

This was our third review of the Nelson family group, having previously visited The Pheasant at Burwardsley and The Fishpool Inn at Delamere, where on both occasions, we enjoyed excellent food and service, so our expectations were rightly high.

Our table at Ciro’s was booked for 6.45pm and we were promptly seated and handed our menus, both a la Carte and the daily specials and our waiter took our wine order, a bottle of the house Chardonnay, reasonably priced at £16.95.  At the time of our arrival there were two other diners in the restaurant.

For starters we chose the prawns pil pil and pan seared scallops from the main menu and the asparagus, with ham, poached egg and hollandaise sauce from the specials menu.  Whilst we waited for our starters, we also ordered some of the ciabatta with mozzarella to share.

Our bread arrived, presented on a slate and tasty it was, definitely leaving us wanting more.

The star of the starters was the asparagus, which our son had chosen, and left us with a little bit of food envy!  The asparagus was perfectly cooked, topped with a poached egg, a delicious hollandaise sauce and served with thinly sliced ham.  The presentation could have been a little more refined, but the lack of finesse was more than compensated by the flavour.  The prawns pil pil arrived piping hot, plump juicy tiger prawns, cooked in olive oil with a good kick of chilli and were declared delicious. However, another slice of bread would have been welcomed, to mop up the lovely juices!  The scallops, chorizo and crispy leeks were served on a red pepper sauce which was a little overpowering for the scallops clashed a little with the flavour of the chorizo.

For our main courses, we all chose from the a la carte, assiette of seafood, trio of pork and Gressingham duck breast, with a side order of hand cut chips.

 When the mains arrived, we were surprised at how generous the portions were, the pork dish (our son’s choice) was again the star of the show and a pork lovers’ dream, loin wrapped in Italian ham, a black pudding bon-bon, pork belly, crackling, apple puree and parmentier potatoes.  It was very nicely presented and really showcased how versatile a meat pork is.  The Gressingham duck breast was perfectly pink, and the crispy confit pastilla contrasted well with the soft meat.  There was probably a little too much carrot puree and rather a lot of baby carrots standing to attention around the plate, but it was still a very nice dish.  The assiette of seafood was a stunner, salmon, hake, seabass, scallops, tiger prawns and tuna all beautifully cooked (with the exception of the tuna, which was a little dry) and served with salad and new potatoes.  I would definitely order it again!

There was little room left for dessert, but in the interests of presenting a balanced review, we forced ourselves and ordered the dark chocolate fondant and the raspberry crème brûlée. Anybody who watches Masterchef will know that a fondant is one of the most difficult desserts to get right, but the chef at Ciro’s did just that and as the spoon went in, out flowed a pool of rich chocolate sauce, absolutely perfect!  The raspberry brûlée was served with shortbread, marshmallow and a chocolate truffle which added different textures and flavours to the dish.

During our visit, the staff couldn’t have been more attentive and at no time did we have to wait for our glasses to be refilled, or our plates to be cleared, they were efficiency personified!

Ciro’s has been part of the Grosvenor Pulford for a very long time and may it continue for many years to come!