The Dempsey Brasserie

It might be a new joint but the Dempsey Brasserie rocked. Good customer service is such a refreshing breath of fresh air! We were impressed from the moment we arrived and the manager (I think) warmly showed us to our table. A waiter almost immediately appeared and asked if we would like some iced water. Nice.

"Pick a nice bottle of white wine" Papa Bear says. Heh, ok. I look at the wine list and decided to pick a bottle of 2008 Valduero Sobresaliente 9 from Ribera del Douro, Spain ($65) which looked interesting. The wine was a light straw colour and had a very nice aroma of pineapple (100% albillo grape). I was surprised by how light it was, until a quick google on the iphone showed that it only had a 9% low alcohol graduation.

It was just the 3 of us so we decided to order a few things to share - trio of mini burgers ($17), mussels in mariniere ($36), rocket salad ($11) and roasted poussin chicken ($28). We upgraded the fries (came with mussels) to truffle fries with grated parmesan for an additional $5.

The mini burgers were pretty good, although nothing can beat my favourite ones from Overeasy. Besides ketchup and chilli sauce, it came with a buttery sauce which I thought was quite nice. Roast chicken was nice and moist but the portion was a bit small for the 3 of us to share. More please.

The mussels and truffle fries were definitely winners. Mussels were sweet and fresh, much better than those from Brussel Sprouts. We couldn't resist drinking the mariniere sauce like a soup and cleaned the pot dry. Very satisfying, haha.

Mama Bear came to join us later and we decided to order some desserts to share. The chocolate fondant with vanilla ice cream ($14) was excellent but the suzette with orange and vanilla ice cream ($12) was a disappointment. Oh well, we can't win it all.

Kudos to the excellent service staff who made our dinner such a pleasant one. I'm making plans to return with Sis for brunch.