Emma
Malmaison in the city centre have recently launched an all-you-can-eat Sunday brunch menu for £19.95 (£7.95 for children under 12) which is available to the general public and staying guests (who can pay the extra and have a long lie-in and late check out), the brunch menu is available from noon until 4pm so why would you want to rush away when you can take your time, relax and enjoy some good food? And we were kindly invited along to do just that!
The Mal is located just off Blythswood Square in a former Episcopal Church and you’ll find the brasserie downstairs in the moderately lit and slightly medieval looking basement, well, it was once a crypt…
We were quickly greeted and seated on comfortable leather seating directly opposite ‘The Chef’s Table’.
The brunch menu takes its name from (as I’m sure you’ve already guessed!) a popular tabloid newspaper and it’s stylized to look like a newspaper, but not content with just listing food the menu also includes puzzles (a word search and sudoku) so it actually provides more entertainment than the Daily Mail (meow!) and you can take it away with you when you’ve finished your meal.
To drink we ordered fresh orange juice and tap water, which was nicely presented in a swing-top glass bottle.
‘The Chef’s Table’
The chef’s table contains a good array of fresh high quality produce – meat, fish, vegetables, cheese and fruit comprising the cold items but the chef can also make waffles and pancakes – think of it as a posh buffet! There’s plenty of stuff for vegetarians but the best bit is that you can make as many trips as you’d like so take your time as that’s what it’s all about.
A leg of ibérico ham ready to be carved…
Seafood mix and salad…
Trout, salmon and canapés……
A large selection of vegetables (there are more items in the Kilner jars too)…
You can also order soup of the day, which was tomato on this occasion…
Soup servings can so often be pitiful when served in posh eateries but this was an absolutely huge portion served in a deep bowl with 2 slices cut from a baguette.
And it was really tasty too, comprising a sweet and tangy tomato pasata base with lots of beans, courgette, onion, carrot and orzo pasta, the little rice-like pasta which is deceptively light tasting, this was thick and very filling. There was also a complementing garnish of pesto on top.
Main dishes
There are 10 items to choose from, including a traditional roast, a burger, swordfish, 2 veggie options or…
“Frying pan huevos rancheros”, which actually did come served in a pan, and not only that but the food looks like it has a face! Perhaps the chef was having fun in the kitchen? We love Mexican food and huevos rancheros isn’t something you see too often and certainly not what we expected at the Mal’s brunch menu – it’s made up of eggs, pancetta, black pudding, peas in a spicy tomato sauce and it was lovely though we’d have preferred more black pudding.
It somehow seems right to order roast beef for Sunday brunch so we did! It came with carrots, parnsips, roast potatoes (crisp on the outside but very fluffy inside) and a Yorkshire pudding with gravy. We also took horseradish and mustard, which were both piquant and made for a lively brunch.
We asked for the beef rare and it was certainly pink as you can see. Lovely and tender, I think we made the right choices!
The Mal on Sunday menu also offers a variety of alcoholic cocktails from £8.95, including a classic Bloody Mary, 5 alcoholic variations and one for the designated drivers among us.
It would be rude not to sample a cocktail and so we plumped for a Chase Marmalade Martini using the lovely Chase Marmalade Vodka as the base mixed with Cointreau & orange bitters. A classy fruity and refreshing cocktail for £8.95.
Dessert
We had to sample the pancakes…
and the waffles too of course…
Served with a choice of blueberries, strawberries or mixed berry compote. But we didn’t stop there…
Sticky toffee pudding, which was deliciously moist and covered in sweet sticky caramel.
The Mal Sundae, which was a bit of a challenge, topped with cubes of mallow it was very sweet and sugar coma inducing!
We finished with a coffee each but were so stuffed that we struggled to drink it all, we didn’t even have room for a “wafer-thin mint so had to give the cookie a miss.
Overall, the Mal on Sunday offers a great selection of food, which at the portion sizes offered is great value for money as it will literally keep you going all day (we didn’t have a breakfast or dinner the day we visited).
There are Sunday newspapers at the bar and the atmosphere is chilled, it isn’t a place to rush but rather to take your time, the staff are polite and friendly and the soup and main courses didn’t take long to arrive – all of which were cooked perfectly and seasoned really well.
Our only gripes were that the lighting could be better and the stock of plates kept an eye on. but these were all minor issues, and aside them it was great and we are eager to return!
The Sunday Mal is available every Sunday from noon – 4pm at a cost of £19.95 per person (or £7.95 for children under 12). The website for the Glasgow brasserie is here and the brunch menu can be found here.
