Essex Brunch

23rd November, 2017. Posted by Mr Swagger

There are many things in love that we love over here at Gentleman’s Encyclopedia of Excellence and two of those things are Road trips with new music and brunches. Well this weekend we indulged in all of the above. We took a road trip out to Essex to the sounds of Big K.R.I.T for brunch at the premium steak restaurant Chop Bloc.

Now we’ve never been to Chelmsford before, even though it’s not far from Southend which is always good for a Sun Day in the summer and it’s not far from our base in East London. Surprisingly it’s only about 30 minutes from London, but we took the scenic route… because we wanted to hear the whole album… Nah we got lost looking for the car park. This is what happens when you build something new in the middle of something old and it’s surrounded by roundabouts.

But we’re here and we can see what we came for. A nice venue with alfresco dining (too cold for that right now) and 2 floors of dining and a fancy bar on the top floor. Chalkboards with words of inspiration like ‘600g T-Bone’ written on them. The interior design is very modern steakhouse with exposed walls, teardrop filament bulbs in brushed copper hanging trays, and an open kitchen as you enter the ground floor.

Right that’s enough scene setting feed us!

We’ve spoken about menu rules before and a Brunch or Breakfast menu must be varied but concise, that’s a must. It’s too early in the day to be bombarded by choice. So when I sat down at my table and was presented with a decent sized specials menu with about 6 or 7 options on it I was delighted. Now I need only decide if I want fish, poultry or steak. We went with the poultry and steak options, flipped it over to see an equally concise and pleasing selection of sides. Actually had to calm down on the sides and exercise some control. So we ordered the Truffle Fries, Green Salad, Standard Fries and the Crabmeat & Crayfish Mash. The temptation to order the Mac & Cheese as well was strong, but had to monitor the dairy intake as hardshakes were on their way as well.

When the food arrived they were actual plate fulls, none of this using mash like it’s a decoration for the side of the dish that so many restaurants do when they shouldn’t as that’s not what their clientele wants. The food was extremely filling, my only complaint was that everything was just a little too rich, which along with the hardshakes made me start considering how many leaps further towards diabetes I was taking. But that doesn’t mean plates weren’t cleared and the dessert menu wasn’t called for and ordered from. And funny enough the desserts were perfectly balanced in richness considering we ordered a chocolate brownie and a sticky toffee pudding.

Chop Bloc
Grays Brewery Yard, Springfield Road, Chelmsford, CM2 6QR
www.chopbloc.com

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