The Dolphin House Brazzerie

We recently headed to The Dolphin House Brazzerrie on the Barbican in Plymouth for my wife’s birthday.  Abby queried the gluten free options when booking the table, and was told that this would be no problem and they have regular coeliac customers.  Furthermore, she was told if I ordered in advance I could choose anything from the menu and they would make it gluten free for me with no problem, including gluten free bread.  The Restaurant’s website carries the reassuring statement “Special Diets; If you or a member of your party have any special dietary requirements please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate you without compromising your meal.”

The restaurant is very well decorated and overlooks the harbour,  though it was pitch black and absolutely tipping down when we went so we didn’t get much chance to enjoy the view.  Dolphin House serve “Responsibly sourced, and locally where possible” modern British cuisine.  The staff were very friendly and quickly put my mind at rest with regards my gluten free choices.  I double checked the chips were cooked in a separate fryer and they confirmed they were.  The waiter told me he was dairy free and totally understood how it was when I asked the question.

First up I had butternut squash soup, served with gluten free toast.  The soup was absolutely delicious and up there with the nicest soups I’ve had.  Great flavour and the drizzle of olive oil and cream on top really added to the dish.  The toast was great and the chef had done extra so I had an extra slice brought to the table while I was eating.  I polished off all of it.

For the main course I went for the steak.  I ordered the “cut of the day” in advance so wasn’t sure what cut I would be getting.  The waiter informed me today’s cut was a 10 oz rump.  I generally order a fillet if it’s available, and I’ve often found other cuts to be pretty disappointing.  No such disappointment this time round.  The steak was a perfectly cooked medium as requested and was absolutely delicious.  I would go as far to say this was the nicest non-fillet steak I’ve ever had.  When ordering I enquired if any of the sauces were gluten free, and was delighted to be told that all sauces are made to order so it was no problem to make any of them gluten free, and they always keep gluten free flour on-site.  I plumped for my favourite peppercorn sauce, the first time I’ve been able to have this since my coeliac diagnosis.  I was expecting the onion rings to be left off, but they went the extra mile and made me gluten free ones.  I was really impressed by this so a big thumbs up for me.

For dessert I went for the ice cream/sorbet selection.  These were all homemade and very tasty, and a good end to the meal.  I almost did my usual trick and forget to get a photo of this, so excuse the fact there are a few bites missing from the above snap!  I was served lemon and cardomom sorbet, cream cheese and white chocolate ice cream and also cinnamon ice cream.  Unusual flavours and all lovely, I particularly enjoyed the very creamy white chocolate ice cream.

I washed the meal down with a Thatcher’s Vintage Cider which was a cool 7.4%, best to not drink too many of those!  Overall a fantastic meal and I would definitely go back to Dolphin House Brazzerie again.  It wasn’t the cheapest, £17.50 for a steak plus an extra £2.50 for the peppercorn sauce, but given the quality of food I didn’t think this was extortionate.  I was exceptionally well looked after on the gluten free front and suffered no ill effects.  I look forward to going back again in the future.

See also this TripAdvisor review by Happy_Eater66 for a second opinion.

Kevin, Gluten Free by the Sea

Tags: coeliac, dolphin house, food, gluten free, gluten free diet, gluten free food, ice cream, restaurant, sorbet, soup, steak