Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Brunch at The Blue Room

On Sunday, I had the pleasure of joining The Boston Brunchers for a late brunch at The Blue Room in Kendall Square. Normally $27 per person ($13 for kids 12 and younger), this buffet-style brunch, featuring local, quality ingredients, is one that's not to be missed.

Our small group had to wait a few minutes for a table, and while we waited, we sipped on these delightful gin fizz creations. Despite it snowing/raining outside, the cold cocktail was a welcome refresher.


Once we were seated, our waitress explained that we could go up to the buffet anytime. The buffet was set-up along the restaurant's open kitchen, so you could see your food being made right in front of you. The Blue Room's buffet options are also put out in small batches, so your food is fresh, hot, and not chocked full of other patrons' germs (a pet peeve of mine at typical buffets).


The buffet had a wide variety of meat- and veg-friendly options to choose from. I tried a little bit of everything veg-friendly.



My favorites: Patatas Bravas, Spicy Tomato Soup, Marinated Beets, and the white beans (I forget the name of this dish). The beans were full of flavor, and had a luxurious texture to them. Each dish was also extremely well-seasoned - I almost always add black pepper to my restaurant plates, but this plate didn't need any.

My only gripe: The Iggy's roll I tried was really hard to bite into. It was chewier than it should have been, despite it not yet being stale. It was disappointing - I love my carbs, and the roll would have been a nice accompaniment to the rest of the meal. 

Next up was dessert, and The Blue Room also has a small, buffet-style table set-up for their sweet offerings.


Close-up of the Homemade Granola.

Despite the wide variety of treats to choose from, I sampled only a few, including the Flourless Chocolate Cake, Apple Cinnamon Muffins, Orange Anise Biscotti, and a Meyer Lemon Scone.


I loved the Flourless Chocolate Cake the most. It was incredibly moist, and packed with a rich, delightfully bitter dark chocolate flavor. I also loved how the biscotti only had a hint of the usually intense anise flavor. 

Around dessert time, Chef Robert Grant came out and presented the beautiful Black Currant Pain Perdu he made for our table.


I'm not sure if this is currently on their menu - their options change often to utilize the freshest, most seasonal ingredients - but this was a damn good dish. It reminded me of an Entenmann's Danish (which I loved as a kid), but much, much, much better. And not chocked full of preservatives.

I had only been to The Blue Room once before, for dinner, but I am so happy I had the opportunity to check it out for brunch, too. The wide variety of food options, use of local, seasonal ingredients, and a "clean" buffet (I've been to one too many "unclean" buffets) makes The Blue Room a fantastic choice for a lazy weekend brunch.

Are you a fan of buffet brunches? Where have you had a good (or bad) buffet brunch? 

My meal and drink were complimentary, but the opinions expressed in this post are honest and 100 percent my own. 

Blue Room on Urbanspoon


8 comments:

  1. Looks so delicious! I especially love patatas bravas, even though it's such a simple dish. And that pain perdu... I definitely need to give this a try sometime!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm not usually a huge fan of buffets, but this one does sound like it offers fresh food. I wish I could have gone to this brunch!

    ReplyDelete
  3. It sounds like they take care to make this a really good buffet. I love buffets because you can try so many things, but I hate when it looks like the eggs have been sitting out all morning. I've been to the Blue Room for lunch and dinner but still need to go for brunch.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I totally agree with you about those brunches where the food has clearly been sitting out for a while. Blech! So unappetizing.

      Delete
  4. I am not a fan of buffets of any kind, as the food tends to be out for way too long. The only place I've seen do it really successfully is Cafe Fleuri at the Langham Hotel. Their Christmas brunch is my favorite event every year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oooh, thanks for the rec - I will have to check that place out! Finding a good buffet is definitely not easy.

      Delete
  5. Excellent post! I live really close to Blue Room and love how veggie-friendly their dinner menu is (I'm not strictly vegetarian but am increasingly not into meat)... I am definitely going to have to check out brunch soon!

    ReplyDelete