"Another year, another birthday, and this time it was my turn. To ease the pain a nice meal out with friends was in order and The Scullery proved a great choice. I'd booked beforehand for our party of thirteen a baby, and had been messaging them direct on Facebook with a few questions about menu choices etc. They don't have a website, but the Facebook responses were always quick, and friendly. The menu didn't feature the chocolate brownie which I'd heard great reviews about, and when I inquired they said they'd put it on as a special, which was a nice touch. So on a cold and icy night we all ventured out to Claremont Street and despite getting a little lost (in fact we walked round in a large circle thanks to good old Google maps), the restaurant is in fact very easy to find just a short walk from the Exhibition train stop). Warmly welcomed at the door its all soft lighting and wood panelling very paired back yet cosy (although personally we all did think some pictures on the wall to complement the wall of mirrors would have been a nice touch). As usual with a large party we didn't have a huge amount of room at the table. We noted later there was another larger party at the small area downstairs which might have been a better choice. The waitress was friendly and took our drinks orders whilst we browsed the menu. Skipping starters there's some unusual main course offerings like pigs cheeks although no one was brave enough to try. There's only a few veggie options a butternut and goats cheese risotto which my friend had and a falafel burger which I opted for. Falafel can be pretty dry but the spices and tomato salsa meant it was full of flavour and I really enjoyed it wtih a nice salad (swapping the chips). Other options we tried included the flat iron steak, burgers, and the mussels. All were happily polished off, although a slightly larger portion of the mussels would have been welcomed. It was a little drafty inside, (but then it is the middle of January), and a few bourbons and some wine meant this didn't matter much. Throughout our meal the service was very efficient. Not overly friendly but really professional and the staff were really observant. Moving onto desserts, the specials board (which we only noticed at this point), had a dark chocolate tort with Chantilly cream. This sounded great and I was surprised that my earlier brownie request had still been honoured and was pleased when the waitress offered it as a choice. So the advantage of having lots of folks eat together...you can order more desserts! A few of us went for the brownie which was a lovely texture although I would have liked more sauce topping. When I tasted my partners chocolate tort the lovely sauce ganache like topping was delicious and we both agreed the topping of the tort the brownie would have been the ideal choice. The lemon posset was apparently delicious as was the Affogato and my friend loved her unusual spicy mulled wine sorbet. When the bill came we noted the service charge had been included, but were all happy to pay; especially given that everything was reasonably priced and the service had been great from the onset. The brunch and lunch options look really good and I've heard they do a mean tea and scone, so I'm definitely going to bookmark The Scullery for a revisit."
