Dorothy and Marshall at the Bromley Old Town Hall: Review

Dorothy and Marshall recently opened up a new restaurant located in the former courthouse of the newly renovated Bromley Town Hall, which now serves as a hotel, workspace and restaurant.

The restaurant serves classic British dishes made with locally sourced produce and pride themselves on offering good quality food to customers.

The way I’d personally describe the food at Dorothy and Marshall would be “good quality comfort food”. They have some really hearty dishes like fish and chips, braised beef and sticky toffee pudding.

The restaurant still has some of the original features that the courthouse originally had when it was first built, including the high ceilings and dark wood panelled walls.

Alongside the indoor space the restaurant also offers an outdoor terrace with a recently launched terrace menu, which includes a range of sharing plates as well as glasses of prosecco, Pimm's or non-alcoholic cocktails for £5.30 on Tuesdays – Fridays from 4pm – 6pm.

The restaurant is open seven days a week offering breakfast, lunch, and dinner options as well as Sunday roasts and brunch on the weekend.

I was invited to try some dishes from their new summer terrace menu along with their dinner menu, and I will start by saying that this restaurant is a great addition to Bromley.

The Terrace Menu

We began by trying a few small plates from their newly launched Terrace Menu which feature a mix of vegetarian, fish and meat sharing dishes to try along with a cocktail, prosecco or glass of Pimm's.

The summer tasting menu has a range of sharing plates to try along with glasses of Prosecco for £5.30 (Image: Emily Davison)

We tried the Loche Fyne smoked salmon with sunflower seed and rice bread, which also came with a fennel and watercress salad.

We also got a plate of the crispy bacon and truffle croquettes which came with a garlic mayonnaise sauce.

The newly opened terrace at Dorothy and Marshall (Image: Emily Davison)

Both dishes were really well cooked and were very well flavoured, but I have to say I do think the croquettes were one of my favourite things I tried and I could eat them all over again.

Cocktails

The cocktail menu has a good selection of cocktails, both classic favourites as well as their signature specials with some inspired by Bromley.

The cocktails start from £9.30, and they also offer other non-alcoholic options as well as a large wine list.

Dorothy and Marshall has a selection of cocktails inspired by Bromley and some of the famous people who lived there (Image: Emily Davison)

I first tried the Old Town Bellini, which is a take on a classic champagne cocktail, made with peach leaf aperitif, lemon verbena syrup and prosecco.

They also had a Rebel Rebel, which is inspired by David Bowie on account of his links to the Old Town Hall, and is a take on the classic Porn Star Martini with rum and a mix of spices.

I tried their Kipps named after the novel written by Bromley sci-fi writer, H.G Wells and has been made to recreate the taste of a lemon sherbet.

True to word, it does take exactly like a lemon sherbet, which I rather enjoyed as I have a particularly sweet tooth.

The drink is a mix of house-made chamomile and marigold cordial, lemon juice, vodka and prosecco which went really went paired with desert.

Dinner Menu

After a very long time spent trying to decide between tempting options I ended up trying the corn fed chicken, which came with a mushroom truffle puree, baby fondant potatoes and summer vegetables.

My plus one tried the fish and chips with tartare sauce and garden pea purée, and was quite amazed at just how big the portion sizes were.

One thing I will say is that the restaurant does give good portion sizes, so you won’t leave with any room left in your belly afterwards.

Corn-fed chicken with summer vegetables and a mushroom purée (Image: Emily Davison)

I was very impressed by the quality of the food, the chicken was good really well and pulled apart really easily, the sauce had delicious flavours and it was the best comfort food I’ve ever tried.

The chicken came with a mix of summer vegetables including carrots and green beans which were marinated in the same mushroom sauce, and honestly I will say one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time.

Dessert

Despite the fact I was full, we did that classic thing we’re all guilty of and went back on our resolution “not to eat another thing” and took a peek at the dessert menu.

If you love classic British desserts then you’ll love their dessert menu, which serves old school classics like sticky toffee pudding, an old boys orange and lemon jam roly poly pudding, and golden Tate & Lyle treacle tart.

I ended up settling on the sticky toffee pudding and my plus one tried the dark chocolate cheesecake with a hazelnut crunch.

The sticky toffee pudding was served with vanilla ice cream and a muscovado caramel sauce.

It was so rich and indulgent and this would be one I would definitely get again on my next visit.

The restaurant also offers classic British desserts like sticky toffee pudding and treacle tart (Image: Emily Davison)

I also tried the chocolate cheesecake and the flavours were excellent, rich but not too dark with the right amount of sweetness.

All in all, I think this restaurant is a true hidden gem in Bromley and offers a good selection of foods no matter what dishes you’re in the mood for.

Being an independent restaurant, you can tell that a lot of passion and care goes into the menu and the dishes and it's evident to see.

It’s somewhere I would highly recommend a visit to if you fancy some really good quality food and maybe even a cocktail or two.