Brigadoon in Oxford Mills: Good food but not cheap!

It’s not often that we would travel as far as Oxford Mills just for a meal. For the uninitiated amongst our readers, Oxford Mills is South of Kemptville more or less in the middle of nowhere! You can be entirely forgiven for not knowing its whereabouts. If it has a claim to fame, we don’t know what it might be. We chose it on this particular occasion because we were meeting up with some friends who live in Spencerville (even further South on HWY 416). Oxford Mills, whilst not exactly equi-distant was a good compromise. 
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Where we went: Although we had not realised it at the time that we made the rendez-vous, we had actually been to Brigadoon once before in September of 2001. I would not have been able to pin the date down in the normal course of events but September 2001 was not in the normal course of events! As it turns out, the restaurant has changed very little since our last visit. I must admit that I only have very general recollections of the food but the minute we walked through the front entrance I recognised the decor. It is almost like a museum with artifacts and antiques of all kind, mostly of British origin. Nice to look at perhaps but I would not want to be the one who does the dusting.

What we ordered: Wisely as it turned out, the majority of our group did not order an appetizer. One did order the snails and another the bruschetta, which was magnanimously shared. Both were deemed to be edible. For the rest of us, we were treated to freshly-baked, home-made bread which was too tempting. For mains, we managed to sample a major portion of the menu between us. Our orders ranged from prime rib, duck leg, rack of lamb, halibut filet and wild boar (my own choice).

What we got: Everyone appeared to be happy with their selection when it finally arrived. For my part, the wild boar was cooked to my liking and the shitake mushroom and port wine sauce was a perfect complement to the strong gamey flavour of the meat. The daily vegetable medley was the cause of some discussion as we collectively tried to identify its ingredients. My only slight gripe might be that portion size trended toward the American fashion. Personally, I would have been content with slightly less. Nevertheless, most of us were tempted by some of the desserts that we had seen being transported to other guests. Personally, I had already decided that ‘ Chocolate Glory’ was not to be missed.

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Worthy of note: Most mains are in the $28 – $35 range and a dessert adds a minimum of $8.95 to your bill. If you are on a budget, this might not be the best place to go. Although service was not terrible, the fact that I cannot recall any details of our hostess/servers only a couple of weeks after the event, indicates to me that it was obviously nothing outside of the ordinary.

Summary

• Positives: Interesting varied menu. Desserts were delicious if calorific.
• Negatives: Portions too large and too expensive! It’s a long way from Ottawa.
• Recommendation: If you happen to be in the neighbourhood, its worth a visit but you can find as good or better closer to home!

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