I don’t know if you’ve heard, but one of our very own downtown Raleigh restaurants is one of the top 10/hot 10 new restaurants in the country!
Thanks to Bon Appetit, Brewery Bhavana, this new and amazing dim sum restaurant/brewery/bookshop/flower shop, is now at the top of their game in the eyes of eaters across the US!
Pretty cool, right. I’ve got a lot of pride for the Raleigh (and the Triangle) restaurant scene, so I thought I would share a little bit about my experience eating and drinking at Brewery Bhavana recently.
First off, this place really is special.
The moment you walk in, you feel a calmness with a communal aspect. Everything is light, modern with warm touches from the greenery everywhere and light wood accents. It is bright and welcoming, open and organized.
We lucked out and got a table easily by arriving at 5:30 p.m. on a Friday night. It was hard to remember to look at the menu because there was so much else to stare at from the florists to the new cookbooks for sale to the other beautiful tables awaiting diners.
And the beer.
In this area of the country, we have some dang good beer. I have traveled a lot this year, to many beer destinations, and I can’t find a city that holds a candle to what we have here. Brewery Bhavana fits in nicely with some really tasty and balanced beers. I tried Bloom, their dry cardamom tripel that was full of flavor and warmth. I also had a few tastes of my husband’s Glean, a mango peppercorn saison that was sweet, not too sweet, and so refreshing.
On to the dim sum.
Bida Manda, the sister restaurant right next to Bhavana, is one of our favorite dinner spots in the city, and I have a serious craving for a big bowl of their coconut chicken curry when the weather gets cooler. But, it was really neat to see how they differentiated the food of this spot. Sure, it shares some flavors, but it’s a new reimagining of Asian cuisine, still with the simplicity we’ve come to love about these restaurateurs.
We decided to get several of the starter plates to share for our meal. We tried the:
- Scallion pancakes with oxtail (my favorite of the night)
- Char siu bao- bbq pork bun
- Shrimp and corn dumpling (good but probably my least favorite)
- Xiao long bao soup dumpling
Everything was presented so beautifully and tasted creative yet familiar. The scallion pancakes took the cake for me with a nice crisp outside paired with the juiciest braised oxtail that tasted a bit like roast beef, along with marrow- if you’re into that. The dumplings were all delicious, as well.
Overall, we had a great experience at Brewery Bhavana, and I can’t wait to go back. Also, I just love my city and am very proud of the creative minds within it.