Bom-Bane's

StarvinMarvin

Love and sparklyness 7th January 2009

0 found this helpful

Yes this place has many quirky, interesting things to see and do - to name but a few the bizarre mechanical tables that do all kinds of wonderous things, the singing waiting staff and owners, the fiddle playing, the saw playing, the mechanical hats!! It all makes for a very unconventional evening and it is especially fun to take someone who has never been and isn't expecting anything of the sort.

BUT, that isn't all Bom-Banes is. I wasn't expecting much from the food, thinking that they would probably concentrate their energy on the entertainment. I was totally wrong. The food, though there isn't a huge choice (I perfer it this way anyway, since I'm terrible at choosing when I am faced with too much choice), but what there is is lovingly made and very..very tasty.

BUT, that isn't all Bom-Banes is either! Twice I have been now. The first time taking my Mum for her Birthday, the second time taking a school friend I hadn't seen in a while. Both times Jane, the owner, asked me what the ocassion was when I booked. Both times they had made special little touches to celebrate the reason I'd booked. I know lots of chain style places do the customery 'happy birthday' song and that, but this is far more personal and special.

If you haven't booked, book NOW. You'd be a fool not to.

foodrambler

Mechanical hats & musicals 8th November 2008

1 found this helpful

This restaurant, run by Jane Bom-Bane of fantastical mechanical hats and musician Nick Pynn, is like nowhere I've ever been before. Food, music and poetry are all mixed up in beautiful jumble of a place. I recommend going along for "Bom-Banes: The Musical", which is performed three or four times a month. It consists of a three-course set meal for £25, eaten whilst the staff sing and play their hearts out. The food was simple and tasty - a meze plate, followed by sausages and stoemp (mash with vegetables), caremelised onion and Belgian beer gravy, followed by 'chocowafflettas' served with fruit salad and cream. We were down the spiral staircase in the basement, where red walls are hung with banjo-shaped stringed instrumnts of every description. Pied fiddler Nick plays them all, as well as a coconut and a saw... It's an interactive heart and belly-warming experience that you will never forget.

Kathhere

Brilliant 22nd September 2008

0 found this helpful

wow what an amazing hidden away place Bombane's is - from its kitsch decoration including life size figure on the roof to the superb handmade magical tables as you come inside, and the food doesn't disappoint

Bombanes offers a £5 special offer Thursday and Friday with a belgian beer or wine, plus a selection of tapas, That's not to mention the fresh homemade belgian waffles covered in whipped cream, chocolate and chopped fruit, mmm

For bigger meals, there is a wide selection of sausages and different flavours of south african stoempe (mashed potato) with gravies - free range meat, locally sourced where possible

There is quite often live music in the basement, and a Bombanes the musical is on offer too- including 3 course meal

really recommended for a different but relaxing night out

squirrel99

Not sure 9th September 2008

1 found this helpful

Hmmmm….. I found it difficult to rate this one. It was my idea to go to this restaurant and managed to persuade a few friends to come with me. They were didn’t like the look of it, but I did. However, when we left, they were the ones raving about it and I was the one who had left feeling a bit deflated with the experience. Therefore this rating is based on my perception only!

Service was slow in my opinion and not necessarily good when the waiter arrived. Food was ok in terms of taste but not in terms of amount cooked for me. I seemed to have been given a much smaller portion than my friends, so portion control is clearly an issue the night I went!

nannette

Just the place for a Mad Tea-Party 3rd September 2008

0 found this helpful

Most people hear about this Kemp town café because of the tables – each has a unique feature, from a musical salt cellar to a working model of Brighton Pier complete with wave machine. Get past this (admittedly wonderful) gimmick however, and you’ll find excellent (Belgian/Yorkshire??) food, and a warm welcome from the couple nominally in charge. They also have regular extravagant-sounding musical evenings: Jane Bom-Bane sings songs “about things around the café, and about the food” while her partner Nick is a multi-instrumentalist who appears happy to stretch the definition of instrument to its limits. And on Sunday afternoons they’ll even look after your kids and have a qualified teacher on hand to help with the homework.