Archives for May 2018

I do not think there is one Restaurant I have been a repeat offender of/ Visitor to, within the last 6 months than Ikoyi. It has gleaned high critical acclaim from many recognised Restaurant reviewers and from me – an unrecognised Restaurant reviewer. My first visit was alone when I found I had a couple of hours to spare between a meeting and a Theatre visit. I was in the vicinity and recalled reading an interview with Chef Jeremy Chan (who had worked with Heston Blumenthal at Dinner, Noma and Claude Bosi at Hibiscus)  and being intrigued that he and his partner Hassan Odukale ( ex flat mates and Hassan hailing from Ikoyi, a suburb of Lagos)  were intent on bringing West Nigerian Cuisine to St.James in a fine dining Gastronomic style.

I thoroughly enjoyed my first visit and the unheard of ingredients, the Spices and Heat involved, and the marvellous skill in balancing them which Jeremy was managing artfully. The restaurant was virtually empty but I put it down to its newness and unusual concept which I hoped would catch on toot suite. Thereafter I have taken different sets of friends on three further occasions – one time the Restaurant was happily buzzy and busy, the others fairly dormant – and this Sunday lunch I was to attend a new concept that the restaurant had advertised – The Staff Food Waste Project. This was an ethically driven Tasting Menu experiment based on waste products from their kitchen.

Upon arrival at 13.00 I was concerned I had the wrong time or date as a I was unsure if the restaurant was open behind its smokey glass interior,  but then realised there was movement inside. My 3 friends and I ventured inside and realised there were only 3 other people in the restaurant and more alarmingly the kitchen appeared to be unnaturally quiet for a fully operating lunchtime service.

However we were greeted with open arms and led to our table and provided with the Set Menu and a list of cocktails should we wish to imbibe. Shortly thereafter our first starter arrived being a Garri Cracker, Citrus Asaro with Pickled Herb Stem. Now you understand when I mentioned unheard of products/ingredients !

Upon a little questioning we learnt that Garri is Cassava( an edible tuberous root) and that Asaro is Yam. They resembled little dusted golden breadcrumbed cakes with the pickled stems just visible through the powder. They also tasted like nothing I have eaten before but in a good way with the pickled herbs dominating over the Yam, not really picking up on the Citrus element, but a little heat coming through as the taste developed in your mouth. An intriguing start. ( by this time 5 more people had entered the restaurant but that was to be the entirety of its reservations on this Lunch service).

Second Course was a tiny little ceramic pot of Pepper Broth with Seaweed. It was earthy and dense and maybe had chicken stock as a base ? – but the Black Pepper taste was just at the right level and, whilst strong, was extremely inviting and tasty and I personally could have managed more than the small pot contained.

Admittedly the colour and presentation did not look too inviting but this was more than made up for with the next course which was a vibrant and beautifully coloured dish of Fermented Jollof Rice, Squid and Plantain. I have eaten Ikoyi’s Jollof Rice on every visit to date and whilst the components have changed a little over time – last time it was Crab Jollof Rice- the taste is amazing and one of my favourite finds of the year to date. This dish was very different to what I was expecting as the rice had been made into a circular rice cake and had been plied with crispy squid and other vegetables. We were advised to roll it up and eat it like a Taco, and the texture of the crispy squid and plantain were fabulous. Still not as good as the orgasmic Fried Jollof Rice but a very good second best – Rice Wise.

The final savoury Course was Chicken with Artichoke Root, Preserved Citrus and Garlic, which looked very brown, and again, maybe not too appetising, visually, but the taste belied it’s aesthetics. I am unsure why the chicken would qualify as Food Waste – maybe they were the false Fillets from the breast that are not usually used ?

It contained an unnamed sauce and was all very tasty albeit the textures were are similar, so something crunchy or more textured would have been welcome. Maybe the roots could have been crisped up a little – an idea ? Now back to rice again, we were provided with a side dish of glorious Coconut Rice with potent Scotch Bonnets which I was happily mopping up as I was desperate to recover from a Gin infused hangover from the night before. My dining partners liked the taste but felt the quantity was too much sat against the size of the main meal – additional sauce with the meal could have been used to compliment additional quantities of the rice, but as it was the voluminous Rice dishes were not fully consumed ( other than mine !)

Dessert was actually a real stand out even though I am not usually a fan of sweets. This was Milk Solids with Zobo (?) Caramel And Spent Cameroonian Coffee. The Milk Solids were used to make a very soft Ice Cream style Dessert which sat on a crumb of caramel and coffee (?) and the tastes intermingled together perfectly.

The price of the meal was £45 for 5 courses which when you consider the restaurant a la Carte prices are not cheap seemed quite reasonable. Maybe the quality was not quite up there with their usual dishes, and when you eat with your eyes maybe the presentation/ colours were lacking. All of the dishes were however very original and displayed interesting ideas, introducing all of us to new tastes for our palates.

At the end of service we saw Jeremy leaving, and in recognising me – obviously a good Customer for them ! – he did an about turn and we had a quick discussion about the concept. He admitted that it had not gained traction and in fact they had to cancel the previous Sunday as there were literally no takers for the Lunch Time Service. He postured that maybe the name of the Project using the word “Waste” may have put people off, but that it had been a learning experience bearing in mind the restaurant is not usually open on a Sunday. He did suggest that maybe they could come up with a different Tasting Menu concept for a Sunday to differ from their usual A La Carte offering during the evenings and also confirmed that they have a new Menu in any event, so I have a reason to venture there yet again!

I will continue to bang the drum for this restaurant which also has great local Restaurant neighbours in Aquavit and the newly opened Scully. Generally James explained he is not getting the footfall of walk ins as maybe their menu is just too unusual for casual walker bys, so this is their next challenge. I do hope more people “get it” and they do not have to move away from their original  concept to attract more Customers, but they exist in a very competitive environment operating in a eye wateringly expensive area – please get out and support them !

Ikoyi, 1 St James Market, SW1Y 4 AH

ikoyilondon.com

Rating – Food  Very Hot Pan 4 ( Waste Project Menu , but on other visits a 5) 

              Service Very Hot Pan 4 

 

 

If you decide to visit Hide after reading this review please take note that the restaurant is very aptly named in that we walked straight past its nondescript And well hidden frontage and continued walking down Piccadilly towards Marble Arch. By the time we arrived at another excellent dining destination – Coya- I realised that we had ventured to far and we made an abrupt U turn and headed back towards Green Park station. Hide and Seek – where are you Ollie ?

Actually I was a huge fan of Ollie Dabbous’s first restaurant, simply called Dabbous, that opened back in 2012. Somehow I managed to be in the know at the time and secured a table early on in its run, thereafter becoming the latest hot ticket in town as reservations became like gold dust in what was a relatively tiny Industrial space requiring you to literally books months and months in advance to try Ollies take on modern Cuisine.

Whilst opening a few other ventures in the meantime, including the restaurant at the Henrietta Hotel, the doors of Dabbous closed permanently earlier this year, presumably for him to focus his attention on this new huge Dining Space set over 2 floors overlooking Green Park.The Restaurant has apparently cost £20 Million to put together and whilst it was not clear how this cash has been spent there is a grandiose Art Deco Wooden Staircase impressively linking Hide Ground to Hide Above but surprisingly Above is no more luscious then Ground which I think is a mistake. I would have thought there was an opportunity here to create a different ambience over the two levels but in fact the decor is almost identical. Notwithstanding my own personal thought on decor, Ollie is not taking any chances with his new venture. He has surrounded himself with quality people including Lucas Shelby – National Chef of the Year 2917 and others from well known establishments such as L’Autre Pied and Le Manoir. Additionally the restaurant is a co Venture with Hedonism Wines contributing to a cellar of 6000 bottles – the largest in London. These wines are all contained on an iPad which you can gleefully play around with hours if you so desire, but I restricted myself to a few minutes and found a Russian / Soviet Champagne for £600 from 1968 – maybe a nod to Hedonisms Russian Oligarch Owner.

There are wine pairings on offer with the 8 course tasting menu that costs £95 with the wine at an additional £65. We are at lunch though and do not feel like an extended 8 course meal and therefore go A La Carte. The menu is split into Grazing – snacks ranging from £3 to £9 and then the more conventional Starters/Mains etc with starters between £12 and £16 And Mains from £26 to £32.

From the grazing menu we go for a Charcoal Flatbread with CEP shavings And Lemon Thyme – raw thinly sliced mushrooms on a beautifully baked bread – a lovely little alternative to the normal bread and butter side whilst awaiting the main event. There were also other versions available involving Ricotta and crushed green herbs or Sesame Labnah, pickled vegetables and crushed seeds.

Mrs.West started with Chesnut parcels in a light duck broth – little Tortellini shaped parcels bobbing about in a pungent and intend,y flavoured broth – actually deeply coloured as opposed to the light broth advertised but so good I was not offered a taster. I had opted for the Red Prawns with fragrant herbs in a chilled broth made from prawn shells. It was a picture on a plate, raw delicate prawns complimented with strong dill and fragrant aniseedy baby fennel. The broth was earthy and well balanced – a delightfully refreshing dish perfect for a Summers Day. I had also opted to pay the £18 supplement for additional Exmoor Caviar – adding a little extra saltiness to the meal but unclear as to where in Exmoor they had unearthed Sturgeon?

Since discovering Sweetbreads some years ago I cannot resist them when found on a Menu and here was no exception. This was to be roasted Veal Sweetbread with an unusual accompaniment of Smoked Almond Praline coupled with cooked and raw root vegetables. This was a revelatory meal with the almond sauce complimenting the unctuous sweetbread perfectly and the texture provided by crunchy baby turnips and radishes. Mrs West chose one of her Restaurant staples – Octopus- another picture of a plate having been barbecued and dressed with Moscatel Grapes, Lovage And White Miso. Another meal where not one morsel came my way but I was advised was soft,sweet but with a little smokiness and crunch from the Hot coals. The rest of the menu was also extremely inviting with a Grilled Spice Quail with date syrup,Globe artichoke and toasted grains looking very much like a meal that would require testing on a second visit.

Ollie has invested in a soft serve Ice Cream maker for this restaurant and on offer in the desserts were both Sheeps Milk and Barley Malt ice creams. However we chose a Pear Sorbet with Chervil Syrup And Toasted Angelica Seeds – an unusual combination – but the Chervil Syrup was amazingly good and who would have thought that it would go so well with the intensely flavoured Pear Sorbet.

Anothe dessert – which I believe could become their signature dessert – was the Warm Acorn Cake with smoked caramel and a choice of liquor to flavour it, served with Cornish clotted cream on the side.

The Cake was akin to a Brioche sitting in a small round pot upon which the Smokey Caramel sauce was poured over together with our choice of rum. The taste was a little like a luxury bread and butter pudding with added caramel and alcohol and was finished hastily whilst piping hot. Exceptional.

We were now more than satisfied, and whilst the Cheese and Savoury selection looked curious, including a Tarte Fine of Kentish Apples and homemade black pudding this would also need to await a second outing.

So other than a chance missed Decor wise, a fantastic addition to Londons Dining scene,  and whilst as good as anything produced at the now defunct Dabbous hopefully the size of the new restaurant will avoid the necessity to book 12 months ahead.

A curious note to end with – the new Restaurant will be open all day offering breakfast with croissants at £4 etc. Was it this Cafe style opening hours that had led half of the Ground floor of the restaurant to be populated by young families (many of Russian descent) with prams and kids running around? This is not the atmosphere I was expecting and not one I enjoyed – this is not MacDonalds or PizzaExpress and to my knowledge does not have a kids menu ? Obviously evenings will be different, but this was a little surprising and whilst clearly not detracting from the 5 star food did affect noise levels and comfort in the restaurant, albeit I am sure as long as people are spending their hard earned cash then Ollie will not be complaining – £20Million is a lot to recover in Londons highly competitive Restaurant scene. Go now !

 

Rating

Food 5  Blazingly Hot Pan 

Service 5  Blazingly Hot Pan 

Hide, 85 Piccadilly, W1 8JB

 

Since opening his first restaurant in 2002 Yotam Ottelenghi has been the inspiration for many dinner parties across the UK, and has almost single handily introduced us to jazzed up salads, Mediterranean influences and ingredients from far and wide not heard of before by many aspiring cooks following his recipe books at home.

His 5 restaurants and delicatessens are usually heaving with people and the Ottelenghi empire has been a resounding success. As the group expanded we hear from time to time predictable staff fall out, and his protégés and other trained chefs moving on to do their own things- the latest being Scully in St James market a small back street area, that up until a year ago, was a dark desert but now boasts the Michelin starred Aquavit and the very impressive and exotic Ikoyi. So Scully is in good company when you consider its neighbours, but who is and what is Scully ? The Who – Ramael Scully was born in Malaysia, brought up in Sydney with a Mother of Chinese/ Indian descent and an Irish/ Balinese Father. That’s 6 nations potential food influences before you even start considering where Ramael has worked and travelled to. He arrived in the UK in 2004 and worked with Ottelenghi and the team eventually becoming head chef and creator of many of the dishes at NOPI, not to far away in Warwick Street, Soho. Not everyone I know are huge fans of Nopi so when I advised them I was to try the new Ramael Scully solo Restaurant there was not a lot of excitement registered.

Our Reservation was late after attending the play “Frozen” across the road at The Haymarket Theatre ( awful,slow, depressing play) and I needed a drink quickly after that experience.

 

 

 

The first thing that hits you upon entering are the rows and rows of huge jars of colourful – What ? – stacked up on shelves in the lobby area.

Some fruits and vegetables recognisable but others either the wrong colour or simply a mystery. Various products fermenting and pickling  but Green peaches ? Egg yolks ?

We were then led past the open kitchen area to a lovely booth like table for four and provided with our menus. First off was some wine. The list was not so large but with some interestingly sounding, but not so familiar bottles. We chose a Bill Downie from Australia, a Biodynamic wine using the Petit Verdot grape , a grape not so popular in Bordeaux anymore due to its late ripening and harvesting. The bottle was £45 and full bodied with a deep red/ inky colour with lots of black fruit flavours, very rounded and a hint of vanilla. Good start – needed some alcohol!

We were provided with a snack to keep us going – some little chickpeas that had been roasted with kefir lime leaves that tasted very aromatic and moorish, especially at 10.15pm as our table of four had not eaten for a very long time !

Turning to the menu- eclectic would be the word to use, or one of them, exciting, mysterious and containing many unknown elements – Very X Files – required further investigation or explanation by Mulder and Scully, or at least the Waitress ! It was split into snacks(4) , starters (6) and mains (6)and of course were meant for sharing. Actually we all agreed it was the sort of menu easier to say what we did not want as we were ordering 9 dishes which was just over half of the entire menu. First up were Puff beef tendons with Kilpatrick and Oyster Mayo (£9). Oysters Kilpatrick are a classic English recipe involving oysters with Worcestershire sauce, cheese and bacon. Here we had gigantic puffs of beef tendons that you could dip into an oyster mayo that sat upon the aforementioned ingredients.  Great   Type of snack food, would go well with a beer. My friends were a little shocked by the enormous puffs that arrived but I had expected something akin to a giant pork scratching and I was not a million miles away from what turned up.

Next up were crispy baby Sicilian artichokes with a black shallot Ailoli (£8.50) Another unusual dish, not exactly very colourful, but,  as it said on the tin, very crispy, dry admittedly,  but when mixed with the lovely oniony purée and little flecks of burnt shallots around the edges, was another hit.

Arepa, Eggplant Sambal And a Bergamot Labneh followed (£9). This would be the only “bread” we would be entertaining on the table, but you would not mistake it for bread, it’s made from a ground maize dough and here was puffed up into a flying saucer shape ( more X Files references) filled with air, being able to be broken up and dipped into the eggplant,pepper,tomato sambal and creamy labneh to make a satisfying mouthful. Then we had something that would be more refreshing unusual and really worked well. An early season Tomato and Coconut Salad , Green Strawberries and Tomato shrub. The list of ingredients felt like they should not be on the same plate.

The strawberries were in fact pickled green strawberries from one of the jars we had seen at the reception area, the coconut shredded, and the bowl also contained Tomato juices, which as my friend Claire exclaimed was “her dream Tomato Juice” . This really was a palet cleanser, as well as being an exotic and unusual salad, and we ended up with four spoons fighting for the remaining Tomato juice in the bottom of the bowl. Lastly from the starters was Char grilled sprouting broccoli , Chiankiang Vinegar and salted egg  yolk (£9.50) which our waiter advised was his favourite on the menu. I have no idea what the Vinegar was but the broccoli was beautifully grilled and to the side was a kind of egg yolk purée smeared across the plate with additions which we were explained to us but my brain cannot recall as by now was in overload. In fact each and every dish appeared to have so many previously unheard of ingredients (which I was not writing down and was drinking lots of red wine)  that I will not be able to do the Restaurant justice. Indeed the restaurant was already thinning out as it was relatively late and it appeared the waiters had more time to explain each and every dish and relished the list of ingredients they were imparting to us. With a keen interest in food and method of preparation etc I was very happy with this, albeit I can imagine it would not be everybody’s cup of tea.

Ok, onto the mains. Octopus with Salt baked Avocado and black garlic. 3 issues to be reported connected with this dish. First off  – “London transformed me Octopus wise “ . This was a hilarious comment from my friend Alex at the point of ordering the Octopus which had us all in tears. It sounds like one of those amusing comments reported in Time Out in their weekly page dedicated to  what strange things are heard in the streets of London.  It was directed at the fact that whilst living in France Alex would never order Octopus from a menu but since arriving in London it  has become one of his favourites because of the quality and the way it is prepared in London restaurants. Second, at this point the actual Chefs were bringing the food to us and asking us if we want the story behind each dish, which we certainly did. The explanation involved the Octopus being prepared in Sous Vide style for 6 hours at 75 degrees and thereafter flashed under the grill, the Avocados being baked in salt before being opened up and mixed with a little fresh avocado to retain the vibrant colour and then blitzed together with other ingredients and so on. On the side were some lovely little skinned Tomatoes, still whole, and maybe pickled and roasted ? Our chef was clearly pleased with the technical preparation that he was responsible for and his enthusiasm was infectious, and the taste of the dish justified the long preparation. (No photo as it came out blurry !)

We thought the Octopus involved a long prep but the Beef short rib Pastrami, Horseradish and pistachio involved beef in a brined marinade for 7 days and a process too complicated to remember and report but just to know it involved sodium nitrate to keep the beef a pink colour ( or it would turn an unappetising grey). The beef fell apart at the touch of a fork and it reminded you of a posh version of a pastrami sandwich from Brick Lane, which I think that was the objective. This plate of course had the added luxury of a Horseradish purée, pistachios coating the beef, baby carrots and nasturtium leafs to garnish. It was impeccable and would draw me back for a second visit in itself. Lastly was the Pork Belly with an XO sauce and Cime De Rapa. The XO is a Chinese sauce which supposedly contains all of the most luxuriant ingredients the Chinese could muster in days gone by. Cime di Rapa are Sicilian turnip tips with a very bitter taste but offset by the sweet XO sauce and blobs of onion purée on the side. The slow roasted pork belly had lots of fat adding to the umami taste in the mouth and if you could manage a bit of pork puff on the same fork you had another texture to enjoy at the same time. Another technically beautifully prepared dish that I would come back for tomorrow.

Notwithstanding the fact we were all somewhat full, the food was so good we wanted to see if the desserts could also deliver. My friend Alex is a sweet fiend so we chose 3 dishes to share and were presented one additional dessert free as the kitchen was closing and they had only one left and we were the last guests in the restaurant. No complaints there !

Desserts all ran to £6.50 to £7 and again were all original. A wacky parsnip and coconut sorbet with Pandan and coffee – another combination which seems alien (X files again !) together on a plate but had a curious but not unpleasant taste.

Caramelised White Chocolate with grapefruit and Pink peppercorns, this came in the firm of huge shards of white chocolate studded with aromatic pink pepper sitting atop burnt grapefruit. Great taste combination.  Then a frozen ( harking back to our show which by then was thankfully a distant memory) Ginger Marshmallow with Rhubarb.

The marshmallow being frozen had the taste and consistency of half marshmallow/ half ice cream (in a very pleasing way) which coupled with the sour rhubarb was very pleasant. Our free dessert was the Matcha Ice Cream, Malt Cookie and Miso, a sort of avant garden Creme Brûlée, The Miso sitting in little blobs atop a malty biscuit encasing the matcha ice cream. The Miso here though was somewhat overpowering and was the one dessert we were not so keen on.

Midnight came around and we were still in the restaurant whilst the kitchen were cleaning down behind us. 2 of us had to make a dash for last trains, but I did so after congratulating the kitchen crew and shaking the hand of the chef who had been telling us the stories of our dishes. All four of us thought the inventiveness and originality of the food exemplary, and already commented that a return visit must be in order. Scully seems to have taken the heart of Ottelenghi and Nopi and ratched it up by quite a few notches to produce some technically astounding dishes.

The bill came to £320 for 4 including wine which for the level of food, the number of dishes and the location – just off Piccadilly Circus was not unreasonable. Incredibly you now have three restaurants more or less sitting next door to each other in a quiet location steps away from busy Piccadilly Circus which I would be happy to revisit anytime. This is the truth, and it is out there …..

Rating – Food – Blazingly Hot Pan 5/5 

Service – Also a 5 

Scully, 4 St. James Market, SW1Y 4 AH

 

Restaurants come in all shapes and sizes and can often be surprising in choice of location. Pique Nique certainly embraces both of these categories, resembling a Swiss Chalet, shoehorned into a space in the corner of a small park,within spitting distance of the local tennis courts and around the back of a Premier Inn car park. It does not sound the most celebrius of settings but somehow it works. In fact it even has a small outside space itself with some tables and benches, which, when the weather improves, could indeed be used for a picnic, or failing that at least a barbi !

The restaurant has the same Owners as Casse Croute, a tiny very French all day brasserie around the corner in Bermondsey Street which is in itself a very French experience with menus written in French and is run by lots of seemingly non English speaking Gallic staff. The owner of both establishments is Herve Durochat who has history at Shoreditch House and has also spent time working with Jose Pizarro 25 metres down the road in Bermondsey Street.

Pique Nique has risen from the original construction that was built in 1929 as a Bermondsey workhouse and the opportunity arose for Herve to take it over when the council were looking for tenants to establish a business after renovation.

Like its Sister Restaurant the menu is in written in French and whilst my 2 guests and I exercised our pigeon French desperately trying to remember what “Volaille” was in our mother tongue, we were greeted by our charming (in a French way ) waitress asking us what we would like to drink. We chose a Le Temps des Copains 2015 (£42) which we were advised was one of their Biologically produced wines using 100% Syrah grapes.

The bottle appeared to have 2 Angels kissing on the front label ( one male,one female), and that was what it was like to drink. Like kissing an angel, silky smooth, medium bodied and easy to drink without food – this could be a dangerous start to the evening! With my friend Ed planning on cycling back home to North London alarm bells were already ringing.

After a little translation assistance from our Waitress we were ready to make our food choices which involved starters of mackerel tartar with mayonnaise, snail croquettes and a chicken en croute with a jelly. We decided to plump for the Chateaubriand at £57 which they advised could stretch to 3 persons with mashed Potatoes and a salad. We thought that should compliment the wine beautifully – or was it supposed to be the other way around ? The menu is ever changing and small- 5 starters , 4 mains and a couple of board specials, which included on that particular day Seasnails which we were told is a classic French meal at Christmas time. I had never heard of this as a seasonal meal, but even so, this being a cold May Day (not very Christmassy), and the fact that they were swimming snails as opposed to landsnails persuaded us to prefer the Chauteabriand to the offered sea molluscs! Maybe we will be braver next time.

In appearance our starters were a mixture of simple country plates combined with one not out of place in a fine dining establishment. More specifically the chicken was a large slab of what looked like a slice from a large pie, with pieces of pink meat encased by pastry with a colourful blob of jelly on top.

A very typical picnic style dish, tasting of earthy meat set off by the fruity apricot purée, with slivers of onions and scattering of parsley,and a little bit of excellent chewy pastry to give it the right mouthfeel. The mackerel was accompanied by pickled green cucumbers and dill mayonnaise and was tart, fishy and almost Nordic in taste due to the pickle, but cooled down by the Mayo.  My croquettes were plated in a more elegant style, sitting atop a vivid green parsley mayonaisse and when opened up , steam escaped before hitting you with the smell of more parsley and little cubes of fried bacon, followed by hot snails falling out on to the plate which when you ate with the crust of the deep fried globe gave you the snail soft and crunchy texture you were looking for combined with the salty bacon bits  – just beautiful and the first time I have eaten them in a croquette.

Wine and conversation were flowing freely and the second bottle was already open and we had not even got to our beef yet ! When it did arrive it was a sight to behold. We were told it would be prepared medium/rare (how dare we argue) and you could see from the colours of the meat it had been lovingly cooked. It had the perfect meaty sheen with the colours of the slightly more cooked edges running gradually into the pinker middle, uniform throughout, and carved to make it ready for an assault. A large bowl of mash arrived, and likewise a bowl of mixed leaves ( just to make us feel we were eating healthily) and we glugged another glass of Syrah to prepare our insides for the magnificent looking Chateaubriand.

The good news was it tasted as good as it looked with swimming in a meaty Jus which was great to add to the mashed potato. Only slight critical comment here was that I had read in Casse Croute that their mashed potato was akin to the legendary  Joel Rubechon standard ( 50% Cream/50%Potato) however this was not. Good but not too different to anything I could muster at home. It’s not a complaint – just an observation…..

By the end of the meat, and now on our third bottle of Syrah, we had to think long and hard about whether or not a dessert would be appropriate. So in true democratic style we ordered one between three- a Raspberry Soufflé which came which a large helping of Raspberry purée on the side which I insisted we spooned into the middle of the Soufflé. This was pretty epic in itself,  and actually a generous portion which was enough to satisfy three.

After this we stumbled out into the night, Ed off on his bicycle to lord knows where, me leading Diane to London Bridge station to ensure safe arrival there,  and me then off home – lucky enough to live within waking distance of a great little find which will be visited again. If you want some classic French fare and wine, and relax in a convivial atmosphere you would not go far wrong by visiting Pique Nique- and if your French language skills are better than ours you would even be able to read the menu !

Rating – Almost Blazingly Hot Pan 4.5

Service – Also a Gallic 4.5 

Pique Nique , Tanner Street Park, SE1 3 LD – you may need GPS or Google maps !

0207403 9549

PS – had breakfast there today and they do a stonking Croque Monsieur with real bechamel sauce and fantastic quality ham – the real deal !