A meeting of people involved in some other writing I do led me to a middle of the road bistro in Clapham. It is bang opposite the picture house at Clapham Common, and is therefore easy to reach from the Tube station. This was the night of the start of the first 48hrs strike, but the Northern Line was running so I did not need a plan B to get home.
Claaham and St Ockwell have become the haunts of the young professionals and monied who work in the city and other well paid jobs. Their survival needs have followed them, and the area is full of places to not eat at home, wine bars, clubs and bicycle shops. If you want to pay £20 for fish and chips, this is the area to be.
There is no web presence for this bistro, but there are plenty of mixed reviews to be seen elsewhere. (One discusses the presence of a rat, and this fits with the advice of a colleague of mine who said it is always a risky business eating in restaurants a stone's throw from underground stations, but I saw no evidence.)Inconsistency is the consistent finding, and it may depend on when you use the Gastro. It serves breakfast as well as meals during the rest of the day, and the early diners seem to be the most satisfied. Many say it is like a splash of Paris in London. This is sort of true in appearance and ambience, but the menu is French for average British tastes in my opinion. A place for everyday eating rather than special eating. I got there early (partially as a result of misunderstanding) and at 1900, the place was empty. At 2000 on a Monday it was pretty busy, and as our reservation had been 'lost' it was just as well there was some space.
The menu is French as Brits would expect. The staff seem to be a mixture of geographical origin, and our waitress seemed to have neither French or English as a first language. Lighting was very low, a pictures are bit dim and noisy.
For starter, I had the suitably French option of Onion Soup:
The somewhat exotic Clapham Common tube station
For those that know, the camera automatically set itself to ISO 12800 which accounts for this somewhat noisy picture of a bowl of soup. This was a bit of a d.i.y. event, and the soup could have been a bit hotter to disseminate the cheese. Scored a 7.8 on the CHOF scale. Warm enough, but should have been hotter.
For main course I had chicken stuffed with garlic mousse with French beans and a side order of frites. This tasted better than it looks, with a smooth mildly garlic filling, but could have done with being a bit hotter. Scored 7.8 on the CHOF scale.
Fortunately, as my publisher was footing the bill, I did not pay too much attention to the costs, but the prices were consistent with the location and food. Whilst this was an entirely satisfactory experience, it was not so good as to make me say I would definitely go there again. I might put it as second choice, or use it when someone did not want to go to one of my favourites. Service was patchy, but as this was an evening for chat rather than the dining experience, it did not matter. A bottle of pinot noir was indifferent.
My conclusion: if you want comfortably priced French style Bistro food, and don't want to go to Cafe Rouge, this fits the bill. It feels more of a bistro experience than Rouge. Food could have been a bit hotter, as it consistently missed the 8 mark.
No comments:
Post a Comment