Petite Auberge, Cockfosters: Consistently good French food in Bistro style setting

 23rd February, 2025

Check out the website on  https://petiteauberge.co.uk/

My wife and I started using this restaurant for Lunches and Dinners at the end of the Covid lockdown because they had an open frontage then, so you were virtually eating al fresco, and we have been there a few times now over the five years. They also have a branch in Islington, but I have not knowingly been there. If we keep on using the place, there must be a good reason, which is that meals there have never failed to please both of us. They have a limited a la carte menu and a more limited fixed price set menu. The prices have gone up, naturally and the set menu is now £31 for three courses for lunch. I have tended to go with the a la carte, and forego the desert or share with my wife. A la carte works out very similar, depending on what you choose, and the wine list of French (obviously) wines is a bit pricey. I don't think there is a bargain house wine, and at the moment, a bottle of their cheapish stuff comes in at about £30. I have gone off drinking cheap restaurant wine (or at least their cheap end), as I have lost my taste for it. We have another dining out couple, and we fear to bring them here because they can polish off more than a bottle between them. Separate bills please!!!!

It is a fairly modern looking bistro with hard surfaces and some piped music. We all know that the French are pretentious about their food, pretending they are doing anyone who is not French a favour by serving it to them. Because of its suburban location, they would get no friends by not being more straightforward. It has a wide client base taking in locals and local families. It can get crowded, but this time we went at 2.30 on a Sunday, and it was starting to thin out. In the evening, it is possible to park on the slip road outside, but it gets very busy on Sundays. It is walkable from Cockfosters tube station, but I have always driven there. The menus are limited, and I tend to have the same sort of things when I go there, but as it is not so often, I tend to savour them rather than get bored. I always choose their French Onion Soup, which is a classic and is among the best onion soups I have had. It comes steaming hot - a 10 on the CHOF scale, with lashing of stringy cheese and slices of freshly toasted French bread. My wife has the mussels every time, and it is a testament to the consistency of their food that we repeat ourselves. Whilst I like to venture off piste, sometimes, especially in company, best to keep to the tried and tested.

Among my favourite main courses are the beef bourginon and the coq au vin but on this occasion I had the calves liver with onions and bacon (not a great fan of bacon but this one was ok). Most calves liver in our area goes to restaurants, so it is not something I can have at home regularly. It's a bit like veal which is virtually impossible to source in North London. I asked our server how the liver came, and he told us that as standard it came the well done side of medium. I told him that as long as it was not bloody that would be good for me. It came cooked to perfection for me. Soft but not squishy, cooked all the way through, served with creamy potatoes. The picture does not do it justice

As with the soup it was also served at the right temperature for me, being a 8+ on the CHOF scale, which is what I expected. It was even better than I remembered from past experiences, so I knew I was going to leave happy.  We shared a chocolate mousse for desert (no picture because decimated by the time it came my way.