BARBICAN LIFE
not overlong, there were plenty of dishes which appealed. I settled for calves liver and bacon, served on mashed potato and caramelised onions, with a side of sprouting broccoli with slow roast garlic and chilli. Only small criticism was that perhaps the bacon was over hard – more crunchy than expected. My companion had Torbay slip sole, served on the bone, with brown shrimps (or crevettes grises as the Belgians would call them) with sea purslane and sea beat, which was reckoned to be excellent. Barbican resident Hannah had had Alan Bird’s special shepherd’s pie which is one of the restaurant specialities.
Dessert time – and again a nice selection to choose from. After some humming and hahing we chose to share a plate of iced summer berries, strawberry meringue, elderflower jelly and yoghurt sorbet which also is highly recommended. This was followed with a jing tea for my companion (Jasmine silver needle) which was prepared and infused to the second (timed with a stopwatch). I passed on this end to the meal largely because they did not have a decaffeinated coffee option, although we were told that this omission would be corrected. Altogether an excellent meal, very
good and friendly service – indeed all the staff we came across were exceptionally polite and helpful. Cost with a couple of glasses of wine each would have been around £50 a head which nowadays is not unreasonable for the area.
Bird of Smithfield is open weekdays for lunch and dinner (breakfast also available at weekends) while the bar is open through the day. Hours are from early to midnight Monday to Wednesday and to 2 am Thursday to Saturday. Sunday hours are 9am to 5 pm. Bird is at 26 Smithfield Street – Phone: 020 7559 5100 probably essential for the restaurant, but the bar, with its own interesting menu, is booking free, but you might need to arrive early to get a table. Website – still under construction but does show the menus and enables online booking –
www.birdofsmithfield.com
T Chabrot – Bistrot des Halles
he Smithfield area is becoming a bit of a haven for real French food enthusiasts. There are the long established Cafe du Marche off Charterhouse Square, the three Gascon establishments (Club Gascon and Cellar
Gascon in West Smithfield and
Comptoir Gascon on Charterhouse Street and the more recently-opened Morgan M Barbican on Long Lane. Now these have been joined by an offshoot of the much acclaimed Chabrot Bistrot des Amis in Knightsbridge with the brand new Chabrot Bistrot des Halles in Long Lane, which also opened in early May, although admittedly this has replaced yet another French restaurant, the St Julien, which closed late last year.
The big question is can the new establishment hold its own with the existing ones already in the area? The answer is definitely yes, particularly with respect to the excellently priced set menu availability which can certainly cut the cost of an evening out. On the a la carte front though, the local Chabrot is priced mostly at the medium end of the scale, but there are some relatively low cost options so eating out there, and experiencing the restaurant’s gallic charm, can be quite reasonable. The quality and taste of the food we experienced on a recent visit is indeed excellent.
But firstly a note on the set menus. There is a two course set lunch at £14.50 and a three course set dinner at £19.50. With a bottle of house wine(Vin de pays de Cotes de Gascogne) two people could thus eat at around £60 plus tips which is good value. There is no menu per se for this but what is available day to day on the menu is presented verbally.
not on the a la carte. Desserts offered were two of the items on the a la carte menu. Overall the cost of ordering those dishes which were on the a la carte menu would have totalled around £25, so there is definitely a saving here.
Chabrot is the second restaurant opened and run by operations director Yann Chevris, Michelin-starred chef Thierry Laborde and celebrity florist Pascal Lavorel, being a follow-on from the successful Knightsbridge establishment which has gleaned some great reviews from the professional reviewers. It specialises in southern French bistrot style cooking. The Smithfield menu differs from that at its Knightsbridge sister, although some of the signature dishes are available at both – Cote de boeuf for example, or shoulder of lamb – both dishes only available if two diners wish to partake.
For our meal my dining companion was sold on the evening set menu – choosing asparagus in truffle sauce (excellent) and steak frites. The latter was a bavette, which sometimes can be tough, but flavourful, but in this case was exceedingly tender and tasty. (Talking to the chef afterwards he said this was down
Part of Chabrot’s interior
One
suspects steak frites will be one choice available most days, while other dishes may be on the a la carte menu, may be daily specials. For example, when we visited the starter special was asparagus in a truffle sauce and a fish option on the set menu was lemon sole, although this was
19
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60