A simple but pretty-much-perfect Gallic bistro, on a Primrose Hill corner site that’s seen a number of occupants in recent years.
What are you looking for in a restaurant? Glamour, excitement, novelty? This is not the place for you. If, on the the other hand, your idea of perfection in a no-nonsense Gallic bistro, you won’t do much better than this Primrose Hill newcomer. We’d even go so far as saying that it look set to prosper, on a corner site that’s claimed a number of victims in recent years.
Let’s be clear, it’s not an establishment ‘inspired by’ the classic Gallic bistro, it really is a classic Gallic bistro (run, in hearty style, by a Frenchman who’s worked in the MPW empire for the past 20 years). The menu is straightforward, arguably verging on pedestrian. You sort of wish there was the odd experimental dish for those who wanted to escape from the known-and-usuals, such as onion soup, confit of duck and tarte Tatin.
Having tried all of the above, though, we’d have to concede that everything is done to a consistently high quality, and our guest felt similarly about the dishes he tried. Indeed, the quality seems so high, it seems rather odd just how quickly everything comes out of the kitchen. Presumably, it’s one benefit of the rather restricted menu.
Wines – a tightly-edited, all French collection – offers a value-proposition similar to the menu, and the overall package is already drawing a good following, even on a cold Wednesday lunchtime; it probably helps that midday offers a menu whereby you can have a main course, a drink and a coffee for less than a tenner.
Another few hundred places like this, and London really will be a good – and not too pricey – city in which to eat.
