I’m definitely spoilt for choice of restaurants in my area. Italian. French. American. Vietnamese even. I’m only lacking a really good Chinese place but I can still walk to Chinatown in half an hour and I have my favourites there even though it changes a lot. Walking to Chinatown still takes effort, but that’s a different matter. As I said, I’m spoilt for choice and one of the restaurants that made the most commotion (and had the most praise) on the Internet was the return of Bruno Loubet, who settled in at the restaurant in the boutique hotel, The Zetter.
I had a lot of praise for restaurant in the Zetter when I wrote about it last and I’m pleased to say that the Bistrot Bruno Loubet takes that even further. The bread, served with some deliciously tasty butter was beautiful – slightly chewy crust and soft and wonderful. A short focused menu made it hard to choose as they all sounded wonderful. I settled for the beetroot ravioli, rocket salad, fried breadcrumbs and Parmesan was absolutely define. Strong flavours, beautiful textures and really well balanced.
My sister ordered the corn fed chicken ballotine, Nicoise salad, and soft poached quail egg, a very decadent but just as perfectly executed and presented dish.
For the main, I had a special of the day, it was a slow braised ox cheek with a tangy mango salad. Fusing a small number of Asian ingredients, this dish literally melted in the mouth only requiring a small prod for the flesh to melt away. The mango was sharp, slightly acidic and did well to cut through the heaviness of the meat. Best of all, the sauce, like all French sauces was heavily reduced and packed full of flavour. I snuck in a bit of bread to wipe up a lot of it. It was that good.
My sister opted for the duck dish mainly because she enjoys duck and it came with some interesting potato croquettes. Served with asparagus it was pretty darn tasty.
We ordered a side of seasonal vegetables as well and it really surprised me about how well peas and carrots can taste when cooked well, and of course, drizzled with a bit of butter.
Service here was really good and with a menu that changes often, I would love to make this a regular haunt.
Name: Bistrot Bruno Loubet
Found at: 86-88 Clerkenwell Road City of London, Greater London EC1M 5RJ
Website: http://www.bistrotbrunoloubet.com/