I’ve quite often walked past Kettner’s in Soho, admiring the piano inside and the newish décor (white furniture and sterling silver candelabras.) Apparently Kettner’s is one of the oldest restaurants in London dating back to the 1860s! I thought it was a fairly intimate venue but according to the website inside there are four areas – a brasserie, champagne bar, pudding bar (for tea) and The Apartment (a club, as in private club not nightclub …)

Taking advantage of a top table offer I met Jenny there for a catch up tonight – I think however that prices at Kettner’s are pretty reasonable all around (e.g. with offers like 2 courses for £14.50) and even their a la carte menu isn’t too steep. The food is seriously good value for money and both Jenny and I were very satisfied with our main dishes – I had a grilled fish served on this fried greens and this was simply divine.

Unfortunately, there was a bit of a mis-understanding about Jenny’s dessert as the waiter couldn’t quite explain what the Peach Tart was going to be. Tarts seem to be somewhat of a specialty at Kettner’s if the fact that they have a Tart of the Day AND 4 tarts on the dessert menu … unfortunately, the tart for Jenny consisted literally of a pastry crust filled with fruit. Don’t think there was any sort of other preparation. And the Peach wasn’t even ripe! On the plus side our waiter was very good about changing it to another dessert (which ended up being a much better dessert – so much that I’m pretty sure Jenny licked the plate? 😉 )

The drawback to Kettner’s as a venue is that it was very very noisy in the room we were in. If we weren’t competing with the man at the piano we were competing with everyone else talking loudly (no doubt required because they couldn’t hear each other either!)

I’ve read some pretty average reviews of Kettner’s from their service to their food but I must say from tonight’s experience I’d have to disagree with them. Great food and nice friendly service. If only they had a volume control for the other diners …