Why go here:
For rustic French tapas and for organic wines.
What it looks like:
The restaurant looks like they partially renovated a wine cellar- low ceilings, wooden beams and bare brick walls in one part of the dining area are contrasted with the ‘faux-kitchen’ like decor on the other side consisting of pretty papered walls, miniature portraits and decorative cupboards displaying random cooking equipment.
The food:
I started off with the Brawn & Gribiche Sauce on toast. Portions were very large considering these were ‘small plates’. Brawn is a sort of terrine made with flesh from the head of a calf or pig. The terrine was flavoured with pepper and onions and the rich meat was well-balanced by the mustard-y, gribiche sauce with capers and the crunchy, fresh shredded radichio on top.
For main course, I opted for one of the ‘Plats du Jour’ i.e. one of the day’s specialities the Christian Parra Boudin Noir with braised parsley roots, carrots and kale. Boudin Noir is a French Black Pudding except the Christian Parra variety is supposed to be one of the most in demand due to its richer taste. There is no casing like in traditional sausages and it is chunky instead of having the fine, pudding like texture. The dish was truly decadent and was so much tastier than I expected it to be. This really is nothing like your breakfast black pudding. I highly recommend trying it.
The wine list here was like a fat encyclopaedia with wines sourced from small artisan growers in France, Spain, Italy and more. We ordered a white from the Burgundy section and while I’m no expert on wines, the white we ordered was easily one of the most palatable and fragrant wines I’ve had.
Service was polite but a little aloof and in spite of the waitress not being too busy, we had to try quite hard to get her attention and remind her to refill our water glasses.
Verdict:
This new kid on the block has been getting all the attention of French food and wine lovers for a reason. Affordable, large portion-ed rustic French dishes made of unique ingredients mostly sourced from France and an extensive array of organic wines make this place well worth the hype.