Let's travel back in time a little, little bit. It is still winter and I am trotting along Marylebone High Street, pacing the street this and that way, I am looking for Cafe Luc and despite it stylish Olive walls and very green awnings I keep missing it. When I am finally told by a friendly local "You need glasses Luv, it is right there" I am indeed in need of a glass or two but not the glasses he had in mind.
Inside, the colour scheme is similar to the outside only softer. Lots of mirrors, classy lampshades, ornate walls and ceilings. This is the kind of brasserie which would not denote in the 16th arrondissement of Paris or the stylish Bruxelles center. The tables are stern black wood, the chairs comfortable, brown banquettes and in one of the banquette, by the window, smiling back at me, looking lovely in her polka dots dress is Sarah from Maison Cupcake, it is not long before Michelle of Greedy gourmet pushes the door.
Michelle has organised this lunch for us and it is always a pleasure to meet them have a natter around a meal.
Soon we are shown to our table, so far everything is brilliant then trouble starts, our waiter is in keeping with the brasserie style, Sarah describes his manners as Parisiennes, yes indeed, the place is buzzing and the staff very busy but it is not a reason for being so brisk - oh no! don't look another waiter just slapped a waitress on the bum, indeed we could be on the continent.
Michelle orders a Mojito which we all agree is not nice and we go for a glass of champagne which OK, 2 out of 3. Little did we know at the time but this was the only drink we would be served. After much discussion, we order, now a word of warning the week-end menu is different from the website offerings which are week days only.
Picking a dish, in a restaurant, is often a hit and miss affair, I hit, they missed.
I chose Game terrine with sourdough toast, it arrives with a very flavoursome gelatin cube
My main is steak tartare, a la minute, with toasted sourdough bread (yet again but it ended up being irrelevant....read on)
It is nicely presented and the waitress takes it away to mix it, sadly she comes back 15 minutes later but it is perfectly seasoned, the meat is good and the thickness of the mince perfect. The sourdough bread toasted or not was too hard to eat.
The side dish is pommes frites - two words- not edible
and for desert Crème Brûlée au Nutella a large portion, nicely presented. one of the little pleasure in life is to take a spoon to the caramel on the Brûlée and to crack it..... unless the dish has been left on the side or in the fridge for too long before serving and it gets soggy. No satisfying crack for me here. I can't tell you if I liked it or not, I was still thinking about it on my way home, Chocolate spread in a crème caramel is a weird concept, it could work but I surely would not recommend it.
All in all, it was great to meet up, the surroundings are attractive, the service appalling and the food average and would have found £ 35 + drinks, a expensive had I had to pay. But the meal was sponsored for which I thank Michelle and the PR agency.
My verdict 5 out of 10.
4 comments:
It's been very strange re-living this meal! Not one I really wanted to revisit but at least I was in good company!
I told you at the time and I will say it again on here...if you had to think about whether you liked something, e.g. the creme brulee, it's probably not good. There was no buzz, i.e. OMG I WANT TO STUFF MY FACE WITH THIS ALL AT ONCE. So no, the creme brulee was blah. At least we were in good company!
Indeed, Sarah but eventually writing this post gave me a good feel about blogging eg: we are not about hype and tell it as we see it.
x
Michelle, I take your point but how can such a yummy desert be made yurk? I'll never know because I will not go for second.
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