A la Colthard/ Le Colombier
Le Colombier restaurant in Dovehouse Street, just behind the Royal Marsden Hospital, is the sort of place where I would meet my Great Aunt Julie.
You know the sort: bowl of pot pourri in the hallway; favourite playwright Noel Coward; favourite music Gilbert and Sullivan; voted leave to stem the tide of immigration and PC.
The average of the diner must be 70. This said, the cuisine can be described as reliable French, the service spot on.
I ordered a prawn bisque. Lobster bisque is my favourite soup and I have never sampled the prawn variety. It was scrumptious. Rich, tasty, fishy.
After that I plumped for the sweetbreads. This was probably too rich and creamy after the soup and I’m not the biggest fan of offal.
The dessert a blackberry and black currant sorbet with a black currant liqueur was the best of all.
Too often a sorbet can be too cold and icy and lacking in flavour. With a ‘blonde’ Belgian beer and glass of Riesling the bill came to £70, not at all bad.
On the table next door was an elderly lady with younger female diner. She went for the set menu – my Aunt Julie invariable does too – and house wine.
Whilst making it clear her companion could order what she liked, she made it equally clear by implication that she expected her to order the same.
Le Colombier is a traditional restaurant with an established clientele that will stay in business regardless of the vagaries of fashion in cuisine, location or trend.
Oslo Court in St Johns Wood is much the same. Nothing wrong with that, but don’t take your cougar there gals … you will get disapproving looks!!!
