Butter, Champagne, Garlic & Foie Gras. If I had to pick a favourite type of food, it would always be French. My love of this cuisine spawned from my trips to France when I spent some time in the Loire Valley, Bordeaux and Paris. Back then my body wasn’t anywhere near prepared for the amount of raw meat and butter I was about to consume, but now I’m older, wiser and a little bit heavier – which is probably down to the butter. La Brasserie is a little slice of France on Brompton Road between Chelsea and South Kensington. The team here have been serving up French classics to London ever since 1972 – it’s amazing to see they’ve survived for so long and there doesn’t seem any sign of them leaving soon. On a what you would expect to be a quiet mid-week evening, it was still packed. The atmosphere was lively, the bar was busy and almost every table in our view was full of happy customers. Once settled we joined them with a glass of Champagne – there’s no better way to start a meal than with bubbles.
To kick things off we started with some incredibly rich and moorish starters. I’ve been on the hunt for the best snails and La Brasserie’s are certainly very highly ranked. Six huge snails were swimming in a pool of butter, oil and lots of garlic. Each was then topped with a garlic and parsley butter mixture which exploded in the mouth. Incredibly good for mopping up those juices after was a basket of the restaurants fresh baguette. Even better still perhaps were the gargantuan scallops served on a wooden board. Each were cooked and served in their shells with a white wine cream sauce, wild mushrooms and topped off with a cheesy parmesan breadcrumb mix before being finished off under the grill. Absolutely stunning and I’d happily come back again if not just for these beauties.
Main courses here at La Brasserie were oh-so French and every bit as I hoped, and more. To pair with our meaty mains we ordered a bottle of Fleurie which was the perfect accompaniment to just about everything with its juicy red berry flavours, light tannins and delicate body. One of this restaurants signature dishes is without a doubt the steak tartar. Everything about it was perfect. The ground-up beef was well-diced, seasoning was spot on and the balance of the onions, gherkins and mustard was just the right amount. A must order when visiting La Brasserie. Duck confit was another excellent dish, showing off a golden glazed crispy skin which revealed some very juicy meat underneath. It was all served with a portion of butter laden gratin dauphinois and spinach, the latter could have been less watery if being terribly picky.
While the starters and main courses here at La Brasserie were almost faultless, desserts were a bit of a let down. The profiteroles were I’m afraid to say it, rather dry given all of the chocolate sauce and cream they were coated and filled with. I’m all for crunchy balls of goodness, but these were a little too hard for me. The chocolate sauce however was stunning – so rich and moorish you found yourself licking it off your fingers. Tarte tatin was also slightly disappointing, featuring lots of apple and barely any pastry. With the pastry being so thin it meant the juices from the apple and melting ice cream caused it to be soggy. A real shame because again flavour wise, it had it all.
Finishing up on a quite frankly, epic espresso Martini it was sadly time to head off into the night. La Brasserie isn’t without its faults, particularly when it comes to desserts but when it comes to rich and decadent French classics they have them spot on, leaving you begging for more. Would I come back to La Brasserie? In a heartbeat. Next time however I’ll skip dessert and fill up on more of those delicious cocktail concoctions from the bar.
7.5/10
