Blanchette - London

Ten of us had the Jungle Room for a night. I didn’t pay so can’t talk cost but the drinks were fine and the food, served for us to pick at was nicely prepared and presented.

Excellent service and atmosphere. Even so, 13.5 service not welcome! Food good in places but as previous comments attest pork rillettes do not require fried bread all too greasy. And mushroom risotto flavour obscured by heavy dose of salt!

I’ve been her several times over some years. The general atmosphere is good and the food good but variable: Mixed Olives (out of a jar) a real let down come on guys! Serve them fresh. The Rillettes was lovely with gherkins “and served with some fried type bread; just French bread would have been ok. Rillettes is fatty so no need for bread fried in oil… the mustard mayo tasted and looked just like salad cream, disgusting, forget it as it adds nothing to the dish. The sea bream tartare cured egg sesame and soy was very unpleasant. Far too salty the sesame was polarising as a flavour and there was not a hint of acidity to cut through the oily fish. Didn’t finish this dish. We had confit duck which was beautiful. Couldn’t taste the wild garlic and there were no broad beans. What we got was delicious confit with petit pois and lozenges of runner beans. But still very pleasant. I’m guessing the menu was written in the Spring but not revised. Finally I had the goat cheese and my partner the raspberry and mint sorbet both good The wine is TOTALLY over priced I would say with a mark up of 500%. We had the house white which would be around £7 a bottle wholesale but sold to us for £37. Not worth it. I would go again but offer this : It’s very very noisy! If you are going to serve from an a la carte menu make sure it’s amended and upto date. Never serve bottled olives in a French restaurant. Yes I’m a foodie and food critic. I would go again but be careful what i ordered.

Went over to have a good last meal before leaving London. Unfortunately, I only got overpriced tasteless food. I got a couple of appetizers, Chicken Ballotine, french fries side and two 125cc glasses of their house Morocco Syrah. The Chicken was completely bland and tasteless, below which there was a consomé (more of a diluted broth) with no extra flavor, and for sure no layers. The wine, which I expected from the waiter to be good and surprising, was no better than run of the mill bottom shelf supermarket stuff. The best part of the dinner were the french fries. They were crunchy, they were delicious. But, how can it be that French fries is the best part of the meal. This would be disappointing for £30, but for £75 I felt like I wasted an opportunity for great food in London.

We had a fab time at Blanchette for my sons 30th birthday lunch. Food was superb and service great. Lovely atmosphere in this quirky bistro. Would definitely come back and recommend to others