Les Deux Salons

The latest venture from the team behind Arbutus and Wild Honey, Les Deux Salons, had their soft opening last week.

My previous experience of Arbutus left a lot to be desired. To be honest, I was decidedly unimpressed, although I know a few friends that think it is one of the best places to eat in London (although I may also add that I know a good few people that share my opinion). Regardless, a foodie friend of mine suggested we try this new place. Covent Garden always feels like a bit of a black hole for reasonably priced yet decent food (there's Wahaca, but it always has such a huge queue). So, we thought we'd give Les Deux Salons a go.

Much cheaper than it's sister restaurant, it is more of a brasserie. The venue itself is beautiful, worth a visit to see the interior, which is done really well.

Unfortunately, for me, this is where the good experience ended. The food was OK. I had the rose veal ravioli to start. Maybe I was naive, but I was expecting pasta stuffed with veal, but the ravioli itself was actually made out of veal and stuffed with, well, I'm not exactly sure actually. Maybe it's a mark of the food itself, or the amount of wine consumed pre-dinner, but my husband didn't actually realise the ravioli was made out of veal. Maybe that says more about him than it does the food. My friend's salt cod was OK, but the proportions were all wrong. My other friend's snail pie was probably the highlight (so I'm told).

So far, not so bad. The mains is where it all started going wrong. Firstly I don't understand why they served the food in pans (that I don't think the food had even been cooked in...rustic maybe, but a waste of time!). Secondly, my pork belly was entirely uninspiring. More like a ham hock and lentil stew that was completely devoid of any real flavour. Thirdly, two of our parties steaks were seriously over-cooked (and taken back to the kitchen). I know mistakes happen, and it was during their soft opening (but we were paying full price as the 50% off food had ended the day before) but really I think they were well below par and I worry for how much they can have improved for the full opening this week. After all, the restaurant was only a third full and they seemed completely unable to cope. Despite asking for our sides 4 or 5 times they only arrived long after our (second) steaks had arrived and two of us had finished our meals.

We weren't charged for the steaks or the sides, but it was kind of besides the point. Eating your sides after you've finished (and two of you eating your main courses separately) totally ruins the meal. Whilst the maitre'd himself was actually quite charming and apologetic, the rest of the waiting staff seemed totally confused by the whole situation.

Our desserts were ok, but to be honest, I was pretty keen to leave at that point and it took me a few moments to remember whether we'd bothered at all with them.

Hopefully it improves as it is a lovely venue and pretty reasonably priced (I would imagine around £100 for a meal for two with wine , providing dishes weren't removed because they were so delayed or poorly cooked!).

Things can only get better I suppose...

Royal Hospital Road

My husband (not usually one to risk a surprise birthday present) had been saying for a couple of month's that he had a cracker up his sleeve for my birthday this year. It has to be said that I was worried for him, but he really came up trumps with a visit to Gordon Ramsay's restaurant.

I'd been suffering with flu for a few days beforehand, but flu or no flu, I wasn't going to miss this opportunity. I think adrenaline must have kicked in as, it has to be said, I have slight memory loss about certain parts of the evening. Regardless, it was an absolute winner.

Bad service is a real sticking point for me. Having previously worked as a waitress myself I find rude service a particular bug bear of mine (it's really not that hard to be polite). I can honestly say we received the best service ever here. It was friendly without being over-familiar and knowledgeable without ever being condescending. The Maitre'd was particularly lovely, as was the cheese man (I'm sure that isn't the correct term, but you know who I mean).

Anyway, on to the food...

I had the lobster tails poached in butter to start (nothing like lobster tails poached in butter to make you feel better!). It was absolutely delicious - so rich and tasty. Yum. Tom had the lobster ravioli which was also delicious (the house speciality).

For mains I had the pork, which was good, although not the best main I have ever had. Still, I'm being picky. It was totally delicious, just not totally mind blowing. Tom had the lamb, which again was god although the proportions were a little out. Not enough of the delicious lamb confit or enough veg. Still, very good.

The cheese was probably a highlight. In an attempt to blow away the cobwebs we went for the strongest cheese there was, and we weren't disappointed. On the cheese man's recommendation we had camembert in calvados which was probably the nicest cheese I've ever had. I will be hunting it down for the Father-in-Law's Christmas present. One cheese lover to another.

We had the medley of desserts, also fantastic. The highlight for me was the souffle - light, fluffy and utterly delicious. The petit fours of ice-cream chocolates served in a dry-ice box topped it off perfectly.