La Trompette

This our favourite restaurant in Chiswick. We never had a bad meal here. We really love the small menu but variety is always sufficient.. Very extensive wine list and delicious pudding too. They just need to do a bit better for special occasion celebration. Boooking is advisable as the restaurant seems full every time we visit there. Higly reccommended.
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Henry
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Thursday, October 20, 2011

My wife and I went to La Trompette for lunch as a treat - hoping to repeat a delightful experience we had there about 3 years ago.

I'd been looking forward to this meal all week - we love good cooking but (alas) don't often eat at Michelin starred restaurants. Despite these high expectations La Trompette did not disappoint. The atmosphere was not stuffy or intimidating - but it was formal enough to fit with our sense that this meal was a special occasion.

Quite often when I go to a restaurant I think (perhaps falsely) that I could have cooked my meal just as well as they had. This was very much not the case at La Trompette. Stand out dishes - foie gras; leeks, smoked haddock with a superbly poached egg; a lamb dish that included the finest kidney I have ever tasted.

Other positives: the sommelier was helpful and engaging; friendly and attentive service.

We had an aperitif each, three courses; a large glass of wine each; coffee and it came to £117 including service. That seemed a fair price for the very satisfying lunch we had at La Trompette.

The only negative I can think of was that the petit fours were underwhelming - in contrast to those we had on our previous visit.
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Ealing_longboy
8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Wednesday, August 24, 2011

My second meal at Trompette. Friday evening, four of us.

Overall: standard has slipped; this place was stellar, it is now merely "pretty good".

Atmosphere: quite a large restaurant - it was packed. Lively and pleasant.

Food: good but patchy, and lacking the excellence of my previous visit. Nasty, greying triangles of potato with the halibut were plain horrid. Tasted liked they'd been in the fridge too long before being warmed through.

Wine: the list is very good, and so is the sommelier. Prices are ok. The main glassware is ugly with straight sided wine glasses - very early '90's.

Service: good. Can be a bit keen to move things along. But pretty charming.

Cheese: the cheese trolley and the superb French lady who served us from it were first class. brimming with knowledge and enthusiasm. A real treat.

Cost: too high. We all had the £39 three course menu. Virtually everything worth ordering carried a supplement.

We didn't hold back on the wine, but nevertheless how it came to £460 for 4 is a bit of a mystery (there was a mistake on the bill - but only to the tune of £8.50).

As businesses and wealthy residents have increasingly moved west this place has managed to keep it's bookings up - maybe a bit of complacency has set in here?
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Kwev
7 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 6
Monday, July 25, 2011

Faultless cooking and accompanied by a superb selection of red burgundy by the sommelier, who took the two bottles we were umming and ahhing over, and in view of those and our food choices, proposed a gorgeous alternative. This guy has pulled this trick before and his hunches are usually faultless food match wines you would not have thought of and in the same price range. (Sloveneian pinot noir once) The crab and asparagus salad was to die for and the rump of lamb very moorish. Guests very pleased with their food options. Cheese board lady could explain every cheese on the loaded board and even which order to eat them in. None were cold and lifeless.

Yet we werent able to get a conversation going for ages. Waves of requests from staff as soon as guests were seated and looking around the airy room. "Water, still or sparkling?" Bread". An aperifif? led us to request for the wine list, which seemed to baffle the waitress temporarily, but we know they serve a lot of sherries etc and we would have ordered one, and wanted to know what options there were. The wine list then comically caused the sommelier to appear, before we even had looked at the food menu, to ask what wine we were selecting. Water was being refilled and the bread lady was adding to the hassle. We never did get an aperitif, but they sold our guests the £3.95 water bottles and coffees after the meal, to which service was added. Sadly as well the constant refilling of glasses of burgundy whenever one was sipped from during the crab course denuded us of enough to match up with the lamb and we ended up ordering a half of good rhone, but it was a bit heavy. Also three of the guests had drunk enough due to the constant refills, so declined the rhone.

So the food is wonderful, but the constant hassling to do something or order something before you are ready was wearying and stopped us from relaxing here. I would suggest the manager re-assesses that tactic, as the chef and sommelier deserve much greater respect, let alone the customers.
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bill
7 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Friday, April 29, 2011

I took a friend to La Trompette on Saturday. As always it was faultless. My friend said it was probably the best meal he had ever had. We were lucky, there was a slight mistake over the puddings so we ended up with 3 between the 2 of us - an unexpected delight! Make more mistakes like that and i'll keep coming back.
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Jerome O''Brien
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, July 26, 2010

Top food, nice atmosphere - not pretentious like I expected. Still had a pub feel to it despite the high end food.

really enjoyed the evening, friendly service too
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sohie darostian - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Thursday, July 01, 2010

We dined at La Trompette recently and as usual the food was fabulous. My asparagus soup and bruschetta of broad beans, mint and pecorino delivered a wonderful fresh taste of spring. The shoulder of lamb was melt in the mouth and the balance of spices was perfect. My panna cotta with rhubarb was a delicious combination and the warm vanilla sugar beignets were to die for ! The front of house staff were a delight . They are so helpful and friendly but always discreet and unobtrusive. The sommelier chooses the most delicious wines which compliment the food to perfection. As I looked around I was surrounded by happy faces of other diners who were clearly thrilled with their food. On more than one occasion I saw people passing forkfuls of food to others on their table : wanting to share their delight in their chosen dish. The team at La Trompette create a fantastic atmosphere and delicious food. What more could you ask for? I can't recommend it highly enough. Well done everyone.
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Sue Saxty
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, April 15, 2010

My Wife and I have eaten at La Trompetter countless of time and believe me if I say we have eaten in most of the top establishments in and around London.

La Trompette to us means good food at a reasonable price and the menu change often enough to keep us coming back. I read the review from the lady that said she can get better value for wine at her local greek restaurant and frankly if you go on that mind-set La Trompette was most certainly not for you, maybe try to stick to your local Chinese Restaurant then if you would like stodge and portions of the larger scale.

Viva La Trompette!
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Mr G Norval
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Thursday, March 25, 2010

We ate at La Trompette last night - our Wedding Anniversary - and I consider it very poor 'value for money'. While I cannot fault the food which was delicious, I found the portions very small. When you are paying £39.50 per head for 3 courses I consider it daylight robbery to impose a supplement of £5.50 for substituting cheese for one of the set puddings. An extra charge of £3.95 for coffee, after paying such a hefty sum for dinner, also seems extortionate. The wine is extremely expensive, although the sommelier is obviously knowledgeable and charming. I noticed one wine on the list at over twice what I would pay for it at my local Greek restaurant in Ealing, (where they are presumably already charging 100% more than it costs to buy in).

We arrived for dinner at 8.00 p.m. and were finished and out of the door by 9.30. After paying a bill of over £140 for two, I find this poor value as an 'experience'.

We used to go to Le Vacherin, which at its best was far better value than this with equally good food in 'proper' portions.

In summation, not an experience I shall be repeating.
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3 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Tuesday, January 05, 2010

My girlfriend and I attended La Trompette today for Sunday lunch as part of her birthday surprise. I chose this restaurant due to the fact that it was located outside of central London (convenient for a West Londoner on a Sunday afternoon!) and due to the excellent reviews which had been posted on this site. My word, they were not wrong!

The setting felt elegant yet minimalist and the pleasant welcome by the staff was most hospitable. The selection of food on the set three course menu for £29.50 I felt was brilliant and the meals themselves did not disappoint.

I opted for the seared tuna with prawns of an oriental style and this was dazzling to my tastebuds. My girlfriend selected the onion tart which was also terrifically light and flavoursome. My main was the poulet noir with chorizo rissotto and frittered courgette and it was simply out of this world. The better half went for the bream with trimmings. Whilst she enjoyed the meal, the flavours were not quite what she had been expecting upon ordering, but I'm not quite sure this is the fault of the establishment. Finally came the heavenly desserts, my peanut butter ice cream which was a true highlight.

A lovely beaujolais which was of a similar price that you would expect to pay in any quality restaurant just topped off the afternoon.

All in all, I felt it a grand dining experience and would encourage any readers to give La Trompette a try.
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Frenzal - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Sunday, November 01, 2009