La Trompette

I've been coming to Trompette for years and considered it to be the height of haute-cuisine in Chiswick, but on eating there last night, although I can still say the food is excellent, since the refurbishment and change of Chef earlier this year, everything else has slipped.

Service is very slow (our neighbour had to wait 30 mins for a starter!); fewer waiting staff; no longer a dedicated Maître’D, nor sommelier; new decor lacks the old intimacy, and overall ambience is simply lacking; the bill was simply dumped on the table without our requesting it, straight after they left the coffees! What's worse is that formerly 3 courses for two people, with a modest bottle of wine and coffee used to be around £60-65 per head, now its £90-95.

In short, it's lost its crown and probably soon its Michelin Star as well I would have though, which really belongs to the previous chef. Such primacy I think has now been passed on to Michael Nadra or Quantus - both of which are a stone's throw away from Trompette, have fine menus, lovely service and don’t break the bank – this last point being so important during recession, Trompette had better re-think things or I fear for its longevity.
Comment on this reader review

- View all reviews by this user
5 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Friday, May 10, 2013

La Trompette has been closed for several months for a revamp and last night we went to see the results. The decor has changed and the tables are not so crammed together but the overall effect is still modern, elegant and understated, so not that different from before. There is a new chef and everything we ate was very good, although portions are definitely on the stingy side - after a three course meal you won't leave feeling full.

However there are some problems here which mean that La Trompette is not quite the superb restaurant it was a few years ago. Firstly, the room is several degrees too cold. Some friend who went a few weeks ago said it was 'freezing' and last night people were asking for their coats back. Surely this shouldn't be too hard to fix?

Secondly, they have instigated a really tiresome situation where only the maitre d' can take your food order, which means you wait ages before you can order your food. Why? Aren't the waiters up to the job? A more minor niggle is that the bread last night was not nearly as good as it used to be - rather hard little rolls - and they will insist on only doling it out on request, instead of leaving a basket of bread on your table. At £45 for a set dinner, I don't think that's too much to ask.

The restaurant still offers a feel of real luxury and the service is mostly good, but the prices are now so steep that it has to compete with the very best in the West End, and I'm not sure it does that.
Comment on this reader review

Claretta - View all reviews by this user
6 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 4
Friday, March 29, 2013

Just a quick top up to the review below. We've been back twice since, and each time the food's been better than before. Today's partridge with creamed parsnips, wild mushrooms and pearl barley in an intense madeira reduction was excellent, to be equalled by a tender slow cooked beef en daube. All else as before. It really was difficult today to see what they might have done better if it had been a 2 or 3 star restaurant a much higher prices. Really good.
Comment on this reader review

David Henderson - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 9
Saturday, December 15, 2012

Our first visit at a fairly busy lunchtime today. Strangely enough I'd eaten at the sibling Chez Bruce just three days before which gave an opportunity to compare two One Star restaurants under the same ownership, albeit with slightly different culinary orientation. On balance I preferred La Trompette, though this might be because the menu suited me better, rather than because the cooking is superior.

We enjoyed the food. My Lasagne of rabbit and broad beans was an interesting take though I might argue it would have been better with a more flavoursome rabbit and so a little more richness. My navarin of lamb with winter vegetables was very nicely cooked and more flavoursome. Finally , I enjoyed the creme brulee with rhubarb very much. Decent coffee and bread, though no amuse bouches and the tiny cake they served with coffee was a little derisory. That aside our bill for 3 courses for two, a decent bottle of Refosco, coffee and service came to just a fraction over £100 so to me the value seems about right for a middling One Star restaurant at lunch.

The service was pleasant and nicely paced for a lunch at leisure. The restaurant is not particularly atmospheric or sumptuous and there isn't a feeling of being pampered here if thats what you want or expect. Go again? Probably yes in the sense that the food is decent and its not too far from home. I wish the food had demonstrated more intense flavours though.
Comment on this reader review

David Henderson
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 8
Sunday, April 08, 2012

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.
Comment on this reader review

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.
Comment on this reader review

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?
Comment on this reader review

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.
Comment on this reader review

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.
Comment on this reader review

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
Comment on this reader review

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