The French Table

Having booked lunch here on Christmas Eve 2009, I was apprehensive for two reasons - the possibility of being stuck with inflexible and uninteresting "christmas menu" of the usual culprits, and the usual reduced service accompanying the busy silly season. Nothing could have been further from the truth at this elegant medium sized space that was absolutely full house on the day. It had joyous ambience and nice little touches of crackers on the tables, which guests entusiastically pulled, then wore silly hats and read bad jokes, and gave their plastic toys and puzzles to children at neighbouring tables. The staff all attired in uniform red were well informed, made experience enjoyable and comfortable for their patrons, and service generally was excellent.

The food was very well executed and in constrained way quite innovative. It is the little touches and the presentation of what was a very flavoursome and fresh food that made it so enjoyable. The entree torte bomb of wild boar covered in pastry, interesting and humorous at the same time, the main guinea fowl with wild mushrooms was superb. As were the other mains of pork belly, and particularly beautifully presented and flavoursome lamb dish. Desserts were reliable and creatively presented, and at reasonable BYO corkage, made for an excellent dining experience and a nice way to get into the Christmas spirit. Well worth the 20min train ride from the city centre stations. Cannot wait to return and sample their dinner menu, in different season.
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foodietraveller
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Friday, January 08, 2010

We moved to nearby New Malden last year, but only had dinner here for the first time this Wednesday. Hugely impressed and will return asap.

Elegant and confident French food that doesn't try too hard, with well thought out combinations of ingredients and distinct flavours. Both starters of Quail and deep fried quail eggs set against with a subtle mustardy celeriac roulade, and scallops on quinoa and pomergranite were great. The main course meats of duck and lamb were perfectly cooked and seasoned. The spatzle and girolles mushrooms with the lamb were particularly good combination. A big chocolate finish was straightforward but satisfying.

A varied wine list came with good advice, a good range of dessert wines by the glass, and all represented value for what is easily the best restaurant we've found so far in our new lives in the burbs.

2 people, 3 courses, 1 Californian Syrah at £26 and three additional glasses of wine with service for £126.
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Chris Taggart
10 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Friday, September 18, 2009

We visited this restaurant recently for my birthday lunch on a Sunday and I would highly recommend it. The food is fabulous - creative without being pretentious and the service offered by the staff is fantastic .Each member of staff we came across could not have made us feel more welcome - it was my birthday and they even brought a little birthday plate with sorbet in and a candle in it at the end of the meal.
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10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Monday, January 12, 2009

What a lovely little place. The crab souffle and trio of chocolate dessert were both delightful and original. The service was immaculate. The only downside was the room was very noisy with no carpets etc and so we had to shout towards the end of the meal to hear ourselves. Although the meal was £230 including service for 4, we had 3 courses plus 2 bottles of wine and coffee and the meal was true fine dining. It's a real gem for SW London and defiantely on my local list along with Shambles in Teddington, Shambles is perhaps a little better in value with equally unique and tasty dishes, although the service is more casual bistro, less fine dining.
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Amy
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Friday, December 19, 2008

The food was amazing and very reasonably priced - we were on a bit of budget so had their cheapest bottles of red and white wine and both were lovely.

Definately worth visiting as it is by far the best restaurant in the area.
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9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, February 27, 2008

i went here for dinner last night. The food was excellent, very traditional, heavy French flair beautifully presented. I had spinach wrapped hallibut for a starter which was quite devine. the menu was interesting and certainly aimed at the "foodie" market ie no steak and chips which is refreshing, especially out of London. The only downside was the service which was friendly but slightly "studenty" which may be the atmosphere they want to create but I didn't think it matched the menu very well. Also very suprised by the lack of interesting French wines on the wine list. I'll definately go back but at £120 for 2 with an apperitif and one bottle of wine not for a few months.
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loy
7 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Friday, February 01, 2008

On my last visit I had one of the best restaurant meals I've ever experienced. All elements came together perfectly - I really could not have asked for any improvement on anything.

Some of the earlier reviews touched on problems with service - in the past I too found this to be the case on occasions but it seems to have been ironed out. We experienced no slip-ups at all and all staff were friendly, polite and efficient. I ate duck croustillant to start, and stuck with my trusty pork trilogy as main; this is always on the menu but the three component elements change each time. The star of this line-up was the pork belly and fois gras mini-burger, a quite simply heavenly combination. Even the bread of the miniature 'bap' was spot-on, slightly sweet and broioche-like with sesame seeds on top. The fois gras was perfect. We sides of mashed potato, which we already knew to be good, and sliced carrots which were subtly flavoured with cumin - a combination I wouldn't have thought of but it worked brilliantly.

For dessert I swooned my way through another 3-way 5-star selection, this time frozen mango parfait, kiwi compote and coconut sorbet. Each component in itself could have made a delicious dessert, teamed up they were stunning.

By the time we got to coffee we were on such a roll we thought what-the-hell and got Armagnacs as well, and these unsurprisingly were top of the shop. The entire meal was a triumph and I'll remember it for a long time.
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Backdrifter - View all reviews by this user
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Monday, November 05, 2007

This place is totally extraodinary, and not just for a suburb, but for anywhere! My husband and I are real foodies, and aren't squeamish about spending lots of money eating in lovely places in London, but now we've found this place, we've pretty much stopped going into town for special occasions - we just eat here.

The food is amazing. Last night, our third visit, we had the best beef I have ever eaten - Argentinian fillet with braised shank, served with celeriac puree, wild mushrooms and red wine sauce. The meat was so soft and tender you could have happily eaten it with a spoon (I'm actually not exaggerating), the flavour was amazing and the sides were perfectly teamed. The vegetable sides are chargable (which I don't usually like) but really generous and very good indeed. I'd also highly recommend the trio of pork - a masterpiece! Puddings are amazing too, with lots of choice - we really enjoyed their trio of chocolate, which is always on the menu, but the items change each month (we had white chocolate icecream, chocolate gateau and chocolate ganache). For me, they slightly fall down on their starters - they're usually more imaginative and complicated than the mains or puddings, and I think the flavour combinations don's always work. I have to say this little quibble hasn't ever made any difference to my enjoyment of the place, though.

They do all the tricky things restaurants often fail at really well: portions are generous without being heavy; they change their menu monthly and always have specials, which keeps it interesting; the service is absolutely professional without being obsequious, over-zealous (e.g. topping up wine every 15 seconds) or snooty; they have a long, well-explained and reasonable wine list with seasonal specials and do many of them by the glass; they have lots of choice on the menu and don't do a fixed 3-courses so you can have what you like (and they're fine with you sharing a course - they even bring an extra plate); they only have one sitting a night, but they stagger it so the restaurant feels busy and has atmosphere all night, plus you feel like you can linger over coffee for hours.

Every time we've been, it's been a special occasion, and they always mark it. Last night was my birthday, and they wrote 'Happy Birthday' in chocolate on my dessert plate, as well as giving us two complimentary glasses of lovely pink bubbly. We recognise one of the waitresses by now (another sign of a good place - they have regular staff, so there's good continuity), and although she wasn't serving our table, she came over to wish me a happy birthday and ask how we were, and came to say goodbye when we left.

I don't think I could be more effusive if I tried...
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AliceT - View all reviews by this user
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Friday, September 21, 2007