The Peckham Experiment

Went there with my partner for breakfast yesterday and was really, really disappointed. I ordered eggs benedict - the egg was over cooked (hardly any runny yolk), the hollandaise was cold, the salmon grey and chewy, the chef had decided to make the addition of some raw peppers and tomatoes and replace the muffin with a crumpet. The smoked salmon and grey scrambled eggs equally poor.

The service was painfully slow.

I would recommend people thinking of going here to go elsewhere. McDonalds maybe.
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Matt Goodall
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Sunday, September 02, 2007

Two weeks ago i visited this place having happily eaten here about 6 months ago. What a change (and not for the better). The food was nice but very expensive for the area that it is in. The service was laughably bad. No napkins, 10 minutes to get a drink and 40 minutes to get a main (i timed it after i saw how long it took to get served a drink). Not once did they come to the table and ask if we would like another drink. We didn't order dessert as we could not bear waiting 15 minutes to get it. The staff were never on the floor so you spent most of the time looking for them. Then having to go and pay £2 to get cash out of a machine as they did not take credit cards was the final insult.

Positive

Food was nice (had beef ribs for 2)

Negative

Expensive (seperate veges)

disinterested, incredibly slow and incompetant service

No credit cards taken
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Anthony
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, August 09, 2006

The restaurant has re-opened as Bellenden Brassarie. We went there last night and wish we hadn't bothered. The food is lack lustre and the service indifferent. For my main course, which verged on unpleasant, I had a tiny piece of extremely over cooked tuna and a mound of unpleasantly sticky noodles. The biggest surprise came at the end of the meal - this establishment doesn't take either credit or debit cards. We pointed out to the waiter that this isn't normal practice and on the rare occasions that restaurants don't take cards they usually tell you long before the bill arrives - he argued otherwise. Result - my husband had to wander off into Peckham around 11pm to find a cash machine that was working. This place needs to pull its socks up considerably if it wants any customers.
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Elizabeth Bartle
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Sunday, August 06, 2006

The restaurant seems to have reopened with the same menu, and a different name (Bellenden Brasserie) - indeed they have left Peckham Experiment on the front!

I went there on Saturday with my wife - we have been many times before and enjoyed it. Unfortunately things seem to have slipped quite badly. We waited in the restaurant for several minutes before someone appeared to seat us. The food was disappointing - many relatively small details were wrong. No ice bucket for the wine, no garlic with the mixed vegs as there used to be, no fishcakes, chicken substituted, I asked for a strong coffee and got a very weak one.

Worst of all though, was the 'bill creep', with vegetables now done as an extra, the bill came to 70 pounds for two - way too much for the quality delivered. And then we were told at the end of the meal that they did not accept any cards, and asked to go and get cash out from the machine in the late night grocery shop up the road!

I used to love this place, but no more. Next time I get the urge for good french food I'll get a taxi to a Cafe Rouge or something. The food service and price will more than make up for the travel...

It's not that it's bad, but now it is seriously over priced for the quality.
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Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 2
Monday, July 03, 2006

We went to the Peckham Experiement and can confirm all the positive comments about the service, the food and the atmosphere. We got in early and we were alone, which meant the manager charmed us and we could appreciate the clean lay out and unfussy arrangement of the tables. The food arrived as other guests began to fill out the place and the manager showed his interest in everyone who arrived. He was a real hit and the food made the visit particularly worthwhile. Mussels with wine sauce was not rich that you couldn't lap up the whole sauce with bread and a spoon. Asapargus with poached egg cooked perfectly. Skate wings were really fresh with a clean tasting sauce and a Pork fillet with parsnip mash - and great mixed vegetables. Really thrilling to have such good food in a nice street in South London. With bottle of wine and two apertifs, total bill £60 - great news! We'll be back and we hope our friends will go too.
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Andy and Beth - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Friday, April 07, 2006

Eight of us went there on Saturday and I thought that this place was great. The service was incredibly good and I agree with the comments below regarding the manager who was delightful and really helpful. The food I had was excellent. I had the stuffed squid which looked peculiar but was delicious and then the lobster which was pretty good. I live in East Dulwich and maybe I just hit a good night at the Peckham Experiment as we arrived late and the restaurant was not over full, but on the standard of food and service I experienced was great.
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, March 15, 2006

I visited this restauarnt on Valentine's Day. On booking I was given a choice of several different times which indicated I guess that they were trying to space arrivals on what they anticipated would be a busy night. My initial inpressions on arriving were favourable. The decor is quite stylish and the outdoor area (covered in in winter) looked like a good place for al fresco dinners later in the year. There was a set menu on the evening - 3 courses and a glass of kir royale for £27. There were three choices of starter and main course and two of pudding.

Within minutes of sitting down it became clear that a number of our fellow diners were showing signs of dissatisfaction, It soon became clear why. The waiters/kitchen were simply unable to deal with the number of people there (and a good few of the tables were still unoccupied at this stage). The wait to order and then for each course was huge. A small plate of olives was provided at some point early on but at no stage did anybody offer bread and we had to wait about 15 minutes after asking for the wine list to get it and then a further 10 to order the wine when we had chosen. We finished the wine quite quickly (we had to entertain ourselves somehow!) but at no stage did anybody ask if we would like some more, despite our ostentatiously upending the empty bottle in the ice bucket.

The food, when it finally arrived, was less that good. The oysters as a starter were reasonable once you had extricated the stray bits of shell and a leek and queen scallop concotion in a puff pastry case was less than inspired. For the main course we both had the steak tournedos. The steak itself was fine but all that came with it was a small dollop of spinach on which the steak sat. The spinach had clearly not been washed as it was full of grit.

We, like a long stream of other diners before us, did not make it to pudding.

I was severely disappointed by this restaurant as I had high hopes for it and it is very close to where I live. However, I will not be giving it another try as, even without the unacceptable waiting time for a short menu of relatively simple dishes, the food was just not up to scratch.
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Tony McDonald
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 3
Friday, February 24, 2006

The Peckham Experiment is a delightful little restaurant in area where there are too few genuine attempts at good food.

Lets start with the downside - service can be a touch slow, but then this is a French restaurant. The idea is to take time over the food, enjoy each course and make the evening an event.

Olivier the manager is an absolute gentleman, and is doing his best to make this place a success.

Having been there several times, most recently last night, and having noted the criticism of the wine list, I passed the thoughts on to Olivier who then proceeded to show us a completely new wine list he's working on ! Plus a few samples !

To the food. Sometimes we have the £11.99 two courses + a glass of wine if you arrive before 8pm which is normally pretty reasonable. Last night I took the poached egg & asparagus as a started (very good), whilst the girlfriend took the stuffed calamari. Being French herself she's notoriously difficult to please and she really enjoyed the dish. For the main course I took the entrecote - perfectly cooked - with the sauted potatoes (very garlic-y) which came with a very light bernaise sauce. Le other 'alf took the Scallops with spaghetti - was also very good.

To sum up ; not expensive, good food albeit it at a slightly relaxed pace, a lovely manager and a good evening. Lets all support these small restaurants in the area.
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JG
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Saturday, February 18, 2006

This restaurant is just around the corner from me and i have visited it several times - as a student it is a restaurant i visit as a treat, when the budget can allow - but for those working it will be very affordable, either way great value for money.

The steak i had was absolutely perfect as were the vegetables.

And it is safe to say i will always have a dessert full or not.

Fantastic French Cuisine in Peckham
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Friday, February 10, 2006

Visited this place a couple of weeks ago. Firstly, it is small but quite nicely decorated and I imagine would be nice the summer. The menu is fairly classic french cuisine although I think the owner is from Martinique. To start I had excellent oysters which were perfectly fresh. For the main I had the side of beef. The beef was cooked quite well but turned up cold to begin with so we sent it back. Unfortunately, by the time it reappeared all our veg was cold. A bit disappointing but not a disaster. My main criticism is the wine list which is rubbish. The only french wine was a Chateauneuf de Pape which I always think it a very overpriced wine. Perhaps this is because the target market do not spend a lot on mine but in my opinion it would be better to for them to spend some time sourcing good, interesting french wines for under 15 quid rather than just flog bland chilean merlot. Overall, I would say it was quite good and I got the impression they are really trying. There is room for improvement in the cooking, service and definitely the winelist but I would have to say that it offers good value for money and you would not be embaressed to take someone here for a meal. With a little more effort, however, I think they could really go places so good luck to them!
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John
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Monday, December 05, 2005