Bord'eaux
our comments
Poor Bord’eaux seems to have taken a bit of a beating over its name. The insertion of the apostrophe is a whimsical stab at conveying the menu’s offerings which are a mix of rustic French brasserie dishes from both land and sea. But in fairness, it really isn’t hard to move beyond the name, settle in to one of the plush velvet banquettes in their high-ceilinged, wood panelled dining room and focus on the task at hand which in our case was to gorge ourselves on some great brasserie classics. A kind of ‘lie back and think of Aquitaine’ approach.
The biggest dilemma with restaurants like Bord’eaux is deciding whether to stick with the classic dishes or to go a little off-piste. We decided to pass on some delicious sounding scallop and langoustine lasagna and stay traditional with starters of salad landaise and a terrine de campagne.
The terrine was absolutely flawless with big discernible chunks of duck and pork and perfectly seasoned. Served slightly chilled rather than icy, the terrine could re-educate leagues of London chefs who have been foisting their bland, crumbly excuses for terrine on us for decades. The chef, Olivier Couillaud is clearly a deft hand at making charcuterie and from our seats we could see a number of house cured bresaola, lomo, duck breast prosciutto and pata negra hams hanging in the glass-fronted wine cellar.
The salade landaise was equally tasty with perfect pink slices of buttery duck meat, gooey poached egg, and lardons soaking their juices into croutons on a bed of bitter frisee. Served in a terracotta bowl, it was a nice combination of well-executed but rustic.
We took our wine cues from the young but excellent French sommelier who selected some ‘Irouleguy Xuri d’Ansa’, a delicious if unpronouncable white from the Pays Basques region.
A nice touch is that wines here are available by carafe. While really it is just an excuse to be able to drink more - under the guise of being able to wine-match with starters and mains separately - it is a trend that we made the most of, moving to a minervois-cinsault blend to accompany our mains.
Mains were again a very traditional affair with spit-roast chicken and andouilette ‘AAAAA’ sausage. The chicken was a loved-up French chicken from Landes which was inevitably tender and juicy and came with wide, hand-cut pappardelle noodles and spring vegetables. Fresh and tasty if nothing especially exciting. The andouillette sadly and through no fault of its own became the focus of an ‘are you man enough’ competition at our table. Having had andouilette many times before in Geneva, we’d been looking forward to tearing loose the casing and watching the mess of chitterlings (that’s polite speak for pigs’ intestines) spill out ready to be scooped up with the accompanying grain mustard and big, duck-fat cooked chips.
Clearly we were amateurs when faced with the hardcore ‘AAAAA’ version (The ‘Association Amicale des Amateurs d'Andouillettes Authentiques’ )and the intense, barnyard floor flavour which was a little like sucking on a lemon - quick hits of pleasure and pain at the same time. Fergus Henderson himself with all his tripe and oxhearts couldn’t have one-upped the experience.
Moving to dessert we had settled on leche fria (a kind of deep fried custard) and some house made ice creams until the table of women near us had their conversation about summer weddings and polo matches interrupted by the arrival of ‘omelette Norvegienne’ or ‘baked Alaska’ to most of us. As their waiter lit the match we were quickly overcome by ‘flambee envy’.
Never ones to be outdone by the ladies who lunch - we promptly ordered one for our table which seemed to spark off a restaurant-wide interest as towers of flaming meringue glided from one end of the room to another in a contagious chain effect. Soused in booze, the tower of soft meringue and ice cream was playful, retro, fun and a little decadent not so unlike the experience of dining at Bord’eaux.
The chef here clearly has the intentions and ability to faithfully execute a culinary homage to the traditional French cooking of his home region and Francophiles longing for a hit of rural France would be hard pressed to find a more relaxed but capable venue to indulge in. So yes, there’s an apostrophe in the name of Bord’eaux - but with Tesco using ‘greengrocers’ apostrophes’ to sell kumquat’s and Brussel’s sprout’s (sic), surely we can cut Bord’eaux a little slack.
J.K. - July 2008
your comments review this restaurant and win a bottle of champagne
Sunday lunch was a lonely event, only about 15 covers in restaurant, it's a shame because the food is good but you struggle to enjoy it without the atmosphere that comes with a body of people.
I thought the food very good but the wine list is limiting as they only have Bordeaux wines.
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mm - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating 
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
I have always loved French food.I've always been a lover of good food and have travelled to find food with good quality and authenticity! I have been to many french restaurants in London, none of which impressed me like BORD'EAUX.
Entering I passed the P'tit Cafe which they have, although I was late for my booking I had to enter and see what they had,the cafe took me back to France straight away when seeing sweets such as Carambar and homemade baguettes! Products of France surrounded the shop and surprisingly many ducks (which I figuered was due to the restaurant being based on the south of france, ie. foie gras etc). Seeing the cafe and the Carambar definately brightened my day, I was ready for my meal!
Stepping inside I couldn't have felt anymore as though I was in Paris in a French Brasserie, beautiful tiled floors and general atmosphere added to it all! Not being one for fashion and having a somewhat casual gross style I wasn't rejected for a dress code they want to live up to on Park Lane-true brasserie!
My waiter was very polite and very knowledgeable about all the dishes. I got a lovely aperitif of Pousse rapiere to enjoy and then I ordered the fish soup for starters which came in a lovely rustic jug for me to pour myself at my own lesuire. For my main I had the Daube of beef (Ox-cheek) Which came in a marvellous casserole dish for me to delve into! My waiter offered me a plate at the sight of my suprise, how could i spoil the authenticity they had built up with plating my food!?!
I ordered for dessert the baked alaska, flamed there right in front of me! It was amazing! The staff were lovely and the atmosphere seemed genuine and full of passion!
I give credit to the BORD'EAUX staff and chefs! AMAZING!!!!
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Nicolas
Overall rating 
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
