Restaurants etc
Bistro Du Vin, 40 St John Street, Clerkenwell T: 020 7490 9230
You have never eaten meat like the meat at Bistro du Vin. You can pay £30 for a fillet steak (250 grams of Belted Galloway) and you won't feel short-changed! But the real secret is the Onglet steak (Donald Russell beef) with frites. Onglet is known as the butcher's cut - it the most tasty bit of the whole cow. But if it is not hung properly and cooked properly it can be leathery. I tried one at Bistro du Vin the other evening and it was meltingly soft, like an ideal fillet, but with so much extra flavour. And it is only £13.95! From St John Street you can see the meats hanging in the cool room, waiting for you to eat them.
I was attracted first by the beef burger. I love a good beef burger and chips, and this one was scrumptious and with a great consistency, and it came with brilliant frites.
Then I came back for the Sunday lunch. I am not exaggerating: it was the best Sunday roast since my mother made them. And every single Sunday since has been just as good. I have succulent lamb, pork with fabulous crackling, and duck with cherry compote. And it's only £14.85. I repeat . £14.85! But no one seems to know about it. You really don't want to miss it.
Another fascinating dish is "Hot Roasted Shells": a huge sizzling dish of lobster, crayfish, razor clams, King scallops, oyster, crab claws and mussels. A friend of mine had the Moules and frites. He didn't just finish the frites, he used up all the available bread on ensuring there wasn't a drop of sauce left.
The managers and staff are all extremely friendly and professional. I don't think they skimped on getting good people. After a couple of visits you're made to feel like part of the family.
The idea behind it all is to offer the best possible products, mess about with them as little as possible, and dish them up with panache and good service in an attractive environment. They have got a Josper charcoal grill. Steaks and burgers come out amid plumes of charcoal smoke. The kitchen is right in the middle of the restaurant and there's a bar round it, so you can sit at the bar and enjoy the pleasure of seeing the food being cooked. Presiding over it all is, Andy, the head chef, an absolute perfectionist. You'll love it.
Le Café du Marché 22 Charterhouse Square, Charterhouse Mews, Smithfield, EC1M 6DX T: 020 7608 1609
It’s the last few days of your holiday in France. You find yourselves in a small country town. The restaurant in the cobbled square looks inviting, but you have been let down by touristy places before. You go through the door and instantly know: This one is the one! If that yearning feeling comes over you when you are sitting looking at the rain in London, grab your umbrella and go to Café du Marché. It’s a little piece of France in Smithfield, right down to the cobbles.