La Cave
It feels
like the team at La Cave are doing everything they can to convince you that
this is a French Restaurant – all
French waiting staff, stereotypically French dishes, and a startlingly French
ambience considering that the place is located under London Bridge – all of
this could come across as tacky or trite – but delightfully, it is neither of
these and serves as a great summer night a la Françoise.
The outdoor
terrace is beautiful underneath a very French looking building facade, the
tables are far enough apart that you can have a real conversation without
feeling like you are interrupting anyone else. The service is friendly and
helpful, if not a little... relaxed; continuing the French theme I suppose, the
waiting staff are a little slow and sometimes forgetful, but fortunately
charming enough to make up for the delays.
The
restaurant describes its culinary style as Modern French, we had deep fried
frogs legs and scallops to start. The frogs legs were a first for me
– no they don’t taste like chicken,
scampi actually. The garnish didn’t overpower the meat as the star of the show
and the saffron mayonnaise was delicious, although I’m not sure the saffron
added much value to what was already wonderful homemade mayonnaise.
For the
main course we had rabbit casserole and saffron risotto. The rabbit was well cooked and
the meat tender but the bone to meat ratio was a little skewed, the chips were
delicious and I love that the dish was served on a slate, the tomato sauce in
the casserole sadly was not particularly remarkable, in desperate need of a
little je na sais qua. Unfortunately the risotto was also a little bland and
underseasoned.
We finished
off the meal with tarte tatin with vanilla ice cream and crème brulee – both of
which we were unable to fault.
To drink we
both enjoyed a couple of cocktails – but a word of warning.... the daiquiris
are lethal. Despite asking for my
drink to be diluted (lightweight, I know) it was just too strong to get down –
if you’re not used to spirits, don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Overall the
meal was enjoyable with an ambience
worth recommending, although I doubt that this would have the same effect
on a cooler evening, the indoor tables were nothing special. The food was tasty
and it was nice to try some new things, but we felt that we had paid less for
meals just as good. A bit more seasoning and a bit faster service would make
this a definite visit again, as it is I would give it a 6 out of 10.
£50 per
head for 3 courses with 2 cocktails
What we ate:
To Start:
Scallops marinated in garlic and parsley
butter wrapped in feuille de brick
Deep
fried frog legs served with black truffle potato pelote and a saffron mayonnaise
Followed by:
Saffron
creamy Risotto with fraiche peas and mint
Slow
cooked rabbit casserole served with button mushroom and chickpeas and marjoram chips
Mash potatoes
To Finish:
Vanilla Crème Brulée
Tatin tart with Vanilla Ice Cream
Address:
6-10 Borough High Street, London SE1 9QQ (nearest tube station is London Bridge)
Opening
times and days:
Monday - Sunday; Lunch 12pm-3pm and 6pm-11pm
Website:
Booking
number:
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