This month we decided to visit Blanchette in Soho (go on the website, it has really cool French music in the background). I'd discovered it by looking at a comprehensive list of new restaurant openings in London over the past few months, and as I was going through an "I miss Toulouse and my year abroad" phase, I thought some French food might be the ideal antidote!
We couldn't get a proper table as it was already fully booked (a good sign!), but the bar is a really nice area with a lovely tiled wall, so it was perfectly fine to be seated there.
It felt pleasantly relaxed, and almost as if you were just sitting in a friend's kitchen (a friend with a very large wine collection). The lighting was dim and the jaunty French music added to the atmosphere and gave me the challenge of trying to see if I could understand much of it! I also noticed there were three French men sitting at the bar eating - this boded well for the food!
The menu at Blanchette is made up of small dishes which are designed to share, so they recommend two or three per person. There were lots of really interesting sounding plates, along with meats and cheeses, so the decision wasn't straightforward, even when you get to pick several things!
Once you've ordered, they bring out dishes as they're ready, but they do stick to the general order of the menu, so our "snacks" came first, followed by the meat and vegetable dishes.
We started with crusty bread (served in a brown paper bag!) with beautifully salty butter.
Is it weird to say that this was one of my favourite parts of the meal?!
We also had duck rillettes with crostini
It was very meaty and the duck was tasty but I felt like it could have been seasoned a little better, as it didn't have a great depth of flavour.
We also had goujonettes with gribiche sauce (kind of like tartare sauce but with hard boiled egg in it!)
These were really fresh tasting with a lovely crispy breadcrumb, and the sauce was tangy with a nice crunch.
Next up were the cheese beignets with onion confit.
These were filled with oozy cheese and complemented well by the sweet and tangy confit.
Then we came onto the meat dishes. We had chosen the ox cheeks bourguignon with ventreche (pretty much like bacon), and James really pushed for the black pudding and chargrilled pork belly with spiced quince and parsnip purée, despite my uncertainty!
Very nice presentation with the rustic wooden boards and the tiny casserole dish (I can't wait til I move into my own house and can buy myself Le Creuset mini casseroles!). The meat in the bourguignon was so tender it just melted in your mouth, and the gravy was thick and rich. There were also tiny little carrots and sweet shallots which added to the textures and flavours. The bread to dip in the sauce was a nice touch as it's criminal to let nice sauce go to waste! Although I was unsure about the black pudding originally, it was actually my favourite dish of the night! Well done James! The "pork belly" was actually more like bacon than pork belly I've been used to having, but it was smoky and salty, and the combination of all the elements of the dish tasted like a delicious roast dinner! The parnsip purée was smooth and earthy tasting, and the quince cut through the meaty flavours and added a lovely sweetness to the dish.
The vegetable dishes we chose were the frites and béarnaise sauce, and the Jerusalem artichoke and potato gratin with reblochon.
The gratin was really delicious - soft potato and sweet artichokes combined with the strong, nutty reblochon, it was rich and indulgent! To be honest though, the less said about the frites, the better. They tasted as if they could have just been heated up from frozen; there was literally nothing special about them at all. Compared to some of the amazing chips I have had in France (see my Café a la Une blog here for the best chips ever!) they could have just been McDonald's...and actually, I probably would prefer McDonald's chips!
It was a shame I didn't like the chips as overall I felt like all the savoury dishes we tried struck a balance between classic and inventive French food, with twists on typical dishes executed well. The portion sizes were also good - not too big or too small, so we still had room for pudding without feeling completely stuffed!
We shared the hazelnut and chocolate dacquoise, and a plum financier with cinnamon crème anglaise.
The dacquoise was nutty and rich with a creamy chocolate ganache. The different textures of the pudding made it really interesting to eat - I especially liked the crunchy praline! The financier was light, moist and spongey and soaked up the crème anglaise to make a nice comforting pudding! The only disappointment was that I couldn't taste the cinnamon too much!
I can't decide whether Blanchette helped me get over my Toulouse neediness or just made it worse by reminding me how good French food can be, but either way it was a really enjoyable evening with delicious and interesting food, a lively atmosphere (largely contributed to by the music!) and friendly service. Allez-y!
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