Charlotte and I enjoyed a magical trip to London just after the Bank Holiday weekend to celebrate Easter. Easter is the most important time in the Church’s calendar. Christians across the world celebrate the reality of Christ’s resurrection and by extension His defeat of death for everyone who believes in Him. The Catholic faith is often seen as a repressive doctrinal and dogmatic belief system. The truth is that living a life in Christ allows us to go to Heaven and be at peace in perfect joy for eternity. This is the opposite of repressive, it is the most freeing belief there is. Knowing that when our earthly life comes to an end, joy awaits, frees me from the fear of death which, frankly, underpins some of humanity’s worst behaviours. But enough of my miniature sermon – let’s talk about French food. Charlotte picked the restaurants on this trip and completely outdid herself.
We checked out of our hotel and visited the Victoria and Albert Museum where we were awed by some magnificent pieces of religious art, and astonishing paintings. After this, we attended Mass at Westminster Cathedral, always deeply moving. As our final stop before returning to Birmingham, Charlotte took me to Chez Antoinette. This is a French bistro with two branches in London. The second we saw the previous day while wandering around Covent Garden Market, this one in Victoria is the first which opened, and is very close to the Cathedral.
Originally from France’s gastro-capital Lyon, designer Aurelia Noel-Delclos had a dream that she wanted to open a restaurant in conjunction with her hotelier husband Jean-Baptiste, a place that not only honoured her grandmother Antoinette’s cooking but also channelled the chic Parisian cafés and Lyon’s famous guinguettes bars that she loved. So that’s what she did, opening the original Covent Garden Chez Antoinette in 2014, with a mission to reinterpret ‘classic dishes from tarts to tartines’ but with ‘a modern sensibility’. London Unattached
We opted for two courses, mains and desserts. Charlotte went for the beef bavette a l’echalotte, and I opted for the “Hambourge” French burger – with cured ham, comté, and bordelaise sauce. Charlotte asked for a rare steak which came well done, but no matter it was delicious nonetheless. The red wine shallot confit was particularly lovely.
My hambourge matched exactly what I expected it to be. It will not surprise you that living in France for 9 years, I consumed a number of “burgs” as one of Charlotte’s old colleagues at The Café Express in Harborne once put it. This was excellent, the patty itself was well done, almost crumbly (as it is served ‘over there’), the compté cheese was nutty and dry in flavour but delightfully oozy. The cured ham sat very nicely atop the patty. The sauce, which means ‘from Bordeaux’, is made with dry red wine, bone marrow, butter, shallots and sauce demi-glacé, tasted exceedingly French.
For dessert, Charlotte had a mille feuille with vanilla and raspberry. This is a sort of crispy thin layered pastry with vanilla custard in between the layers. It was crunchy, fresh and deliciously smooth on the inside. The waiter informed us that both our desserts were freshly made just an hour before we received them.
I opted for the tarte au citron meringue. Charlotte once made this for my uncle who is famous for his high standards when it comes to cooking. He had three helpings of Charlotte’s lemon meringue tart! This one was different (and of course less good than my wife’s). The meringue was soft, and a torch was used on the top. The lemon curd was fresh and zesty but not as piercing as the curd I enjoy. I like my lemon curd to really make me wince. The pastry was very thin and crunchy so that the dessert did not make me feel overly full.
Overall this was a delightful restaurant. The photographs do not do it justice. I urge you, if in London, to visit this little gem of a place.