It was way back on Bank holiday Monday evening when I finally managed to catch up with two of my lovelies whom were proving hard to pin down. Exhausted of all my ideas I asked F to book and Blanchette in Soho was her (excellent) choice, a place on my hit list to tick off!
We arrived at the cutesy French bistro just after 6:30pm to find it already pretty full and dimly lit by candle light, hence my photos being rather terrible! Immediately ordering some ginger ales after our boozy weekends and settled into choosing our sharing plates and nibbles.
We practically wanted everything and 2-3 plates per person, as suggested, is just right.
Order the Cheese beignets the minute you sit down! Served with onion confit these little morsels are like savoury doughnuts. Incredibly light, irresistibly tasty I could have had bowls of them.
Once ordered, food started to arrive sharpish and the waitress staggered our order with the lighter of the plates coming out first...
A refreshing green bean salad with Comte cheese, shallots and walnut dressing - one I would eat over and over again. It had crunch, sourness and a good amount of sweetness, one to recreate at home. Savour some of this to have with the meatier dishes to come...
Rare grilled tuna, avocado, orange and endive salad. Not a huge fan of the accompanying 'bits' it was all too many sweet flavours for me. Still, the tuna was cooked to a perfect pink.
Grilled duck breast with peach and beetroot remoularde was served very rare and sadly I found it just 'ok'. The duck sadly, seemed tough and stringy.
Grilled pork belly with Palourde clams, Brittany sea blades and vermouth was perfectly cooked with a crisp crackling, decent charring and incredibly juicy meat.
Braised lamb shoulder with anchovy, rosemary and soubise (onion) sauce was my favourite of the evening. Tender succulent lamb sat atop generous amount of plate lickable soubise - what's not to love?
Sea bass with crab bisque, peas and samphire. Was another exceptionally good dish. That crab bisque was packed with shellfish yumminess so much so, we found ourselves mopping it up with everything else on our table. The fish cooked with a brilliantly crisp skin and flaky flesh.
Courgette and aubergine tart with goats cheese and basil. Not the prettiest to picture - in fact half this meal looks dismal but,this was utterly more-ish and they managed to keep the pastry crunch-crisp even with such an array of vegetables piled on top- bravo!
Puddings were a little of a mixed bag we shared two between the three of us. Passion fruit vacherin was full of that irresistible sourness you can't get enough of. Whilst the hot chocolate fondant, sadly, was a little dry.
If you want a little bit of French romance without the heavy French food then Blanchette is your ideal place to cosy up and have some grub... a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
We arrived at the cutesy French bistro just after 6:30pm to find it already pretty full and dimly lit by candle light, hence my photos being rather terrible! Immediately ordering some ginger ales after our boozy weekends and settled into choosing our sharing plates and nibbles.
We practically wanted everything and 2-3 plates per person, as suggested, is just right.
Order the Cheese beignets the minute you sit down! Served with onion confit these little morsels are like savoury doughnuts. Incredibly light, irresistibly tasty I could have had bowls of them.
Once ordered, food started to arrive sharpish and the waitress staggered our order with the lighter of the plates coming out first...
A refreshing green bean salad with Comte cheese, shallots and walnut dressing - one I would eat over and over again. It had crunch, sourness and a good amount of sweetness, one to recreate at home. Savour some of this to have with the meatier dishes to come...
Rare grilled tuna, avocado, orange and endive salad. Not a huge fan of the accompanying 'bits' it was all too many sweet flavours for me. Still, the tuna was cooked to a perfect pink.
Grilled duck breast with peach and beetroot remoularde was served very rare and sadly I found it just 'ok'. The duck sadly, seemed tough and stringy.
Grilled pork belly with Palourde clams, Brittany sea blades and vermouth was perfectly cooked with a crisp crackling, decent charring and incredibly juicy meat.
Braised lamb shoulder with anchovy, rosemary and soubise (onion) sauce was my favourite of the evening. Tender succulent lamb sat atop generous amount of plate lickable soubise - what's not to love?
Sea bass with crab bisque, peas and samphire. Was another exceptionally good dish. That crab bisque was packed with shellfish yumminess so much so, we found ourselves mopping it up with everything else on our table. The fish cooked with a brilliantly crisp skin and flaky flesh.
Courgette and aubergine tart with goats cheese and basil. Not the prettiest to picture - in fact half this meal looks dismal but,this was utterly more-ish and they managed to keep the pastry crunch-crisp even with such an array of vegetables piled on top- bravo!
Puddings were a little of a mixed bag we shared two between the three of us. Passion fruit vacherin was full of that irresistible sourness you can't get enough of. Whilst the hot chocolate fondant, sadly, was a little dry.
If you want a little bit of French romance without the heavy French food then Blanchette is your ideal place to cosy up and have some grub... a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.