The Delaunay

[david goodfellow]

I wish I had a twenty pound note for everytime that I have gone online and looked at the menu here. Out of curiosity I wanted to visit to see and feel the ambiance of the place. Problem is I did not fancy the food. Its billed as a Grand cafe, European style by its famed owners Christopher Corbin and Jeremy King, once proud owners of the Ivy. They are famous for there hospitality and indeed many years ago on a visit to the Ivy we experienced first hand just how good they are, when Mr Corbin was on duty.

On to the food, which on the menu has soups, salads, crustacea, caviar, wieners, sandwiches, eggs, schnitzels, fish, six entrees, cheese, desserts, patisserie, coupes, plus a few sub headings, oh and a "tagesteller", a dish of the day to you and me. That lot totals up to over one hundred choices. Something for everyone? Truth is none of it had my pulse racing, thats why I kept looking over many weeks to see if the menu would grow on me.

This was not my first choice place on the day. In fact I was struggling. I had hopes of a cancellation at Dabbous and phoned first thing to plead with the stressed but charming receptionist who said " We already have forty one booked and we only seat thirty?". So no point leaving my number then?

As you may expect being a Saturday lunch in one of the busiest parts of London, and incidently the best day weatherwise of the year, the place was rammed. Still it is mostly high turnover with quite a few people just popping in for brunch. Perhaps a coffee and dessert, of like the table next to us, an Omlette Arnold Bennett, Croque Monsieur, and a couple of coffees.

Bread and butter are part of the £2 cover charge and were ok.

My wife fancied the Endive, Pear and Roquefort salad which is of course a classic. Indeed a lot of the menu is classics. This was tasty of course, lots of different textures to bite on. Some crunchy walnuts, crunchy endive, tangy cheese, whats not to like?

I surprised myself and rather boringly went for a soup? I'm shocked to this day, but there you go thats life.

In fairness it was not at all too bad, for a soup that is. Chicken soup with noodles.

I won't bother describing it, we all know what this soup is about.

The entees were, spatchcock poussin, rump of lamb, calves liver and bacon, rib eye steak, choucroute, and beef stroganoff.

I went for the Chargrilled Calves liver and bacon with buttery mash and shallot gravy.

I thought this presented rather well and looked forward to trying it. The liver still had a very slight hint of pink to it. I would have preferred it a bit less cooked, but there you go. The bacon had an odd texture to it, not crispy enough, not brittle enough to the bite. Not enough to spoil the dish but noticable. An ok sort of plate really.

We took a side order of Sprouting broccoli with toasted almonds. Whoever cooked this needs to go back to catering college. Did they not teach you to cut through the stem so that it cooked evenly? Dummy. I should have sent it back to the kitchen but I could not be bothered.

Fillet of Beef Stroganoff, another long lost classic was much enjoyed across the table. No complaints about the steak, just as she asked it to be. Good saucing. Spot on good quality rice. I enjoyed it too. in fact I wished that it was my dish, but there you go we all make mistakes.

There is a pretty decent choice of desserts and patisserie, stuff like, black forest gateau, banana split, rice pudding, cheesecake, ets, etc.

We shared the interesting sounding Scheiterhaufen Think Austrian bread pudding with apples and you have got the picture. What tipped it for us was the Calvados sauce which was boosy indeed, no skimping there. Yes it was simple and it was delicious and that calvados sauce washed it down a treat.

They serve wine by the glass, carafe, and bottle for most of the list. Personally this is a great idea, more restaurants should do it. We had a carafe of French red .

Service was as you would expect at a Corbin and King establishment. Good.

Well I guess you already know the verdict. In a way we had to try it out, because it was there.

I can not think of many places that we have struggled with the menu. So many dishes, so much choice, but most are so doable at home, why go out? What's the point?

Our bill was nearly £100 for two starters, two mains, one side, one dessert, tap water, a carafe of wine at £13.25, cover and service charge at 12.5%. Value for money? I don't think so. I really don't think so.

Which brings me on to the venue. Yes its busy and buzzy but don't you just pay for it.

If you want a pit stop in this part of town its worth a visit, but stick to a dish or dessert and coffee. In my opinion your hard earned cash would be better spent at say Les Deux Salons which is not so far away. At the very least Anthony Demetre can put food on his menu that makes the heart beat a bit faster.

I was nodding off looking at this menu.

Would we go back.

Naaaah.