La Trompette

[cappers]

Wow.

Despite the very dodgy surroundings of Devonshire Street, La Trompette excelled in almost every way. The attention to detail in the food, service and wine was easily Michelin Star quality.

Compliments of the Chef meant that we had 2 starters. :)

I had the Warm smoked eel with celeriac, egg yolk ravioli and grain mustard hollandaise. WOW. A truely unique dish delivered very intelligently. The sheer and subtle variety of flavours with the runny egg yolk combined impeccably. Heston eat your heart out !

The other starter I had was the:

Grilled duck hearts with field mushroom persillade. A very interesting dish. The duck hearts were full of flavour (although salty) and the mushroom persillade was heavenly. A mushroom covered with herbs, chives (?), chopped garlic and lots of parsley.

Also, we sampeld the Fois Gras and the salad of artichokes and rocket with buffalo mozzarella and focaccia croutons. Delightful and delicate.

Main course: I opted for the Grilled loin of veal with fondant potatoes , creamed morels and tarragon. Wow. French country cooking at its best. A dish full of flavour and a rich intensity of cream and tarragon. The veal was cooked perfectly and was very moist. The variety of morels infused with herbs and the tarragon just added to the flavours. A beautiful dish.

The other main course was rump of lamb a la nicoise. Didnt taste it but the lamb looked great .

Pudding was interesting. I had prune and armangac ice cream. Too much skin in the ice cream but it had a great flavour. Enjoyed it  a lot. My mate had caramelised apple tart with caramel ice cream. Looked very thin but i was told it was nice.

THE BREAD  was HEAVEN. A great variety of 4 flavours. French bread, walnut and raisin, bacon and my favourite olive with salted crust.. mmmmmmmmmmmm. Fabulous. They tried to take the bread plates away after every course but we were having none of it! After lots of bread, 4 plates of butter and a 4 course meal, needless to say we felt like bronze feathered turkies at Christmas. Wonderful.

Now, the wine. Great value. We opted for a Saint Emillion Grand Cru (1995) which was decantered and left to breathe. A lovely wine which accompanied the meal at a good value (29.50) There were also a good selection of half bottles.

All in all, I was convinced they had a Star but was shocked to find out they didn't. I must have had Trompette confused with someone else. If you re ever in Chiswick, head down there before they get a star and raise their prices. A superb value for money lunch. (19.50 for 3 courses). The attention to detail was fabulous in food, service and surroundings.

[macrosan]

Hey cappers, liked the review. You might like to look at this other thread posted last week.

Your post reminded me of the bread, which I forgot to comment on. I only had the onion bread, but that was indeed exceptionally yummy  

[cappers]

excellent thread. i must say it again the attention to detail was mich star quality at Trompette despite the ungraceful surroundings and the fact that it faces a chippie!

i shall go back there very soon. that warm eel dish also had to be one of the ebst things i have ever tasted in my life... it was a piece of heaven. I would however replace the celeriac with somethign else BUT having saying that, it wouldnt be the same...  i would go again just for a main course portion ofthe warm eel and soem gorgeous brad and butter  !

[Tonyfinch]

and soem gorgeous brad and butter  !

Was gorgeous brad one of the waiters?

[Andy Lynes]

despite the ungraceful surroundings

Do you mean the interior of the restuarant or the area it's in?

[Matthew Grant]

Compliments of the Chef meant that we had 2 starters. :)

Did everybody get complimentary starters or do you know somebody there? I'm about to book for a couple of weeks time!

[Andy Lynes]

Apparently all you have to do is mention my name (true!) I am going in early May for Lunch and am looking forward to it greatly.

[cappers]

dear tony finch - gorgeous brad was your dad actually.

now, the ungraceful surroundings - by that i mean the outside. The restaurant itself was simpe yet elegant. But opposite the restaurant were various ethnic shops, a chippie and other unsightly Londonstyle shops.

[Wilfrid]

I managed to catch up on La Trompette.  It is indeed in a Chiswick backstreet, but it's a good step up from the run of London neighborhood bistros.  Quite swish in fact, and the clientele are all ages but fairly posh.  It was busy and smoky (they encourage smokers to ask the adjacent table if they mind; no-one seemed to mind).

The bread selection, home baked I believe, was similar to that offered at the far more expensive 1837, but it was better.

I started with a curious appetizer, a kind of take on raclette - Raclette Savoyarde.  I am not sure I can do it justice, but it was like a couple of turrets of cheesy potato, layered with onion and parma ham and garnished with truffle cream.  Sort of rib-sticking, and not strong in flavor, but appealing.   Clever nursery food?

I went on to the plate of veal and lamb sweetbreads.  I like sweetbreads, but I wonder if I was in the mood.  I found a plateful of them, with a sticky reduction, to be very rich.  But I think the cooking was fine, I had just overestimated my greed.  Nevertheless, I see I took some cheese.  With a glass of riesling and a thirty pounds half bottle of Vosne Romanee, the bill was on the brink of ninety quid.  You could take off fifteen pounds by choosing a modest wine, but you are still topping seventy pounds a head.  That's expensive for Chiswick, I would say.

I don't know if I would recommend heading out to Chiswick for La Trompette, but it's certainly a good standard.  Aperitifs may be taken in a little wine bar a couple of doors down the street - I pass that on because attractive pubs seemed scarce

[Andy Lynes]

In a minor bit of housekeeping, I have moved the following post from yet another thread about this restaurant. Cappers writes :

Mr Andy Lynes and myself made our way to Turnham Green on a very wet Monday lunchtime for the La

Trompette experience which impresses me more every time I go. WOW. As we both arrived, late and dishevelled, we were seated the menus presented. 6 choices for starters and main courses is an excellent range of options for a 19.50 set price lunch. After much perusing over the menu and a beer, it was time for the show to start. The Chef, Ollie, came out and said hello before the meal which was a really nice gesture.

Ollie then presented us with a lovely 'present' as a pre-starter. A beautifully cooked bit of John Dory with

some cep mushroom and diced spring vegetables. An ideal start to any meal.

Starters

I had the loveliest starter I have ever had in a long long time. It was a salad paysenne with duck confit, field mushrooms and served with a cup of duck consomme. The textures of the warm salad and the flavours

were brilliant. The confit and the mushrooms also blended together well. Beautifully presented and with a

generous cup of the consomme to go with it. The best starter on the menu.

Andy had the thinly sliced rib eye of beef with parmesan, baby artichokes and truffle vinaigrette. Looked

lovely.

Main Courses

I felt adventurous and went for the poached calf's brain with caramelised ox tongue, oxtail consomme and

sauce ravigotte. This was a real chef's dish. Complex, full of flavour and executed to perfection. The brain

was a first for me. The texture of it was smooth and silky and had a subtle flavour. Also, it was

accompanied by some ravioli filled with oxtail. delightful. The sauce ravigotte arrived in a copper pot and

was dolloped generously for me over the brain. Great.

Andy had the roast halibut with salt cod brandane, cockles, swiss chard and herbs.

Before i go into the puddings, the service was spot on. Very friendly and VERY knowledgable about the

food. Also the bread was heavenly. They had salted olive crust, walnut and raisin and bacon and onion. I

kept my bread plate till pudding despite the staff attempting totake it away after every course! Also, we

had a bottle of white wine. Andy chose it so he will tell you about it. It was nice. However, they didnt put it

in an ice bucket.

Desserts

Another surprise from Ollie arrived before the finale. It was a strawberry pre-dessert. A small layered

creation with basil and strawberry at the bottom, strawberry foam in the middle and a small scoop of

strawberry ice cream on top drizzled with a little bit of basil on top. It just bursted with the taste of

summer, sunshine and Wimbledon - New balls please!

I went for the assiette of chocolate. Here there was a small chocolate tart, a coffee and chocolate cake and the star of the show - a scoop of white chocolate ice cream. WOW. Beautiful flavour to the ice cream.

Really truely beautiful. As Andy told me white chocolate ice cream is hard to make.

Andy had the profiteroles which were amazing. Really large creamy chocolately balls with a warm chocolate

sauce. mmmmmmm

A lovely meal from start to finish. Thank you Ollie and all the team in sunny Chiswick.

Andy, its time to put your bit in now......

[Andy Lynes]

As you may know, La Trompette is part owned by my friend Bruce Poole. I have already reviewed the place on my website (based on an earlier dinner) so I don't really want to add too much, other than the wine we drank was a 1999 Bourgogne Blanc from JP Fichet (£25.00), a glass of Pedro Ximenez by Lustau at £4.50 and a glass of Spanish dessert wine which I can't remember a thing about except it was £5.50.

It was a very good lunch and although late, I didn't feel all that dishevelled.

[Wilfrid]

Oh yes, I had that Pedro Ximenez too.  Very nice, and I wish more restaurants offered it.

[Andy Lynes]

I was glad to see that La Trompette got "best local restaurant" in the Time Out Food and Drink awards. Well deserved in my opinion.

[Andy Lynes]

La Trompette now has a rather spiffy website. Extraordinarily well written, don't you think? As is sister restaurant's The Glasshouse site. They've only just gone online and it appears that menus and winelists have not yet been uploaded, but I'm sure they will all be in place within the next few days.

[Gary Marshall]

Extraordinarily well written, don't you think?

anything you want to tell us about a new career in web site design?

gary

[Andy Lynes]

Designed by Mada Taylor, I just wrote the words.

[Marlyn4k]

Yes, the style and quality of the website is in keeping with the restaurant....

I have been a fan of La Trompette for a couple of years and more recently tried Chez Bruce and was equally impressed.

I could have sworn that the restaurant manager in the picture on the La Trompette site was actually at Chez Bruce three weeks ago. I wasn't sure who the permanent replacement was for sweetie pie Christelle (who went off on her cruise ship... )

Why the GFG docked them to 6/10 I'm not sure, if the two sister restaurants are both worth a Michelin Star then La Trompette certainly holds it's own. Overall (food, service, dining room) I rate it slightly ahead of Chez Bruce although they are so similar.

[howardlong]

Wow.

I went to La Trompette for the first time last Wednesday with three others. Don't know why I'd left it so long, but I did.

Anyway parking is non-trivial around there. The residents of the streets nearby must be a little peeved.

There were three or four tables outside, although I'm not sure just how nice it would be to sit there. Indeed, at about 10:30pm two disenfranchised teenagers took it upon themselves to shout abuse at customers sat outside at a distance of a few inches. Nice...

For starters, two of us had the "sauté of duck hearts, sweetbread and snails with girolle purée, capers and parsley" and the other two "seared scallops with new potatoes, trompettes and lobster beurre blanc" (+£7). Both dishes were good: in terms of flavour, quality of ingredients and presentation.

For mains three of us had the "grilled rump of veal with morel risotto, peas, broad beans and black truffles", and one had the "crisp wild salmon with salade Niçoise and aïoli". Again, very competently executed in all areas, except that sadly the risotto was lost underneath the veal. Serving the risotto to the side rather than underneath the veal and sauce would have been preferable.

We had cheese, and although the selection was good, I would not describe it as extensive. But what was there was of excellent quality, and at the right temperature - ie, room temperature!

I also had a "raspberry and passion fruit mille-feuille" but it didn't do much for me. Perhaps this was my bad choice rather than any problem with the food itself.

The "chocolate profiteroles" were met with universal acclaim. Made with what I'd call Proper Chocolate - dark and slightly bitter - yummy.

So, the food was good.

For wine we started with an aperitif of house rosé Champagne (NV Duval-Leroy, Fleur de Champagne, Rosé de Saignée, Brut, £48). This took a while to arrive, and the reason for this became evident... this was way too warm so they had tried to chill it but not enough. We had it put on ice.

For a white we took a full white Burgundy (Corton-Charlemagne, Domaine Bonneau du Martray, £125). This was excellent, my favourite of the night. Fairly full, but not as you might expect for a '92.

The red was a favourite Bordeaux of mine (1989 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 2ème Grand Cru Classé, Pauillac, £135) - just delicious, still fruity. If I was being picky, it had not really been decanted very well, with quite a bit of sediment in the glass. Still, a great wine even so.

For a dessert wine we had a 50cl bottle of 2002 Noble Riesling Botrytis Selection, Villa Maria, Marlborough, New Zealand (£45). This was just wonderful - never had it before - now I'm on the lookout for a case. God knows how we resisted having a second bottle.

I didn't think the wine overhead was too bad at all, so that's always a plus in my book.

So, the wine was good.

Now for a winge. What really let them down was the service. OK, so it's more of a suburban haunt, so you're not expecting Gavroche standards. But p-lease. For example, we had to ask three times for bread before it arrived, then I got what can only be termed a sarcastic comment from the maitre d' ("perhaps you'd like to take more than two pieces so you don't have to ask three times again").

The sommelier also had this habit of providing unsolicited descriptions - something I don't mind but my wine nut mate found it a bit distracting. Worse was when they arrived with some tiny glasses when it was time to pour the red with no explanation. Turns out they'd run out... but with a wine like an '89 Pichon Lalande this is sacrilege! In the end we used some large stemmed water glasses instead.

When we arrived at 8:30pm, it was very busy and I don't really think they could cope. I would say that perhaps they were just slightly light on numbers of waiting staff, but more concerning was the distinct lack of communication. As time went on and the punters went home, service became much more in tune with what you'd expect.

So, I'll be going back, food and wine were excellent, but I think I'd prefer to go in at 7pm rather than 8.30pm to get a better start to the service.

Cheers, Howard

[Andy Lynes]

I didn't think the wine overhead was too bad at all, so that's always a plus in my book.

I interviewed sommelier Matthieu Longuere as part of the process of writing the website and he told me that there is a maximum mark up on the wines of £40.00.

[Andy Lynes]

Now for a winge. What really let them down was the service. OK, so it's more of a suburban haunt, so you're not expecting Gavroche standards. But p-lease.

They are definately aiming much higher than your average suburban haunt. Those sound like valid complaints to me rather than a winge.

The last time I was there, it was for a 7.30 table early in the week (Tuesday I think). Although the place was packed when we left, we got the opposite experience to you, a little too much service: bread offered many times and water endlessly topped up. This didn't really bother me and in fact I came away with the feeling of having been looked after rather well, but obviously the ideal would be the appropriate amount of service no matter what time you book.

One thing that makes that difficult to achieve is the patio seating, which is apparently very popular. It can't be booked, so the restaurant can be hit with an extra 20 covers over and above a full dining room. I understand there are queues out the door on a Friday and Saturday night. Thats got to have an impact on what the kitchen and the front of house can achieve.