Chez Bruce

[Jon Tseng]

I do find it irritating though that when you google a restaurant name in the UK a) the first thing you get is toptable/londoneating/square meal and b) you NEVER seem to find the restaurants own site e.g. Tom Aikens The Square Hakkasan Chez Bruce None of these gets the offical website into the first ten responses.

Plus, as noted above, the bookings sites NEVER give the restaurant link. Don't understand that - what are they afraid of? Its not as if I can get their content (reviews, comment, third party opinion) off of the bookings site. And its not as if the booking site carries all of the information (up to date menus, wine lists, background guff) which is available on the restaurant site. All it does is frustrate the user and make the bookings site look mean-spirited.

I have the same problem when I try to get to the websites of hotels through google. Note sure if I blame the bookings sites for being too good at getting ranked or the google folk for not having a search engine which does the job properly...

J

Edited June 24, 2004 by Jon Tseng (log)

[Ian]

Hi Jon,

I couldn't agree more - but I'm somewhat biased as I build restaurant websites as a freelance web producer. Earlier this month I reviewed several hundred restaurant websites - very few seemed to make a real contribution to the running of the restaurant concerned.

The Chez Bruce website - http://www.chezbruce.co.uk/ - is one of the better websites I found during my search but unfortunately it hasn't really been designed to score highly in search engine listings. The same is true of Tom Aikens - http://www.tomaikens.co.uk/ - and The Square - http://www.the-square.co.uk/

All the best,

--

Ian Fenn

Chopstix Media

http://www.chopstixmedia.com/

[Janice]

I find Square Meal the easiest way to find websites and contact details in general for London restaurants.

It is fast and easy to search and has a clear format with short reviews which are a reasonable guide to what to expect although I don't always agree with them. It claims to cover other parts of the UK but I don't think the coverage is as good as for London.

[Scott]

BTW, we haven't paid for the honor of being top, or employ a Search Engine Expert.

Really?

you must very lucky then. A good friend of mine works for a search engine consultancy, and the odds for coming up as often you do without specialist help are very long.

very lucky indeed.

[Stigand]

a) Why 'london-eating.com' scores so highly on Google search (it doesn't look like a very good site...);

a) I would argue that it isn't a good site, but I am a bit biased. London Eating started as a site for everyone who goes to restaurants, and as such gives everyone a voice, whether they are a seasoned restaruant goer or just a valentines day and birthday visitor.

Charles - sorry my comment sounded so dismissive. I've certainly enjoyed your site in the past: the sheer number of reviews makes for good reading. I think I was just a bit cross that your site's Google dominace made it difficult to search for real restaurant websites - although that's more their fault than yours.

[Ian]

you must very lucky then. A good friend of mine works for a search engine consultancy, and the odds for coming up as often you do without specialist help are very long.

I'm afraid I disagree but a discussion on the topic is probably off-topic for egullet.

All the best,

--

Ian Fenn

Chopstix Media

http://www.chopstixmedia.com/

[bateman]

Charles - sorry my comment sounded so dismissive. I've certainly enjoyed your site in the past: the sheer number of reviews makes for good reading. I think I was just a bit cross that your site's Google dominace made it difficult to search for real restaurant websites - although that's more their fault than yours.

Have been thinking about this, and due to a few emails over the last week or so (not you lot were they ) and a chat with the London Eating team we are going to add links to the official sites. The trouble is that as you say it is impossible to find some of them so if any restauranteurs around have a site and want it on the London Eating listing could they mail me?

[Scott]

you must very lucky then. A good friend of mine works for a search engine consultancy, and the odds for coming up as often you do without specialist help are very long.

I'm afraid I disagree but a discussion on the topic is probably off-topic for egullet.

All the best,

--

Ian Fenn

Chopstix Media

http://www.chopstixmedia.com/

Ian,

why am I not surprised.

which part do you disagree with?

[Jonathan Day]

Links to the restaurants' own sites would be great, not only on London Eating but even here on eGullet.

Discussion of search engine technology as such is indeed off topic, so let's end that strand of the conversation. Thanks.

[Gavin Convery]

It would be great to have 'official' restaurant threads that could be accessed in a more user friendly way than just using the search facility. Maybe by location, style of food - it would save a lot of repeated queries and ensure that all relevant chat about a restaurant was centralised in one place.

But I understand that it may not be easy to do that with off the shelf forum software.

[Carlovski]

It would be great to have 'official' restaurant threads that could be accessed in a more user friendly way than just using the search facility. Maybe by location, style of food - it would save a lot of repeated queries and ensure that all relevant chat about a restaurant was centralised in one place.

But I understand that it may not be easy to do that with off the shelf forum software.

Somebody could try and find the most popular, and create a topic linking to them - it could be made 'sticky' so it always appears at the top.

For a full system someone would need to do something like recipegullet - reviewgullet maybe?

Something for Jason to knock up on a wet wednesday afternoon!

[John Whiting]

BTW, we haven't paid for the honor of being top, or employ a Search Engine Expert.

Really? you must very lucky then. A good friend of mine works for a search engine consultancy, and the odds for coming up as often you do without specialist help are very long.

very lucky indeed.

I know nothing of how these things work, but my own website was built for me by a computer programmer friend who had never built a website before. He learned as he went along and did a minimal amount of registering, metalinking and whatever.

That was a couple of years ago. An "I'm feeling lucky" Google search on Paris bistros usually (though not always) jumps straight into the middle of my website; an ordinary search brings up around 37/8,000 hits, with my site always getting two listings on page 1, usually the first two. I must be getting a certain amount of traffic, but I've no idea how much; I don't have a counter and I'm not selling anything. Once in a while someone writes and says "thanks".

Edited June 30, 2004 by John Whiting (log)

[MobyP]

As Monsieur Day mentioned above, let us edge back from the joyous chasm that is IT technology, and back to the dainty morsals of our lives. Thanks.

[Matthew Grant]

Excellent dinner here on Monday night, the restaurant was full and is an indication of the restaurants quality although tonight we had slightly below par service.

I can only really detail what I ate. I started with "Courgette flower and brandade fritter with tomato and olive salad", nice light batter with creamy brandade, excellent quality tomatoes and Olives. Other starters included "Mackerel salad with beetroot, grain mustard, watercress and pancetta", "Half a roast quail with stuffed cabbage, foie gras and tarragon" and "Vegetable risotto with red mullet and basil" all of which were much appreciated.

For main course I had "Belly and fillet of pork with summer bean cassoulet, chorizo and salsa verde" which was exactly as it said on the menu, excellent pork belly which had been rolled, small slices of pork fillet which were nicely pink and a scattering of summer beans, Chorizo and Salsa Verde. Very nice indeed.

The other mains were a "Côte de boeuf with hand cut chips and béarnaise sauce" for 2 people. This carried a £5 supplement but the quality of the beef was excellent and cooked perfectly rare, good thick chips as well. "Roast coquelet with herb stuffing, gnocchi parmentier, morels and pan juices" was as Rachel had a few weeks ago.

This time Rachel chose "Confit and magret of duck with salade paysanne and pomme sarladaise". I only got to taste a small bit of the confit leg which was outstanding. All the dishes were met with approval from the rest of the table.

I've forgotten desserts.

I'm not an expert on wines so excuse my basic descriptions :lol:

Larmandier-Bernier Blanc de Blancs 1er cru N.V. - First time I had tried this and very agreeable it was as well.

Chablis 2000, Laurent Tribut - £32 - "delicious" seemed to be the general consensus but my personal favourite was:

Cornas 1997, Alain Voge - £40 - which really was "Delicious"

Overall another good meal but service was not quite up to the standard of the food. Nobody could answer our questions about the beef and coquelet beyond "it's Scottish" and "it's French" and two of the desserts came out several minutes after the first two. We had to pour our wine on several occasions - not something that bothers me too much if they don't pour the wine, but nothing worse than a waiter running up as you are halfway through topping up a glass.

[Marlyn4k]

Yeah, big fan of Chez Bruce and the sister restaurant La Trompette. The latter has started offering the Cote de Boeuf for two as well, the Chez Bruce thick chips are fab though - better than Riverside Brasserie -cooked in duck fat??

[Andy Lynes]

the Chez Bruce thick chips are fab though - better than Riverside Brasserie -cooked in duck fat??

Bruce told me that he cooks them using exactly the same method (i.e. blanch potatos in water until almost cooked, then dry. Blanch in fat, drain, then deep fry for service) as at the Riverside.

[Matthew Grant]

Yeah, big fan of Chez Bruce and the sister restaurant La Trompette. The latter has started offering the Cote de Boeuf for two as well, the Chez Bruce thick chips are fab though - better than Riverside Brasserie -cooked in duck fat??

I'm pretty sure La Trompette had the Rib there from day one?

[Marlyn4k]

You're quite right, they have had the Cote de Boeuf on the menu, I just dug out 29th May 2002 (got a large collection of menus - have asked for a copy as a souvenir from restaurants for years).

BTW This particular menu has the offal fest - Poached Calf's Brain with caramalised Ox Tounge, Oxtail consomme and sauce ravigotte.

The Chez Bruce chips the other week were a cut above mind you.

[Matthew Grant]

Unfortuantely I never got to the chips - eaten without being offered

[curlywurlyfi]

had lunch here last Sunday with my two ex-flatmates. Lived in Clapham Junction for six months and never went once, so now that I'm back in Notting Hill trekking to Wandsworth on a hot Sunday with a mortal hangover was just what I needed. Picked up the boys, both also feeling frail, and tootled to restaurant.

which was HEAVEN. it was cool, it was dark, it was soothing, nobody laughed at our trembling hands and wan faces. when we explained that we weren't going to have any wine, perhaps never again, they did not mock, but solicitously brought mineral water and poured it ver-eeee ver-eeee quietly. Our only gripe was that the table was very small - we were tucked in by the wall, both of the boys are 6ft3in, and to be honest if we had ordered wine we'd have needed a sideboard.

Mark and I started with half a roast quail with stuffed cabbage, foie gras and tarragon. beautiful brunoise of carrots which were so tarragony and delicious; little hunk of perfect foie, Brussels sprout-sized morsel of cabbage, juicy quail. Matt had shellfish bisque which he hoovered in the time it took me to draw breath, and then said 'oh my god, they must have squeezed the juice of 20 lobsters into that soup'. he borrowed my bread to wipe the bowl clean.

Next up, sea bream with creamed cauliflower, cucumber and oyster beignet for Mark; roast cod with olive oil mash, grilled courgette + red pepper compote for Matt; and halibut fillet with baby vegetables, shrimp beurre blanc + chives for me. Again, in the time it took me to inhale to say 'please can I try...', the fish was gone - it was like having lunch with sea lions. Matt's cod looked particularly enticing, big juicy flakes. My halibut was good but the real star were the mini vegetables - broad beans, carrots, leeklets, green beans - each one tasting entirely and deliciously of itself.

Finally, pudding. Look, this was not the time for restraint, we were hungover, we needed to eat our way out of danger. Bramley apple crumble for Matt; apricot and almond tart for Mark; summer berry compote with mandarin sorbet + ginger shortbread for me. This time I was wise and shouted "Look over there, is that Elvis?" and while their attention was distracted I launched myself, spoon first, at their plates. Mmmmm. Apple crumble in particular was very good, nice and sharp, with buttery crumble. But my berry compote was sensational, with a hint of rosewater in there, and the mandarin sorbet really was that, perfectly sharp against the berries. ginger shortbread slightly irrelevant.

but what was nicest was the atmosphere. Happy staff, delightful service, chatty eaters, smily people. Everyone was happy to be there, no-one was trying to impress anyone else... it was great. I loved it. I can't believe I hadn't been before. and so reasonably priced! (£29.50 for three courses). Even more delightful, I emailed them (via the website) to ask for a copy of the menu and have been having the nicest conversation with Eva, the restaurant manager.

so add me to the Chez Bruce fan club please.

[Andy Lynes]

The publication of Harden's guide this year has been met with a storm of publicity over the very low scores for Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant (the eGullet thread is here). A camera crew for the London evening news had recently left Chez Bruce when my wife and I arrived at the restaurant last night. Voted London's second favourite restaurant behind the Ivy and second top gastronomic experience behind Gordon Ramsay, sommelier Jason McCauliffe joked that "the news was only here because the other two refused to do it. If we had said no they would have been in the Indian Ocean round the corner".

Bruce popped out to say hello and I warned him that we were expecting a meal second only to one at Royal Hospital Road. Surprisingly, he didn't throw me out on the street, but returned to the kitchen and prepared:

Cep soup with sauted ceps

(Larmandier-Bernier Blanc de Blanc 1er cru NV vertus)

Baby shepherds pie with lambs tongues, meat juices, olives and basil (me)

Smoked haddock and leek tart with poached egg and hollandaise sauce (her)

(Hermitage Blanc 2000, Domaine Habard Pere et Fils, Rhone)

Daube of pork with polenta, raddicchio, crisp pancetta and parmesan (me)

Confit and magret of duck with salad paysanne and pomme sarladaise (her)

(Brunello Di Motalcino "Le Potazizine" 1999, Giuseppe Gorelli, Tuscanny)

Cheese

Feuillantine of blackberry and apple with calvados sabayon (me)

Glazed raspberry creme chiboust (her)

(Kiralyudvar Tokaji Cuvee "Ilona 1999, Hungary)

Coffe, calvados, "the best palmiers in Bellvue Road" (© Bruce Poole) and chocolate truffles.

[Scott]

Sounds great.

[Andy Lynes]

Chez Bruce is now London's favourite restaurant according to Harden's guide, knocking The Ivy off the top spot. "I don't think for one minute that we are the best restaurant in London," Bruce Poole told the Evening Standard. Chez Bruce has fallen from 2nd to 3rd place in the guides "best gastronomic experience", with Gordon Ramsay in top place and Gordon Ramsay at Claridges in second.

[Gary Marshall]

Chez Bruce is now London's favourite restaurant according to Harden's guide, knocking The Ivy off the top spot. "I don't think for one minute that we are the best restaurant in London," Bruce Poole told the Evening Standard. Chez Bruce has fallen from 2nd to 3rd place in the guides "best gastronomic experience", with Gordon Ramsay in top place and Gordon Ramsay at Claridges in second.

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Considering the wolsely is aimed directly at its target market i think the ivy has done well to keep its profile.

It is still the one place our over-entertained clients get excited about an invite to.

I can't see how anyone that regularly dines out in london could consider it expensive either, it's remarkably good value considering its popularity.

Although Ramsay gets the most publicity as a chef/owner the poole/platts-martin/howard partnership has built up a pretty good collection of restaurants too.

[Matthew Grant]

Gary, I think it's an illusion that the Ivy is expensive, a illusion driven by the tabloid press who keep touting it as one of London's most expensive and exclusive restaurants. I was only commenting yesterday that it is actually one of the better value restaurants in London.

Edited August 31, 2005 by Matthew Grant (log)