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Friday 7th October, 2005

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THE GOOD LIFE: RESTAURANT REVIEW

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French toast of the restaurant scene

La Petite Auberge is a very busy restaurant but the food arrives quicky and the service is excellent

TUCKED almost in the middle of Upper Street this is a cute thin townhouse with the restaurant on ground floor and mezzanine. On entering I almost expected to see a cuckoo clock as it had a Swiss look to it.
An ambitious menu – with dishes from France but also some which could be classified as English or Continental – including crepes with several mouth-watering choices of fillings.
On this Saturday night the place was buzzing. I found the tables much too close to each other for parties of two.
The first couple that occupied the little table next to us ate very quickly, hardly talked and left. Soon they were replaced by another couple who found it difficult to hold hands across the table. Parties of three or more fare much better from a table point of view.
The bottle of house red at £10.90 was good value. My step grandson Leo chose duck salad on a bed of lettuce (£5.50). An attractive small bottle of dressing was brought in.
I chose to start with the Soupe de Poisson (£3.90) which had all the makings of the real thing with the garlic rouille over a large crouton. It was good.
I was thrilled when I saw Steak Diane (£9.90) on the menu. This can be an exquisite dish which unfortunately nowadays is hardly seen anywhere. Of course I ordered it. Had I not been thinking of the very thin steak flambéed in brandy with shallots I would have found the Auberge’s very good but it was not what I had expected. Great expectations can lead to disappointment. The sautéed potatoes made up for it.
Leo opted for the rabbit casserole (£10.90. He enjoyed his dish and the wonderful sautéed potatoes. Our order of vegetables consisted of cauliflower, broccoli and baby corn. It looked very fresh and it was abundant in size. They were cooked al dente. (£2.50).
For dessert Leo had crème brulee (£3.20) and a glass of Amaretto (£3). I chose a starter: The goat’s cheese salad (£3.95). The cheese was runny and very good but the salad was bland. Once again the little vinaigrette bottle materialised. In my opinion, salads never taste the same when the vinaigrette is poured on them as opposed to being well tossed. Chefs don’t do it in this way so that salads can be prepared in advance. Once they are tossed the leaves wilt quickly and they must be served immediately.
The food came amazingly quickly for such a busy restaurant.
The credit card machine was brought to the table and the waiter had closed the bill although service had not been included.
Hoping for a cash tip? Unfortunately I only had taxi money with me – sad as the service had been very fast and good.

La Petite Auberge
283 Upper Street, London N1
Call 020 7359 1046
Open:
Mon-Thurs 12pm-12am
Fri-Sat 12pm-1am
Sun 12pm-11.30pm

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