Review of 'L'Escargot'
L'Escargot bills itself as London's oldest French restaurant having opened in 1927. It is located just south of Soho Square on Greek Street in a Georgian townhouse. I was in London to meet up with some friends so we booked a table for their Sunday lunch set menu (2 courses £35, 3 courses £42). The striking pale green exterior with orange awning sheltering a few tables on the pavement is slightly hard to miss. Stepping inside the front door into a narrow hallway with the concierge at the bottom of a grand staircase decorated with an eclectic mix of art. It is as if you are visiting a wealthy relative.
There are several large rooms with high ceilings decorated slightly less eclectically as the staircase with tables spaced a reasonable distance apart. We were shown to the back dining room and positioned in the corner so we were able to dine without being disturbed by other diners. Though told we only had the table for a certain amount of time the staff never bothered us about it, leaving us in peace.
Despite selecting the a la carte menu during booking we were given the Sunday lunch set menu which turned out to be perfectly fine even though several of our party were vegetarian and others were non-drinkers (desserts are notorious for piling on the alcohol). The appetiser (6 dishes) and main (5 dishes) courses included options acceptable to everyone including the eponymous “snails” in the starters. There is a mix of seafood, meat, and vegetable dishes in each.
A short time after making our selection the first item on the menu appeared - “freshly baked breads, beurre demi-sel”. There were three types of breads - A thinly sliced flatbread, a rich and dense cheese roll, and a dark brown, served with a very light butter in a small bowl that, thankfully, the staff were happy to replenish during our feeding frenzy.
For my “appetiser” I decided to see how they did on the French classics so selected the “French Onion Soup”. Not exactly light, the soup was delicious and rich, as it should be, packed with copious amounts of bread and cheese though the dark brown colour did not scream appetising and I somewhat missed the normal crunchy crust that would have added some texture. Despite being a small bowl it was more than enough as a starter and I was grateful for the 30 minute pause between courses. I did avoid the “Half dozen Hereford snails” as I have had snails before but not been a big fan partially because of the texture but I was not overwhelmed at the flavour. There is something rather pointless about using an ingredient that is inedible without copious amounts of garlic and butter. One of our fellow diners had this, served on a shaped metal dish, and reported that these were quite nice, repeating the mantra of having the right amount of garlic and butter.
For my main I was tempted by both the “Wild mushroom & truffle risotto”, the “Roast rib of 28 day aged Scotch beef, Yorkshire pudding and horseradish sauce” but the former is something I tend to eat a lot of in restaurants and the later a bit too, well, English for L'Escargot. I settled on something a bit more unusual “Toulouse sausages & pomme purée, white onion sauce”. Unusual in that you do not see the rather strongly flavoured “Toulouse sausage” very often and interesting to see it treated as the old English classic “bangers and mash”. I was not disappointed with the rich, dense flavour of the sausage quite delicious if incredibly filling. The mashed potato was velvety smooth though not overwhelmingly awash with butter.
Included in the set menu for the table were minted peas, glazed carrots and roast potatoes. These were nicely cooked with the carrots still slightly crunchy, the peas not too minty and the roast potatoes, though perhaps not the best I have had, crunchy with a fluffy centre.
Many of my companions opted for the “Gilled salmon, samphire, Café de Paris butter” which I was told was perfectly cooked though it looked a bit over to me but perfectly charred on the outside.
The dessert offerings were not quite as interesting as the other courses with our having to select between “Creme brulée”, “Tarte au citron”, “Blackberry trifle”, “Soufflé au chocolate” (20 minutes to prepare), “Selection of ice creams & sorbets”, or “Selection of French cheeses”. I opted for one of my favourites: “Creme brulée” which had a nice crunchy sugar topping that was not too thick with a deliciously creamy pudding that was not too sweet - Perfect.
Several of my companions had the rather small looking serving of “Tarte au Citron” that they reported was quite sharp though had a nice crust.
When we arrived at the restaurant for our reservation during the first sitting at 12:00 pm (we were politely refused entry before this time) we were the only ones there but by the time we left at about 3 pm it was quite full. Many of the diners appeared to be regulars, not paying too much attention to the opulent, mirrored surroundings rather spending time looking at fellow diners such as ourselves noisily dining in the corner. I also still find it a bit odd to see dogs being allowed into restaurants with one at the neighbouring table causing me a bit of a shock, only discovered when sniffing at my leg.
Our Spanish server (yes, there was a bit of a joke about this in a French restaurant when I tried to order in French) was very pleasant and provided the perfect amount of service, pleasantly around whenever we needed him and efficiently providing our orders. During settling up there was a bit of confusion as we had calculated how much each of us were to pay but when going to our final diner for her share she was told the bill had already been covered - We are quite convinced we had underpaid and felt guilty that he may have eventually been out of pocket (we tried to insist that he needed more money, but he was more insistent we did not).
A wonderful experience with delicious, simple French dishes served in suitably pleasant surroundings with service that was in no way condescending. The set menu price was more than reasonable and there was a good selection of dishes to select from. The food was more than adequate versions of classic French and, surprisingly, English cooking. It was not the best French food we have ever had but we were certainly not disappointed. We will be interested in coming back to try out more of their menus…
Rating: “Nearly perfect, but not quite”
Review Date: 2024-09-22
Cuisine: French
Address: 48 Greek St, London W1D 4EF ENGLAND
Public Transport: 
Tottenham Court Road, Leicester Square
Location: London (England) - Soho
Map:
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Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7439 7474
URL: https://www.lescargot.co.uk/