PIQUET, LONDON

It has been half a year since I last had dinner at Allan Pickett at The Sanderson Hotel, the summer residency prior to the opening of Piquet, a new independent restaurant in the heart of London’s Fitzrovia.
The menu is described as a contemporary mix of cultures of England and France, and although the restaurant doesn’t look very distinctive or busy from the outside, the dining room downstairs is contrastingly rather warm and charming.
We were served some breadsticks with anchovy mousse to start with whilst we perused the menu. 

I ordered the crab raviolo with samphire and shellfish dressing which was beautifully made, I wished that I could have had a larger portion of it. I had a small mouthful of Viv’s Goosnargh duck consomme which was light and flavourful.

And after hearing all about it on social media, we ordered an extra starter to share amongst the three of us, which was the pithivier of Littlebourne snails with Madeira jus – delicious golden and flaky pastry which cut through to reveal the warm and luscious filling within.

Crab raviolo, samphire, shellfish dressing

Goodnargh duck consomme, root vegetables, confit leg

Smoked salmon, buckwheat blini, herbed creme fraiche

Pithivier of Littlebourne snails, Madeira jus

For my main, I ordered the pot roast seabass with sauté of baby gem, yeasted cauliflower purée, and persillade of pieds de mouton which I enjoyed very much. The loin of venison and grilled ribeye that Viv and Ross ordered also appeared to taste satisfyingly good.

Pot roast seabass, saute of baby gem, yeasted cauliflower puree, persillade of pieds de mouton

Loin of venison pressed potatoes, Jeruselam artichoke puree

Grilled rib eye of Dedham vale beef, fries, watercress, peppercorn sauce

I do love a good and indulgent dessert platter, so we ordered the Assiette Gourmande to share. There were some nice flavours going on, but nothing really that quite stood out for me, and not quite as impressive as other dessert platters that I have had elsewhere.
The dark chocolate marquise individually on its own however was pretty rich and tasty.

On the whole, we had a pleasant meal and experience at Piquet, and I would recommend a visit if you have a love for French cuisine.
And if you do, don’t forget to order the snail pithivier, for obvious reasons.

The Cheekster, signing out x