Les Deux Salons

Les Deux Salons
William IV Street, London
Les Deux Salons opened in late 2010 and is the same chain as Arbutus and Wild Honey.

I've walked past this place many times but have never thought to go in.  It's quite unassuming from the outside so is easy to miss.  So when the opportunity to go out for dinner with the outlaws for a pre-theatre meal came along this seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it out.

I was slightly concerned about eating here as it gets very mixed reviews on the web ranging from fab to down right awful with very poor service.  However, I'd had a recommendation from a friend so decided to risk it.

Inside has an informal French bistro feel and it is a large space over two floors.

We were meeting the outlaws there and we arrived about 15mins early so asked if we could sit at the bar.  We were told this wasn't possible and were shown straight to our table.  Not sure why we couldn't sit at the bar but this wasn't really a problem.  We were shown to a comfortable and roomy round table upstairs.  We'd booked for 5pm so the restaurant was completely empty at this point.  The waiter was very quick to bring over some water and take our drinks order.  They then left us alone until the rest of our party had arrived, which, in my opinion, is how it should be.  Once the outlaws had arrived the waiter gave us time to settle in before taking more drinks orders.

We had booked the pre-theatre menu which sounded like an absolute bargain at £15.95 for 3 courses. 

The menu had a choice of 4 starters, 4 mains and I think 3 puddings including cheese.

Due to general gassing and indecisiveness we had to send the waiter away at least twice because we weren't quite ready to order.  At no point did we feel rushed or as if this was a problem.  When we were finally ready we ordered three duck rillettes and one puff pastry leek tart to start. 

The duck rillettes came with sliced apple, lambs lettuce and sourdough toast.  It was a good sized portion with a meaty shredded duck texture.  The sweet but tart apple complemented it well.  All in all very nice although it was very salty.

I didn't try the leek tart but it was well presented and by all accounts was very nice.  I struggle to get excited about non meat/fish dishes though unless they contain goats cheese!

For the main course two of us ordered sausages with puy lentils and preserved lemon.  The outlaws both ordered the lamb.

The sausages came in a pan straight from the oven and the lid was removed at the table (nice touch - I'm easily pleased!).  Inside was one large Montbeliard (I think) sausage cut in half resting on a bed of puy lentils.  The sausage was lovely and meaty.  I was worried that this dish might be a bit heavy and not leave me room for dessert but the preserved lemon really lifted and lightened the whole dish.  I had no trouble polishing the whole thing off!

The lamb looked less substantial.  It seemed to be slow cooked lamb shoulder topped with potato.  This also went down very well though.

For pudding I had a bitter chocolate mousse which came with crumbled meringue on top.  This looked huge but again I didn't struggle one bit to finish it.  Normally I would order the cheese but in this case it was just one cheese served with bread so not great.  The other half ordered a lemon syllabub which was very nice but also very light.

We then had coffee/tea/dessert wine all round.

There was a two hour turnaround on the table and the restaurant had completely filled up while we were eating.  This gave it a great atmosphere.  We didn't leave until 45mins after the two hours but at no point did we feel that we were being pressured.

Overall I would say that this is a relaxed place that offers good value food.  It wasn't outstanding but it was very nice and I'd definitely go back.  The staff were very friendly and unobtrusive.  My only criticism is that their food is very salty.  I like salt but this was right on the edge of being too much so might not be to everyones taste.  Also if you are very hungry then you might still be a bit peckish when you leave as the portions didn't leave any room for wastage.

I'd be interested to know if anyone else had tried it!