Been there #21 Le Cercle

1 Wibraham Place, London, SW1X 9AE

Le Cercle is one of the sister restaurant of Club Gascon. Located in the privileged district of Sloane Square in London, the restaurant is quite hard to find and the entrance is very discreet.

When you enter, a receptionist is here to take your through your table and take your coat. You walk down the stairs and you find on your right a sitting - waiting area very nicely decorated and intimate. Then further down, you discover the main restaurant room with 3 semi-private boxes below the wine cellar. The décor of the restaurant is really thought through and the cellar quite magnificent. Music background (taken from Hotel Costes CDs) makes the room a place to enjoy your food with your partner or friends.

What about the food then?

The menu is based on small portions that you usually share in the middle of the table – similar to tapas – but you can also take 3 portions for yourself (which is what we did). The inspiration of the menu is very much French…rightly so because the founders of the restaurant are from South West of France (ah, le Sud Ouest! I miss you). You have a selection of 30 dishes to choose from. All very much original and tempting. But is it all good?

Before we make our choice, the waitress gives us some bread and butter. Bread is so hard that my friend almost broke her knife. For a French restaurant, I expect good quality and fresh bread. This time, the bread was definitely frozen and clearly of not good quality. I tell the waitress and she replaces by another set of bread. Same problem with the exception it’s just coming out the oven…Bless her.

I decide to go for red mullet with lemon, slowly cooked lamb and John Dory. The lamb is absolutely delicious and served in a little pot with vegetables and herbs giving out all the flavours mixed together. The meat is tender and nicely cooked. But fish is a total disappointment. Both fishes are complimented with this wasteful and horrible lemon curd (turd) that spoils the whole freshness and unique flavour of expensive fish like John Dory. I am so surprised that at this level of cooking, you can ruin fresh ingredients with an overwhelming dressing. Then my friends start to complain about the size of their dishes (besides the fact they are known small portions) because each dish still costs between £7 and £16. The foie gras apparently should have been left alone with bread (with a bigger portion). We drink a couple of good French red wine from Sud Ouest (bien sur) overly priced (compared to French retail prices).

Then we decide to finish the meal on a more positive note, the French Cheese board otherly called "Le Tour de France". We first ask the waitress what cheese selection do we get. She responds immediately that she doesn’t know and it is up to the chef to decide. What did you just say? I am sorry, who is the bloody customer here? You, the chef or me? I give up and let the chef decides…Luckily, the cheese board is really nice with some quality breads coming up with it (again, how can you fail to deliver good bread in the beginning and succeed in the end of the meal).

Time to go back home. We ask the bill and the truth is hard to take. The meal costs us around £75 per head. What a rip off…For the same price, I will come back to Club Gascon but certainly not to Le Cercle, unless they slash their prices or come up with better portions. Having said that, I am not sure they will discount their menu pricing, considering the restaurant was full on a Wednesday evening!