London Restaurant Reviews - Café Luc

**THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED DOWN**

Marylebone High Street is undoubtedly one of the prettiest addresses in London (despite its proximity to hectic Oxford Street). Providores, the Conran Shop, Rococo Chocolates, Divertimenti, Cucina Caldesi and La Fromagerie, just around the corner, are some of the places I love to visit whenever I am in the area.

I would have probably missed Café Luc in one of these trips had I not been invited by Massey Travel for a meal there this summer. Since my first visit, I have had the chance to return to this Belgian brasserie a number of times with friends, so this is a round-up of the five or so meals I had there this year.

French resident chef David Collard, former executive head chef at five star Langham Hotel, has worked with other top chefs including Joel Robuchon at Restaurant Gormand, Marcus Waring at Petrus and Michael Caines at Gidleigh Park. I had the pleasure of meeting David on a couple of occasions, and more recently he showed me around his kitchen and demonstrated how he prepares one of Café Luc’s signature dishes – Steak Tartare.

Growing up in Brazil, I used to love eating kibbeh nayyeh (raw minced beef or lamb mixed with bulghur wheat, and seasoned with onions, mint and olive oil) in the many Syrian restaurants there, so I am a real fan of the European equivalent of this loved dish – “Steak Tartare”.

Café Luc’s did not disappoint – the meat, a 21-day dry aged LMC ("leg of mutton cut") of beef supplied by Finclass Butchers, was ultra fresh, silken and well seasoned with onions, mustard and capers among other spices. I really loved this dish but felt that the texture could have been slightly improved had the meat been finely chopped as opposed to minced. At £7.50 for a starter portion (£17 as a main), I also thought it was rather well priced.

Another excellent à la carte starter was the “Crab Tian” @ £10.50 – a beautifully presented dish made of Cornish crab with avocado, tomato dressing and quail egg which I enjoyed on two of my visits.

One of my favourite à la carte main courses was the “Roasted Partridge” served with caramelised chicory, foie gras and truffle shavings and @ £18.50, it was again very good value.

The “Chicken in Champagne” served with wild mushrooms, diced bacon and papparedelle pasta @ £16.80 (apparently one of David’s family recipes) had a deliciously creamy sauce and earthy flavours from the mushrooms which combined well with the pasta and grilled chicken.

(Picture Courtesy of The Wine Sleuth)

Two of the most popular desserts are the "Roasted Pineapple" @ £7 served with coconut sorbet and pistachio, and the "Apple Tart" @ £6.50 with caramel and Grand Marnier sauce.

It is Café Luc’s excellent value 3-course menu @ £15.50 however where David’s resourcefulness and cooking flair come into their own. In my opinion, this is one of the best value set menus in London at the moment - the menu changes regularly and is available throughout the day (as opposed to pre/post theatre menus available elsewhere).

Some of the highlight dishes that I had from the set menu included:

"Fine smoked salmon, English crumpet and horseradish cream"

"Terrine of duck confit with foie gras and served with toasted sourdough"

"Pea risotto with aged Parmesan, and wild rocket"

"Steak with peppercorn sauce and pommes frites"

"Crème Brulée au Nutella"

"Lemon tarte with raspberries and chantilly"

The wine list is primarily old world and rather comprehensive with a large number of bottles also available by the glass or carafe. Of the entire wine menu, there are only two bottles priced below £20 (at £18.50), and despite some of the wines being available on tap, I still felt that the mark up was slightly excessive (the cheapest 500ml carafe on tap was priced at £15.30).

On my first visit, the sommelier suggested a bottle of 08 Patrimonio by Domaine Leccia. Patrimonio was Corsica’s first Appellation region (AOC), where the native “Nieluccio” varietal is used. The wine was terrific with black fruit (cherries) and vanilla aromas, full bodied and with great complexity but sadly a price tag to match.

Service at Café Luc can be inconsistent – I have had the most attentive service there (both as an invited reviewer and as an anonymous paying customer) but there was more than one occasion when I felt it was a tad rushed and impersonal.

Cafe Luc is offering a set menu for £1 for lunch, afternoon tea or dinner. There are 15 3-course set menus available per day for the period of Friday 7th January until 7th February 2011. To find out when to book – subscribe to their mailing list, Facebook page or follow them on Twitter (@CafeLuc_)

Thanks to Massey Travel for introducing me to Cafe Luc.

Cost: the set menu is priced at £15.50 while the à la carte menu would cost around £35 for a 3-course meal (excl. drinks).

Likes: the Patrimonio Corsican wine was excellent (although expensive), as were the crab tian, steak tartare and Nutella crème brulée. The set menu @ £15.50 is in my opinion excellent value.

Dislikes: inconsistent service and a wine list with very few affordable options.

Verdict: well executed cooking, prime location and and a reasonably priced set menu make Café Luc an attractive lunch/dinner option on Marylebone High Street. Recommended.

Food and Beer Pairing Masterclass at Belgo

Another season, another food festival at Belgo restaurants. In June I reviewed the great value Lobster Fest at Belgo Centraal (here), and this month I went back for their "Wednesday Night Pilgrimage" - a beer and food pairing masterclass in celebration of Oktoberfest.

Hosted by a "Master of Beer", every Wednesday at 7pm during the month of October, the sessions are a communal affair, with seats allocated on long tables - a great opportunity to meet other beer and food lovers. "Pilgrimages" cost £33 which include a 3 course menu, with each course paired to specially selected beer from Belgo's cellar of Trappist brews, Abbey and Lambic beers.

This excellent value menu has three choices of starters, main courses and desserts. I was fortunate to be able to sample most of the dishes on the "Pilgrimage" menu during my visit. Starters include "Parsnip and Ginger Soup", paired with Jupiler Pilsner, which I found deliciously spicy and well seasoned, and "Moules Mariniere" - mussels steamed with cream, white wine, garlic, celery and onion and matched with Belgo Witbier which was my favourite.

The "Champagne, Duck and Truffle Terrine", served with onion and plum chutney and paired with De Kloninck Blonde, was also good but in my opinion was the weakest of the three choices.

I adore mussels and unsurprisingly, my favourite main course was the "Moules Portugaises" which was paired with Bruges Zot Blonde. This was a delicious dish of mussels and roast chorizo in a tomato, garlic, olive oil and paprika sauce with new potatoes and basil. I loved the combination of meat and seafood, so characteristic of Portuguese cuisine (Pork and Clams from Alentejo being one of my favourite Portuguese dishes).

Another excellent main course was the "Beef Carbonnade" perfectly matched with the heavily yeasty Witcap Stimulo. The beef had been slowly braised in Faro beer, nutmeg and brown sugar, and was richly flavoured and tender.

The vegetarian choice for main course was "Mushroom Bouchee", a dish made of puff pastry case filled with wild mushrooms in an Orval Beer and truffle cream sauce with asparagus spears and button onions. The combination of pastry, mushroom and cream was heavenly and went well with the pairing of Palm Amber beer. This was my favourite beer of the evening with a lovely toasty malt aroma and hints of bitter orange on the palate.

Desserts include "Poached Pear" in raspberry beer served with lemon sorbet and matched with Floris Apple beer, "Belgium Chocolate Pudding", paired with Westmalle Double (rich and complex with a fresh bitter finish), and "Belgium Waffle" served with chocolate sauce and Mort Subite Gueuze as the beer of choice.

In my opinion, the waffle was the most interesting of the three desserts - it was deliciously light but with an intense vanilla flavour which went well with the chocolate ice cream and the unfiltered lambic beer.

If you would like to book a place in this beer and food pairing masterclass, quote "Wednesday Night Pilgrimage" when booking.

In addition, all Belgo restaurants will be offering two buckets of Belgian beer throughout Oktoberfest, each comprising four bottles served on ice for £15:

Bucket 1: Floris Apple, Mongozo Banana, Floris Krierk (cherry), Floris Mango

Bucket 2: Delirium Nocturnum (9%), Delirium Tremens (9%), Floris Framboise, Floris Wit Blanche.

Cost: £33 for a three course meal including 3 beers matched to the food, this is very good value.

Likes: good value meal, excellent range of Belgian beers, moules frites.

Dislikes: I was not hugely impressed with the dessert choices, and the restaurant can get very noisy with West End drinkers in part because of the low ceilings and arches.

Verdict: I thought this was another excellent value deal by Belgo, and a great way to experiment with "Cuisine a la Biere" (food marinated, cooked or flavoured with beer) and the pairing of beer and food.

 

London Restaurant Reviews - Belgo Centraal

Lobsterfest @ Belgo’s

Just as 17 years ago when I lived in Chalk Farm and first started going to Belgo Noord, today I am still struck by the originality of the ideas introduced by this restaurant to the London food scene. Not only has it made moules frites an affordable and accessible choice, but it has also introduced a vast range of top quality Belgian beers to many Londoners.

Few people were familiar with Belgian food in the UK in the early 90s; dishes like Waterzooi and Beef Carbonnade were relatively unknown, and the concept of partnering food and beer was also novel.

Belgo also introduced us to the concept of “cuisine a la bière” where beer is used as a marinade, sauce or flavouring, and I cannot think of any other type of beer which would be more appropriate to this style of cooking. The meat in “Beef Carbonnade” is braised in sweet Gueuze, a sparkling sour beer, while the slow cooked shank of lamb is served with DeKoninck beer and balsamic jus.

The idea of preparing and cooking mussels can be a frightening prospect, but at £12.95 for a large pot, eating moules frites is no longer a daunting or expensive affair.

Belgo was also one of the first restaurants to open its kitchens to the public, when the concept of “open plan kitchen” was still to be adopted and popularised by other restaurant chains.

The design of its restaurants is as cutting edge as when it first opened. I like the combination of different elements like the exposed bricks against the copper walls, the long canteen style wooden tables and the roughly polished cement floor. These elements come together helping to create a modern and vibrant restaurant.

Dr G and I went to Belgo to try the 2010 Lobsterfest menu which is available throughout the month of June. All the dishes that we ordered, apart from the desserts, were lobster based.

For starter, Dr G had a “Red Thai lobster” @ £8.95 (half a Canadian 1lb lobster baked with a lightly spiced and nutty red Thai curry sauce).

I am not one to mess around with lobster (I prefer mine simply grilled with garlic butter), but I was very impressed by the combination of flavours in this dish - the light Thai curry sauce gave some welcome chilli notes that offset the succulent, perfectly cooked lobster meat .

The half lobster had been beautifully dressed with the intact meat from its claw sitting under the sauce at the top end of the lobster.

I ordered a “Lobster Thermidor” @ £8.95 (half a Canadian 1lb lobster grilled with a light cheese, mustard and Orval beer) – this was again delicious with the creamy, mustard sauce accompanying the sweet meat perfectly.

To accompany our starters we shared a bottle of “Chimay Tripel” @ £4.95 and another of “Steenbrugge Blonde” @ £4.35. These were excellent recommendations by our waitress, as both had a sweet spiciness, and long yeasty finish which stood up well to the Thai red curry.

We also tried the “Lobster Bisque” @ £4.95 – this is one of the cleverest dishes on any menu as little if any lobster meat is actually used for its preparation. I make this whenever we eat lobsters at home. The lobster shells are fried in butter and garlic together with a mixture of onion, celery and carrots. The mixture is then transferred to a saucepan while the frying pan is deglazed with white wine. Lobster stock is then added to the saucepan with some herbs, tomato puree, paprika and cream before sieving the soup.

Belgo’s version was excellent, with a strong lobster flavour, and a richness coming through from the brandy, tomatoes and cream. I could also taste a dash of heat from the paprika which added another layer of complexity to the soup. The bread was deliciously flavoured with caraway seeds.

For the main course, Dr G had a “Grilled whole lobster with frites” @ £17.95. The lobster had been halved and topped with garlic and Pernod butter. The aniseed flavour of the Pernod butter worked well with the sweetness of the lobster meat and garlic; the lobster was sizeable and very good value at £17.95.

I opted for “Whole surf and turf” @ £24.95 – a whole grilled lobster with garlic and Pernod butter served with a 60z sirloin steak and frites. The flavours were distinct and simple but combined very well together.

The double-fried chips were the perfect accompaniment to both dishes – they were very hot and deliciously crispy.

To match our main courses, we had a bottle of blond ale “Tripel Karmeliet” @ £4.95 and an amber beer called “Pauwel Kwak” @ £4.95. These were again recommended by our waitress to accompany the more robust main dishes and I felt they matched our choices well. Dark orange in colour, they both had a good balance of hops and malt, and a sweet, fruity nose.

The dessert menu had quite a few choices varying from £4.75 to £5.25. I ordered a “Hazelnut ice cream with Chantilly and toffee apple sauce” @ £4.75 which had an intense nutty flavour but was light and refreshing.

Dr G opted for “Creme brulee with tuile biscuit” @ £5.50 – the brulee was perfectly set and creamy, and black vanilla seeds were visible in the custard, with a delicious crust of caramelised sugar on top.

The wine list is well thought out and outstanding value with a good spread of choices varying from £14.25 to £24.95. There is only one bottle over £20 in any of the categories (white, red, rose or sparkling).

Cost: this was a complimentary meal but I have quoted prices of all the dishes we tried. I estimate that a 3 course meal during Lobsterfest (starter and main course being lobster) will cost £32 per person or £24 on the standard menu excluding drinks.

Likes: perfectly cooked lobster, great value for money, central location, fine Belgian beers and delicious double fried chips.

Dislikes: due to the low arched ceilings and informal dining style, the restaurant, particularly the Centraal branch, can get noisy.

Verdict: I cannot think of a better venue for top quality, well priced lobster dishes in London today. The whole grilled lobster @ £17.95 is comparable to fishmonger prices, and the moules frites @ £12.95 is also excellent value. A great place to try a large array of Belgian beers in a central location. Very highly recommended.