Mange tout, Rodney. Mange tout.
East Dulwich - 20 June 2014
In The French House, East Dulwich has a lovely new addition
to its range of of eateries and abreuvoirs (means watering hole in French,
apparently. Hopefully it translates...)
While not having the most unique name ever (Google count: 4
'The French House's in London alone), the atmosphere does stand out. The owners
say that the aim is for a 60s/70s Yé-Yé -style cafe-bar. Wikipedia informs me
that ye-ye comes from yeah-yeah, and was the French era of pop music that gave
the world Serge Gainsbourg & Brigit Bardot. What this means in practice is
walls covered with magazine covers of effortlessly cool young French folk
(well, young 40/50 years ago) and a soundtrack featuring a cover of The Rolling
Stones' 'Paint It Black' (my favourite Stones tune) en francais. It's fun.
In a rare move for something French, there's no pretensions
about the French House (obligatory English joke about the French there). And
that extends to the menu, which is pretty rustic. There is a strong emphasis on
cheese, bread and meat, with a few classics thrown in.
We had escargots (when in
Rome...), foie gras and a degustation de fromage. A solid local café, it is delicious - so long as you're not a
lactose-intolerant coeliac vegetarian... And it's insanely good value at £6-£7
each. The snails were, as one would expect, basically textured garlic butter.
And that is why I will always love escargot. So they were a hit.
The foie gras less so - you get three slices of duck foie
gras, but they were a little on the bland-side. Smooth as butter, but lacking
the rich liver-y flavour. Although the fig & gewurtztraminer jam that came
with it was a sweet and sharp counter-point to the pâté.
The best was the cheeseboard - 5 different cheeses, all in
generous portions, with pickles, more jam & more crusty bread. Although, the
promised apples and grapes to accompany were missing. 'Small' it was not. OK,
so the emmental was typically rubbery and the 'stinky french cheese' had an
unpleasant acidic after-taste, but that's by-the-by. Compared with some places
(*cough* Boqueria *cough*) five large lumps of varied cheese is a steal at £7
(and for £12 you get what appears to be as much cheese as you'd find in a typical
Tesco Metro).
A cheeseboard, one of the charcuterie boards (also £7) and a big
glass of red wine, and I'd be a happy man. Albeit one who is a step or two closer
to a heart attack.
Also on the menu were some mighty impressive looking
tartines, a huge thin flatbread, smothered in cheese and ham. The other people
on our table seemed to be loving it. They were £8. Have I mentioned this is
great value?
To round things off, the gf ordered a clafoutis for dessert. This was a squashed,
dense example of the baked dessert, but sweet and satisfying and packed with
raspberries.
In short - a fun, friendly, fabulously French addition to
East Dulwich's increasingly appealing hang outs. I'll be back.
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