"All things considered, a disappointment"

A review of Comptoir Gascon by Amir Chicersill written on Friday 15th of February 2008

It is probably a rule of thumb that you should never judge a restaurant by a Valentine's Day meal there - the atmosphere, music and decor are bound to vary from the usual, as is the menu. Prices, too, are unlikely to reflect the norm, as all but the most pure of restauranteurs cash in on the love in the air and the pockets.

That said, good food is the currency of a good restaurant, whether it's the 14th February or not. Having read wonderful things about the Gascon, my partner and I, using Valentine's as yet another excuse to eat out, booked a table there knowing full well that there would be a £39 set menu (excluding wine) for the occasion. We expected the ambience - romantic crooning music, tables occupied mostly by couples nuzzling each other - but we were delighted to see that people hadn't been crammed into the small, comfortable space and that the service was attentive, if perhaps a little hurried. It boded well.

What a disappointment, then, that once the food was served it quickly became apparent that this was indeed an exercise in money-grabbing for a day. The set menu was sparce - one meat, one fish and one vegetarian starter. Ditto for the mains. One dessert. That was it. My starter, a venison carpaccio, was quite delicious and turned out to be the best of the rest. My partner's artichoke and mushroom soup, on the other hand, while perfectly textured and creamy, was far too rich and full of crunchy vegetable bits that interrupted the experience.

The mains were poor. I'm a lover of white fish, and I don't think I have ever eaten white fish as chewy and overdone as the monkfish cheeks I ordered. Suffice to say that I had to hack through these supposedly most delicate and tender parts of the fish with my knife like they were a well-done steak. My companion's pork fillet was cooked and tasted better, but didn't stand out at all and was satisfactory at best. Finally, the only dessert, a flambee with an ice-cream and fruit centre, was good but not special, and smacked of pre-preparation on a mass scale.

Even by Valentine's Day standards, for a total of £56 a head including wine this was fleecing of the highest order, especially considering the so-called reputation the place has for food and variety. I can only hope that the management decided that, for one day only, standards could be sacrificed for a financial pay-off. I will not be back to find out..

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