Petit Robert

Petit Robert

3 Park Street,
London,
SE1 9AB

Tel: +44 (0) 207 357 7003

Wed 2nd October 2002

On business yet again, I met up with my brother and his son at London Bridge station and wandered around the area, heading for Borough Market, trying to find a nice place to eat that I hadn’t tried before.

It was getting fairly late when we saw Petit Robert, but it was down a side street and we wandered a litlle further (as far as Cantina Vinopolis, which was closed) before turning back and checking the menu. It looked interesting, and there were a few people dining, so we entered.

It’s a small place, bistro-ish, and chef / owner Robert Didier was presiding over the front of house. A bottle of the House Red, a couple of bottles of water to wet our whistles.

Starters: I chose the smoked eel, both the others selected the quail with grapes. We all tried each-other’s dishes, and we were all impressed – the quail was plump and succulent, and the eel was delicate. At first I thought the bed of cabbage it was presented on was a little sharp – but I soon got used to it.

Main course: My nephew went for fillet steak, brother for rack of lamb, while I ordered the breast of Duck. Again, we were all pleased – I especially liked the lamb, which was done “just so”. My duck, however, was quite pink. I know the fashion these days is for “pink”, and I almost invariably ask for my steaks “blue”, but this time I felt that the duck could have done with a little longer next to the heat. This is not to say that it wasn’t enjoyable – it certainly wasn’t worth asking for it to be done a little more.

We were having a pretty good evening, so – unusually for me – we carried on for dessert.

Nephew: Chocolate cake, which was pronounced “scrummy”. My brother and I decided on the cheese board.

This is where Robert Didier excelled. The presentation of the cheese trolley was spot on, with the different types of cheese grouped for our delectation. We told him our general preferences and he explained each one in turn – I quite like goats cheese if it is very mild, while my brother prefers them stronger.

We were amply accommodated: regardless of whether a particular cheese was precisely to your taste (and most were) one could not fail to recognise that thought and care had gone into the selection and presentation. By the way, my favourite was the Brie de Meaux, which was “sagging” but not runny. With an almost honey like colour, the flavour was exquisite.

Coffees to finish, while I examined the Wine list. We didn’t have time or appetite to finish with a digestif, but I was most impressed with the extent of the list of Armagnacs. As I prefer Cognac, I asked Robert why such a predominance of Armagnac over Cognac?

“Because I like Armagnac!” What better reason?

Recommended.

Sandro Melkuhn