French "tapas" in Soho

Another early evening meal as we are off to Ronnie Scott’s with M&G.  M has read a review by Giles Coren in the Times and is keen to try Blanchette; Jay Rayner in the Observer at liked it too (not always a good sign!).   We arrive first and are shown past the bar area to a smallish corner table. The décor is decisively French, not complete clichés but not far off. Distressed walls, odd cookbooks, distinctive tins and pans with off-beat French brand names.  Music is also French, but low-key so not an issue.

The others arrive and we agree on a bottle of house white, a Pays d’Oc Sauvignon Blanc, at £18.50 notably cheaper than anything else on the list. It’s perfectly fine. The menu is a little complicated – the waitress explains the “concept” to us (I always thought the concept was that they brought you food to eat) – sharing plates again.  There are “snacks”, cheese and charcuterie;  fish, meat and vegetable.  We decide on 2 dishes each, and end up with effectively  4 starters and 4 protein dishes.

There’s not room on the table for all the dishes, but they do come in stages so it works OK.  The crispy frogs legs arrive in a little paper cone, and are good and hot, with the meat coming away easily, the batter light and dry, and a tasty little dipping sauce.  Duck rillettes, although a “snack”, is actually a good sized portion of tasty meat, served with cornichons.  The asparagus (“vegetable”) comes with a creamy cheese dip and a harder gruyere-like cheese, while the coppa ham is ungarnished but full of flavour.  We also have a bag (yes, a bag) of fresh bread – very good it is too.

The four main dishes are quite similar, all being uncooked or very rare. The “tartare of the day” is sea trout, with cucumber (quite a lot) and crème fraiche.  Seared tuna is very rare indeed with a great pepper crust;  smoked duck breast salad comes with tomatoes (“heritage” obvs), and the grilled beef rump with onion.   The meat and fish dishes are actually a fair size, so despite the lack of carbs (apart from the bread), and maybe because it was all nearly raw, I end up feeling pretty full.

The three bottles of wine have taken the total to £185 for the four of us; pretty good value, making it a useful place to know. The limited menu means you wouldn’t go that often, but as a one-off it’s very good.