We had heard many good things about Les Papilles (French for ‘the tastebuds’) and despite our high expectations, Les Papilles was even more brilliant than we had hoped. It starts with the friendly waiters, the lovely atmosphere in this former wine shop, and the quick service. Despite the fact that it was very busy, the wooden panels and shelves on the walls ensured that it was not getting too loud. Not sure if their ventilation system wasn’t working on that rather cold day in early March, but it was steaming hot despite the fact that they regularly opened the main door towards the street for a few minutes to let some fresh air in. There is only one four-course menu, no choice, but that’s fine if it is four courses like these. It started with the waiter bringing a huge ceramic bowl and a large ladle to our […]
Bistro Pierre Victoire, Soho
We had waited until the very last minute this year to book something for Valentine’s Day dinner, because it had been unclear if we were both going to be in the country. We were then at first thinking about doing dinner at one of London’s top restaurants, but after further reflection we decided not to re-mortgage the flat and chose cheap, chirpy, and cheerful Pierre Victoire Bistro in Soho’s Dean Street, just off Soho Square and Tottenham Court Road tube station, ranking an impressive #250 out of 20,000 London restaurants on Tripadvisor, one of the very few restaurants that would still take bookings. The restaurant has been well-established as pre-theatre dinner venue for nearly 20 years and, we hear, is rarely seen with any significant number of empty seats. There certainly weren’t any (except for ours) when we arrived. The atmosphere in the tube-like, busy, crammed, traditionally decorated dining room […]