Café Rouge - James Street

One of my friends is heading off to La Belle France to be a chalet girl (or as he calls it – ski instructor). We had a French themed night to wish him well on his way, and part of that involved a meal at Café Rouge. Probably because it sounded French.

Anyway, we got there, sat down at our table for 20-odd and after working out how much wine we could drink between us, ordered it and our food. I went for the French Onion Soup, which was actually a pretty good call. Not the best I’ve had (but then I’ve had this a fair few times in high quality French restaurants in France!), but a pretty decent go. Could have used more cheese, and a thicker crouton would have saved some of the crunch, but the soup itself tasted good and was a good start to the meal.

For main I had the Pavé, a ‘single muscle steak’ which I asked to be cooked medium rare. Medium rare seems to be one of those grades of cooking that never actually happens. You usually have to ask for your steak one grade below what you actually want in a restaurant in England as most of the time they seem to overcook it. I wrongly assumed that here would be different – the French are usually spot on on the steak front, but I was a bit disappointed when it came medium to medium-well. However, it still tasted good, just a fair bit over. The béarnaise sauce was good and the fries also well cooked, so overall not a bad plate.

Pudding next, or desert as they call it down here, and I was having a bit of a tough time. I fancied crème brûlée, and also the tarte tatin, but settled for the Coupe Rouge and pilfered some of my friends other deserts, which as it happened, were very tasty. My ice cream sundae consisted of white chocolate ice cream, raspberry sorbet and a red fruit sauce, which I liberally drizzled on top. I was very pleased with pud, it all worked together well, even though the ice cream had melted a fair bit by the time it got to me.

Atmosphere was amazing, and the waiting staff good fun too. We’d brought along comedy themed items, including a baguette which we hit my friend over the head with a few times. The waiter spotted this and pointed out that the baguettes in the basket on the wall would be harder as they’d been there a few weeks. After we asked him to, he brought us a couple – we proceeded to have sword fights and also broke one by smashing it over our friend’s head. Hilarious.

An expensive (even though we had 9 taste cards between us giving us 50% off each plate of food, it still cost us around £28 each) but worthwhile meal, and a great night out.

This is a great place to refuel and take respite from Oxford Street crowds when in town for the day. It serves reliable Cafe Rouge fare, the staff are nice (better than in a couple of other Cafes Rouge I can think of) and there are often meal deals to take advantage of, so if you think you might be in the area, check the internet for deals first.
My only gripe is that whoever painted the motifs and French words in the interior didn't check with a French dictionary before putting his brush in the pot. In an establishment promoting French food and a French environment, that's really quite unforgivable, so it loses stars until someone fixes the mistakes.

Took the opportunity to wander off Oxford Street in search of somewhere for lunch and discovered this place. It had a nice warm cosy atmosphere and was busy enough to suggest it was popular. I might add that this street was a quiet backwater away from the shopping crowds and it had a decent selection of eating places along its length, we chose this one.
Overall the experience was not bad at all, the place had a nice french restaurant feel, food was well presented and certainly the staff member who served us was charming. However the food let them down on this occasion and while would not write them off, they will need to do better next time! Steak was overdone! But I could see their potential and I will look out for a future reviews to see if I have got the true picture.