Brasserie Roux, St. James's, London

I’ve read the negative reviews. Our experience was far from negative. Brasserie Roux is delightful.

The decor is very French; there are visual puns galore in the paintings displayed on the walls; the colour combinations are striking (like 18th century Versailles bling). But this is to be expected, at Brasserie Roux you leave London and enter a smart Parisian restaurant.

The food was lovely. There were threee of us dining on Boxing Day. The crowd was anything but 'suits’ and was mostly composed of families out for a nice post-Christmas do. To start one of us had a divine, soft, fish mousse packed with flavour and with a light airy consistency. Another had a ceaser salad (which drew much praise). The third (me) had scallops with black pudding in apple sauce which sounded an odd combo but was in fact divine. The black pudding was melt in the mouth, the scallops similarly so.

Mains followed (and came accompanied with the Sommelier’s recommended wines) smartly. Duck for one and Venison for two. Delicious. The duck reportedly had the right 'gamey’ quality but reatined succulence whilst the venison was beautifully combined with a sweetish pickled red cabbage. We all had the Rum Baba with pineapple for dessert - again, delicious.

Service was charming: Smart, crisp and friendly attention to the details with a relaxed formality that the French do with great style.

We repaired to the bar for a last drink (again, charmingly presented by informed staff) before heading home. The bill was graciously transferred to the bar so we only had to pay once; minimum fuss, maximum pleasure.

We really enjoyed Brasserie Roux. Of course, it’s always possible that the poor reviews from 2007 on Qype may have played a part in improvements . . . . . who knows? :-) What is certain is that the food and service here are top notch and are done with charming style.

I am not sure why we went to Brasserie Roux at the Pall Mall Sofitel Hotel. Probably because we wanted to eat in the area (St James/Pall Mall) in a quiet restaurant (ie we could have a conversation and it could be discreet). The price to pay was that we had to suffer from rather poor food (warm foie gras, uninspiring dessert menu), bad taste decor (a fantastic volume from this former bank ruined by the starking contrast of the bright green and yellow colour ranges), and negative buzz (a few families from the hotel who probably had just arrived and hadn’t had time to plan to get out)... and guess what, it was pretty expensive too! So make sure that you go if you need to be in a quiet place as this is the only incentive really. If you are staying at the hotel, there are lots of alternatives at walking distance that will not kill your wallet and that will be more enjoyable.