La Poule Au Pot

Tagnelap

Parfait 1st May 2009

0 found this helpful

In 20 years of eating here, we had never had lunch - always an evening venue.
We know that the staff are inclined towards being a bit 'gallic', but recently they have really started to pull out all the stops.
The service was excellent, the food spot on (as always) and the ambience was ok - frankly there's not much they can do about the fact that there was the odd table of 'sales and marketing' folk on a day out from up North.
All round, as good as ever.

AntoniaL

A real French favourite 22nd December 2008

4 found this helpful

Every year, the Sunday before Christmas, 23 friends and I come here for a festive lunch and get-together. This year was the seventh visit I think and each time I wonder to myself why I don't come more often. It really is fantastic.

Our over-sized party is brilliantly taken care of - we are crammed into one end of the atmospheric restaurant and always have a fantastic time. The menu each year is pretty much the same but I'm always amazed how many choices we are given for such a large party. I always have the onion tart. It is truly divine - gorgeously sweet onions and buttery pastry with just the right amount of cheese. This year I had an excellent boeuf bourgignon for my main course - it had excellent depth of flavour and had clearly been cooking long and slow. Frites are delicious, as are the haricots verts and petit pois à la française. I also tasted the cassoulet. This is food with plenty of soul - not especially artfully presented but just the sort of thing you feel like curling up with on a cold winter's night. Tarte tatin for pudding (I know, two tarts in one meal is hardly balanced, but hey... it is Christmas) was exemplary.

This restaurant is consistently voted as one of London's most romantic restaurants (and I can understand why), but it is also a great place for a group of friends to relax and enjoy themselves. I can't wait until next year (...though perhaps this time I won't leave it so long).

Browners

Je l'aime 8th December 2007

6 found this helpful

I've got no idea if the French in my title is correct. But what I do know is that this place is superb. We've tried some of London's top French restaurants and La Poule au Pot is by far the most romantic, atmospheric and it serves the best food.

We were initially seated by the kitchen door so we asked to move which was no trouble at all. We soon found ourselves sitting at the best table in the house, sipping a sauterne whilst nibbling some foie gras on brioche followed by an incredible bouilibaise.

We had a fantastic bottle of wine and fell in love all over again. I'm looking forward to returning once I've saved up the money to do so!

genfink

just fabulous 15th November 2007

7 found this helpful

I recently dined at the Poule au Pot with a group of friends, it was possibly one of the best suppers I have ever had.
The restaurant itself is in a lovely area, Pimlico Green could hardly be described as anything but affluent! You cna walk from Sloane Square or get a bus from Victoria.
The restuarant has the feel of true french country lifestyle, although the hops and lavender hanging from the ceiling makes it feel a bit on the cramped side. We sat in a window alcove surrounded by bookshelves. Although some people may not like having to wedge books in the window to open it up a bit i thought it was great!
The waiters were charming, although i found the relaxed parochial ambience at odds with the fact they had a different waiter for every foodstuff (a mild exaggeration perhaps) with these prices one would expect a sommelier but we had another guy for water, another one for bread and three or four for the courses!
Onto the food, which was exquisite!
Three of my party dined on the crab salad for a starter although it could easily have been a main course, it was delicious! We also had the snails, and the foie gras which was very nice although tainted with an unpleasant ethical taste in the mouth!
for the mains we had on the table 2 rabbit dishes, both very nice, 2 steaks - some of the best I've ever tasted, a boeuf bourginon and my dish was the venison in red wine sauce. I had never had venison before and it was unprecedented in being the best meat dish i have ever eaten, also decided by table vote that mine was the best dish on the table, out of this world! We were too stuffed for dessert but the coffee was nice enough and the chocolates proved very popular.
However now comes the price, well considering our party of 6 started the evening with 2 bottles of champagne, and then followed with 5 or 6 more bottle of wine (we're not alcoholics I promise you)the night ended up being £90 a head! Hence living on rice and porridge for the rest of the month.
It was the most expensive meal I've ever paid for but boy was it worth it! Honestly the price was bumped up by the drinks, the food is gorgeous and not at all over priced, my venison was in the region of £20 which i don't think is extortionate, and if you like seafood you could quite easily have the crab salad for a main course, so it doesn't have to be too expensive.
Go all of you, at once!

galligirl

Romantic French Restaurant 2nd May 2007

4 found this helpful

We went to Poule au Pot for our anniversary and I was pleasantly surprised by the fantastic service we received. We were served by 3 different waiters, each performing a different role and we never had to wait more than a few minutes between courses.

The decor was very intimate and romantic, the wine we were recommended was good and most importantly -

The food was absolutely sumptuous. We had mushroom soup and pan fried fois gras for starters. The fois gras melted in our mouths. It was enough to make any person lay aside their moral inhibitions about this delectable dish. Our main courses were veal and duck in orange sauce and by the time we reached dessert we were so full that we decided to save the sweets for our next visit.

It was not inexpensive (about £50-£60 per head) hence the 4 stars, but well worth it for a special occasion.

Make sure to book ahead as we had to book one month in advance for a Friday night.