La Petite Maison

ProfMagellan

22nd May 2009

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This French restaurant in the heart of Mayfair was packed for luncheon. No sign of the recession. I had a pretty good steak with a nice battered
courgette starter ("trois saveurs de beignets").
My companion had lived in Paris for two years and is a regular here so they are doing something right. Prices seemed a bit steep (£10.50 for the starter, £33.50 for the steak before adding chips and a salad) and no credit crunch special on offer. The service was all hustle and bustle with no delivery. So slow it was that after a delightful two hours, I had only just received the pudding menu and realized that I had to leave for a meeting.
Shame that some of these places with so much potential are so poorly managed.

herrylaw

New French Makes the Grade 30th September 2007

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Eagerly anticipated my first visit to La Petite Maison, being a fan of its parent in Nice (and the scary patronne, Nicole) and went for an early lunch - which was just as well, as the place had been booked up for later sittings several days before. The signature dish - poulet aux fois gras - is a large black-leg chicken stuffed with fois gras for two and must be ordered in advance, which I duly did - and then fielded no less than four calls on my mobile before I reached the restaurant, to determine if I was still coming (I was - and on time) and then the exact time that it should be served. Very correct - but a touch uber-enthusiastic nevertheless. We started with the famous salade d'artichauts - roughly chopped artichoke with parmesan - perhaps a little too much parmesan this time - washed down with a first-rate Sancerre Prestige. When the poulet came it was superb - and impressively substantial (see photo). I remember little of the rest of the meal as my companion is invariably entertaining but I noted that the menu was a replica of the Nice carte and had on it such dishes as loup de mer en croute de sel for which one formerly had to invest in ticket on the Blue Train to consume. The service was accomplished if not as memorable as in Nice, and the large bright room bore a contented lunchtime buzz and the smell of success.