St Germain

ilovelucy

Good food, drink and ambience 21st April 2009

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St Germain is a nice place - run by nice people. Cocktails are 2-4-1 from 5pm to 7pm, Monday to Friday and you can usually get a table for drinks. I went for dinner using the Tastelondon card the other night and it was very pleasant. I really enjoyed my black pudding, quail's egg salad and my sirloin steak was huge and flavoursome. This is the type of place you can meet a group of friends for dinner and like the French - you can stay there the whole evening...

AlexWoods

All is forgiven! 7th January 2009

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And so, the saga of St Germain draws to a close. And like every good story this has a happy ending!

After two terrible lunches, an email conversation with the manager (which rather impressively, he instigated), and much deliberation I ventured once more unto Turnmill Street, with The Ever Present Doris and another, for what I was sure would be another woeful meal.

I am DELIGHTED to say that through the grace and intercession of the blessed St Germain (not to mention a new chef and a concerned manager), all passed misdemeanours have been absolved. We started with a smoked eel and bacon salad, stuffed squid with chorizo and a chicken liver terrine. Being the uncouth kind of chap I tucked into EPDs squid and instantly regretted not ordering it myself. It was just delicious. Fortunately the eel salad (which was as chilled as it should have been) was equally good. The dressing was a little heavy on the vinegar, but that’s only if I’m being particularly pedantic. Which I am. George’s terrine was apparently top drawer.

Rather boringly, two of us had a most gratifying cassoulet. It was a like a big culinary cuddle! Rich, warming, buttery, meaty, delicious and hot! George’s duck confit was top notch – not too greasy, full of flavour.

The one slight ebb in an otherwise ebullient tide was the Crêpe Suzette. The crepes were a little heavy, but it was made up for by the deliciously syrupy bitter-sweet orange. The highlight, I have been told to inform you all, was the espresso martini, though frankly it is hard to select a single thing to laud above all else.

Contrary to my previous comments on the service, our waitress was attentive, knowledgeable and quite charming, and I should like to apologise for scaring the crap out of her by asking to see the manager at the end of our meal.

It was a truly excellent evening and I would not hesitate to recommend it in the future.

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I'm aware that this review is rather long, and rather angry! Full version can be seen on my infant blog.

I would like to add that St Germain clearly care very much about their reputation and the experience of their diners. I have been contacted by the restaurant manager, anxious to apologise and make ammends for what was, after all, a poor experience. I'm impressed and willing to give them a chance to redeem themselves, especially as I have heard only good things about them from others. Still, for now, sit back and enjoy!
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I went to St Germain for lunch with work colleagues. The place was virtually empty, just 3 other tables of diners. Despite this, our 2 course lunch, from a set menu, took nearly 3 hours. The service was just abysmal. Not just the complete lack of awareness or speed, but things like stretching across me while I was eating to collect an empty water jug, topping up wine glasses so inexpertly that a couple ended up with glasses full almost to the brim, while most other people went with out, just lots and lots of little things that, had the food been any good, or been served in a reasonable time, I would let slide.

However, the food was terrible. I started with oxtail and black pudding salad. Great idea, horribly executed. The oxtail was flavoursome, the black pudding non-existent, and it was topped by two over cooked, broken fried quail eggs which just tasted of vegetable oil, and some burnt bacon. (NB crispy does NOT mean fried to cinders.) I'm not sure whether the oxtail was supposed to be hot, but it wasn't. I'm pretty confident that the eggs were but it genuinely would not have surprised me had they been cooked the day before.

Fellow diners suffered strips of burnt mackerel, also cold. I've rarely seen such unappetising fish (see review of fish! for comparison.)

My main course of Toulouse sausages with honey and mustard was also cold. I'm not quite sure how the honey and mustard... dressing was supposed to work but it tasted watery, the mustard was pretty meagre and wiped over some cold, undercooked potato. There was also a puddle of starchy, salty, cold gravy - not necessary if you're going to use a mustard and honey... thing: please, one or the other. Or preferably neither. The sausages were pretty dull as well. And cold. I was beginning to sense a theme. (I can be a bit slow on the uptake.)

The other horrors that appeared on the table included a ravioli which was swimming in grease - definitely not butter, didn’t look much like olive oil either. It just looked like grease. I can't remember exactly what was in it, other than walnuts, but apparently it tasted "funny". Our token fussy eater (by which I mean vegetarian) had a pretty mean fricassée of vegetables (...interesting), also stone cold.

Now, there was no need for chips (and there rarely is) but chips were ordered. I have never understood how it is possible to f...udge up chips and it never ceases to amaze me how many people manage to do so. If you have ever worked in a restaurant, pub or chippy I hope you'll understand my incomprehension.

So. Limp, soggy, cold French fries were the final nail in St Germain's coffin.

I find cold food that is supposed to be hot pretty inexcusable at the very best of times. (Similarly, I find hot food that is best cold pretty offensive as well. See oysters, smoked salmon, and lettuce for details) but to take THAT long to serve cold food in an empty restaurant is frankly taking the…

I was rather hoping that there would be something pleasingly ironic to round this off... St. Germain being the patron saint of hot food or something, but the best I could come up with was that he was disinterred 179 years after his death (in 575AD for those of you who give a crap) and his remains then rehoused in the church of St. Vincent, Saragossa.

I can only presume that something similar happened to those chips.

gastrosnob

Classy French Joint 20th March 2007

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Went here for a pre-xmas 06 meal with 10 friends, not long after it opened.

Greeted by classic Black and White attired waiters who were professional and friendly.

Great bread basket, helped us choose mid range but seriously good wine.

Oyster starter followed by Duck, followed by Cheese and Port. Very good indeed.

Been back for Cocktails twice which are also very good.