Situating a French Bistro next to
the Dolphin on Mare Street is a bit like putting the Eiffel Tower in Grimsby. This was confirmed when we arrived at
Bouchon Fourchette and the warm blue lighting which lit the
room emanated from two police cars and a police van outside arresting someone. You don’t get atmosphere like this in
Le Gavroche, but if I didn’t love this type of atmosphere I would be crying
whilst looking on Zoopla for a flat in Highgate.
The converted shop feels like a
proper restaurant, in terms of there being no east London benches, all the
chair matched, there wasn’t a ‘small plate’ in sight, and meals came out at the fashion of - starter – main – desert. Hurrah! There
was even a family in there. There
was obviously exposed brick, but I am now sure this
is part of an obscure Hackney licensing law.
The menu is traditional French fare
at incredibly good prices. We started with a camembert which came spiked with
garlic and a side salad with a French dressing. It had the classic feety twang
everyone now loves and stayed impressively runny throughout the dining time.
Nothing angers one more than jabbing your bread at solidified cheese before
resorting to peeling it off with your nails. However, it was runny boxed cheese and salad. I am not sure how
French people eat camembert but if isn’t with bread then it is confusing.
However an order of bread quickly provided an appropriate vessel to funnel the molten
cheese into face. For the main I went with the fish of the day – which was
Lemon Sole – on the menu for £11. This was confusing given that in normal
establishments the bones of the Lemon Sole normally clock in at £11. The fish came
and was pleasingly cooked,
charred but still moist and a surprisingly good portion for just over a tenner.
Pleasingly BF didn’t opt for the
annoying tact of a providing cheap protein only to discover it
comes with a single (or no) leaf to
leave you wantonly wondering if you should order chips. The side was a generous
double portion of green beans wrapped in bacon. My girlfriend got a French take
on the aubergine parmigana of courgette gratin which actually works much
better: the courgettes don’t turn to mush and held the tomato sauce, which
could of held its own as a soup or amouse bouche. It only cost £8! Anyone
taking out a vegetarian go here and confound their fear of French food (and
hopefully trick them into going into a Parisian restaurant to find
out the only veggy thing they can eat is Onion Soup laced with beef stock).
Desert was an deep tasting concoction of home-made chocolate
sauce, brownie and cream and more sauce with
ice cream (chocolate obvs) in a
sundae glass for two people which was a reasonable £7. The bottled house wine
(they have house barrel as well) was notably tasty and they had a really nice
desert wine – I think, it was like drinking thin alchoholic syrup - at fair
prices. Just in case you didn’t feel like you were robbing the place they even
have an offer for a free glass of house wine with any main course in April.
The only criticism I can think of
was that it was a tiny bit cold in the restaurant but everywhere which isn’t a
new build is cold in hackney at the moment. Bouchon Fourchette is the 'dream'
neighbourhood restaurant – everything is good value, the food is interesting, comforting and tasty and service is relaxed and friendly. Also after getting nicely drunk on French wine and you can go do 9 Sambucas in the
Dolphin afterwards. Win,
win.
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