06 Jun Le Garrick

Candle-lit restaurants with that old-fashioned smoky, sexy kind of charm have always appealed to me. They beckon and entice me in. I relax more in a restaurant that doesn’t have glary lights; I feel myself kicking back and genuinely glowing, in the glow of it all!

Le Garrick is one of those. Been there forever, and forever I have heard it calling to me, but never slowed down long enough to listen. Until last night that is when my friend and I were in Covent Garden, craving somewhere charming, cosy and French. ‘Oh, that’ll be Le Garrick’, and off we went.

It’s lovely, in that old fashioned, unpretentious lovely French kinda way. The staff are fun, sexy and, FRENCH (sexy by default then really) and they bob about happily, taking it all in their stride.

The décor is rustic and pleasantly unrefined – wooden floors and chairs, exposed brick and boudoir wallpaper. The candle light hides any imperfections, for which I am grateful too.

The food is as you’d expect from a French Brasserie – no surprises, just all the old staples, the epitome of French cooking. We tucked in to Coquilles St Jacques – seared scallops which were perfectly cooked, bouncy and succulent – and Cassolette de calamar à la plancha au piment d’espelette – calamari in the most exquisite, intensely rich, decadent, sweet buttery sauce with ginger, coriander and chilli. I have no words to really do this sauce justice, only to say that, had I been at home I would have undoubtedly licked the bowl clean. Subsequently, I ate far too much French bread, mopping up every last drop.

Rib-eye and frites, an old brasserie dependable, was as good as any; and beef Bourguignon was unctuous and plentiful with another sauce to blow your mind. Aromatic, more’ish and deeply satisfying – another bowl-licker!

Meanwhile, we enjoyed a rather quaffable 2007 Gevrey Chambertin, mindful not to quaff too quickly. And as the candles flickered, and the place gently hummed with mellifluous background noise, for just a moment I imagined I was in my favourite city in the world – Paris, in a 1940’s foxy full skirted dress, with my French lover, Benoît, smoking and drinking Vermouth.

I blink and it’s gone. But what a lovely evening it has been, avec mon amis, Jeremy.

Le Garrick | 10-12 Garrick Street | Covent Garden | London |WC2E 9BE T: 020 7240 7649

© Isobel Cripps