db Eats: Les Deux Salons

Les Deux Salons in Covent Garden has been taken over by restaurant and soft furnishings scion Sir Terence Conran, who has given the space a shiny £1 million makeover to turn it into his vision of a Parisian Rive Gauche brasserie.

Having bought the site last December, the 83-year-old Francophile declared it open for business in June after its expensive zhush, marking the 46^th restaurant launch for the Quaglinos owner. The 240-seater all-day restaurant shares a street with Terroirs ­– King William IV near Trafalgar Square. Set across two floors, at street level is a casual bistro, café and bar, with a more formal white linen tablecloth affair on the first floor, which boasts a private dining room.

Peviously run by Will Smith and Anthony Demetre of popular pleasure palaces Arbutus in Soho and Wild Honey in Mayfair, heading up the kitchen under Conran is Barry Tonks, who won a Michelin star at McClements in Twickenham. The first thing you notice on arrival is the arresting emerald green and gold façade hinting at the splendour that awaits inside, where the green and gold theme is craftily weaved throughout. The emerald awning tips its hat to one of Hemingway’s favourite French hangouts, Les Deux Magots in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

steak tartare

London has recently learnt how to do brasseries with flair. Spearheaded by Chris Corbin and Jeremy King and their hugely popular, ever-expanding brasserie empire taking in The Wolseley, The Delaunay, Zédel and Colbert among others, more recent players on the scene to have successfully brought the concept to the capital are Keith McNally’s Balthazar in Covent Garden and Eric Chavot’s Brasserie Chavot in Mayfair, proving Londoners have yet to tire of steak tartare, fish soup and moules marinière.

Les Deux Salons’ interior is in the grand Corbin and King tradition, complete with sweeping staircase, racing green columns, a stained glass ceiling, elaborate light fittings and lashings of varnished wood.

There’s something charmingly anachronistic about the place, which seems from a different era, winding back the clock to the days of statement dining in London before everyone whipped away the table cloths and started serving single dishes to those patient enough to brave a two-hour queue.

While curious to taste the food at the fine dining restaurant, on my visit it was emptier than a cemetery at midnight, so I was thankful for a table at the more buzzing brasserie. Waiting staff are almost entirely French, which helps add to the fantasy that you’ve been swept away to St-Germain.

Bringing along a French dining companion to judge the Gallic fare, our meal kicked off with an expertly made LDS Margarita, a twist on the Mexican classic with the addition of passion fruit. Smooth and citrus-laced with a hint of exoticism from the interloping fruit, the restaurant has a very capable bartender, a joyfully frequent occurrence in the capital these days.

tarte tatin

On the food front, I’ve believe a steak tartare is a great litmus test of a bistro and Les Deux Salons’ version (£11) didn’t disappoint. Ordering the smaller starter size, it arrived cushioned between two charred hunks of peasant bread with a sunshine yellow yolk perched on top begging to be pierced.

The meat itself was super fresh and iron-rich, given added interest by a constellation of capers dotted throughout. Punchy, crunchy and tangy, it gives Chavot’s near perfect version serious competition. The frites (£3.50) meanwhile, were decidedly French: skinny with golden jackets and fluffy stuffing.

My main, a sizeable lemon sole meunière (£18), was a thing of beauty that needed no accompaniments. De-boned by the waiter at the table, its swan-white flesh was as light as a cloud, falling onto the fork in lemony flakes and given richness by the brown butter.

Dessert lovers will delight in the tarte tatin, which is worth leaving room for. Theatrically served in a saucepan, the giant, rustic, pastry-based pud would happy feed a family for a week. Served with homemade vanilla ice cream in Kilner jars, the waiter kindly allowed us to take half of it home in a doggy bag for a midnight feast.

The all-French wine list covers the country’s key appellations, from Bordeaux and Burgundy to the Rhône, the Loire and the Languedoc. My journey began with a 2013 Roussette de Savoie from Domaine Lupin, which offered notes of apple, pear, nougat, hazelnuts and honey.

Canal de Grand Piece Chinon from Domaine de L‘R meanwhile, was light and fresh with appealing notes of wild raspberries and cherries. The star of the show however, was a 2009 Château Béard St. Emilion, which lived up to the reputation of its vintage via notes of cassis, pepper and spice wrapped around a gravely, mineral core.

Les Deux Salons is unashamedly old school in its approach and therein lies its charm. It isn’t trying to be achingly hip and on trend, but instead has the humble aim of delivering delicious brasserie classics to a theatreland crowd. My worry is that it will be tricky to keep such a cavernous space full, but diners who do make the effort to visit will be richly rewarded.

Les Deux Salons, 40-42 William IV Street, London WC2N 4DD; Tel: +44 (0)20 7420 2050