The Balcon - As chic as Chanel?

This time last year, The Boyfriend and I headed to Brasserie Roux, as a pre-Nutcracker pit stop, and ate a selection of rather uninspiring food in their grand but empty dining room. This time, we headed back to visit their new version – The Balcon, as a pre-Nutcracker pit stop and found it to be a very different experience. They've clearly tried to make the place cool - it's inspired by "Coco Chanel's 1920's Paris apartment". They are possibly under the misguided view that if they throw the words "Coco Chanel" in a restaurant blurb, the place will automatically become the new "scene" place. Last time I checked Ms. Chanel was known for the 2.55, the LBD and tweed suits but not her interior design skills.

Regardless, of whether she was or not, the dining room does look a whole lot cooler and ambience feels notably less stuffy, without losing any of its appeal for an older crowd. It is very Wolseley-esque, thanks to their gloriously high ceilings and smattering of columns. There is a champagne bar offering a fairly wide selection of the stuff. We arrived at 5.30pm, and ordered from their pre-theatre menu, which offered, a varied selection of three dishes per course. The menu is, thankfully, without Chanel prices, at a reasonable £15 for two courses, £20 for three, with no additional cost for cheese.

The start was shaky for The Brunch Buddy, who had managed to get there a good 15 minutes earlier than the rest of us but was ignored by the staff for the first ten minutes and was left without a drink or menu. In addition to this when he did get a menu, instead of handing a menu to him and then handing one to each subsequent guest to arrive, all four menus were plonked on the table. Things improved with the arrival of a large basket of freshly baked bread with two different types of butter, and a jug of tap water with no snobbery from the staff.

The two starters the group choose were both well received, Carrot and Cumin Veloute was hearty without being heavy and made me feel significantly better after the walk to the restaurant. But it was good, but nothing particularly memorable. The Sibling’s Boyfriend, and The BB, both went for a smoked trout starter, which was reported to be – well balanced and light and managed to avoid any overly fishiness. It looked rather pretty too.

My main course, Duck with Mushrooms, was so over-salted it left me downing of glasses of water after every bite. Whilst the other components on the dish were all well executed, the heaviness of the salt meant that the other flavours were overpowered. The Sibling was very impressed with her Salmon with Sauerkraut; they had managed to achieve the crispy skin, but soft and flaky cooking of the fish.

We passed on dessert, as we were not only running out of time, but also available stomach space. Our waitress, who by this point really embodied the whole service with a smile thing, insisted that no matter how full we were the complimentary mince pies that arrived with our bill were worth it. She was right – they were, without a doubt, the best mince pies I’d ever eaten. Thick pastry that crumbled in the mouth absorbed the sticky sweet mixture.

The Damage came to £22.50 each, for the lot including service and a bottle of wine between four.  The change between our pervious experience and this year’s was marked, service was patchier but improved, the room felt fresher and the food more exciting. The only thing that hasn’t changed is the bargain-like prices for the pre theatre menu.