Comptior Gascon – Food, Food, Everywhere but Not a Bite to Eat.

Comptior Gascon is part of The Gascon family: a trio of restaurants all around Smithfields with Club Gascon (the daddy of them all with one Michelin star), Cellar Gascon, the relaxing Wine Bar, and Comptoir Gascon the low key bistro.

Refusing to head to one of my normal midweek haunts The Boyfriend and I decided to head to Comptoir Gascon where, I have been numerous times never to be thoroughly impressed but he had never.  This time, it was worse then ever… dare I say it – it might have been my worst experience in a London restaurant.

So many errors, where to begin?

The venue itself is nice enough – much like 28-50 (practically around the corner, serving similar food, with a similar Michelin star sibiling) – although this is the original having opened four years earlier. The typical exposed brick, shelves with wine and snotty waiters. Extra points for Christmas decorations (much beloved by the Boyfriend having grown up in Christmas-less Turkey.)

The service itself was fine but not particularly friendly, more like we are here to do a job, serve you food and that’s it and as service is included we don’t really have to make an effort to make you like us. They didn’t and we didn’t.

The menu itself is highly appealing and given the location in Bankerland very, very cheap. The food is a lot more exciting than in your typical restaurant of this cost – if only it had lived up to expectations.

The starters were fine. I ordered Charcuterie or “Piggy Treats” as it is called here -I don’t really appreciate the name, I’d rather not refer to myself as a Pig in front of the staff but fine. It was good, a nice mix of different types of salami and ham all very satisfying and all in all a perfect starter for only – 7.00!

The Boyfriend’s Spicy Mackerel and Fondant Potato  - 6.50

He declared as “what he had expected” but “too much onion and not enough potato”. All in all not as good as my Piggy Treats– but then again for the cost pretty damn impressive.

This is where it all started to go down hill. Firstly, they managed to get one of the main courses wrong– impressive as the waitress had repeated the order and got it right as she wrote it down. They seemed shocked at the suggestion of taking the side and the other main back to the kitchen to be kept warm whilst the other main was being made but obliged all the same.

Both The Boyfriend’s and I’s mains – Squid Brandade, Braised Celery & Ink Sauce and Seafood Barleysotto & Chorizo both 13.00 – looked very nice, served in earthenware dishes along with a Pasta Gratin 3.50. Sadly this was the best they did.

So here is the explanation for the title. I happen to have a special issue with restaurants that don’t provide salt and pepper. It seems the Chef wishes to say my taste buds are right – yours are wrong even if you want more seasoning I know better and you cant have any. In the case of Club Gascon, this is perfectly justified because I think if I had added any more salt it might have been unedible. Seriously, excess salt is unhealthy. Club Gascon is clearly trying to teach those of you who like salted food a lesson – no more salt. As a person who generally lives in a permanent state of somewhere between hungover-ness, dehydrated-ness mainly eating processed food, I adore salt but this was just too much and really that’s saying a lot.  All three dishes were excessively salty to the point where you just have to ask – did they get the big hole and the lots of little holes bit on the salt shaker confused? I hope so.

In addition to this my dish, of Squid Brandade contained not only overseasoned potatoes but also cooked toothpick. YUM.

The Boyfrend’s Seafood Barleysotto was so close to being right – bar the salt – with a lovely tomato flavour and satisfying chew of the barley but sadly was let down by gritty undercooked seafood (no, my teeth don’t need to be exfoliated, thanks)

The Pasta Gratin, again minus salt, was nice and on the other times I have visited this restaurant I have genuinely enjoyed it however, the fear of not waking up in the morning after finding out I had suffered cardiac arrest stopped me eating more.

After pointing out the cooked toothpick we decided to resist pointing the over salt although I was tempted to say “ You eat it or make the Chef- its just not fair.” 

It wasn’t really worth asking for dessert by this point so we asked for the check, which came to around 60.00 (minus the Squid which they removed after the toothpick comment). For 2 starters, 2 mains and 3 glasses of wine in a restaurant with a “designer label” that seems reasonable but given the quality of the food it just wasn’t. 

Comptoir Gascon

61-63 Charterhouse Street

London
EC1M 6HJ 
020 7608 0851