Le Caprice -

Like my Amaranto review, I went to Le Caprice sometime in mid-February, but didnt finish writing till now. Most of the details, like names I got right here though  - 

Le Caprice is one of the most popular restaurants in London and yet, I found I didn’t truly love any part of it. The Boyfriend and I left thinking “ we just don’t get it”.

Le Caprice has been around for a long time and it doesn’t really look like its changed in that time. Some people may like the décor, the black glass, the art deco lamps, the white walls and the photos of the celebrities. I don’t. I don’t love it. It looks a bit out dated in my opinion. But at the end of the day, the food is what really counts and I liked that as much as the décor.

The Boyfriend and I, ended up at Le Caprice one Sunday night.  After being ushered in we were immediately seated at the very end of the L shaped dining room. At a table which overlooked the staircase leading to the Women’s toilets. Not the greatest location but fine, I  got to spend the whole evening staring at a photo of Johnny Depp half way down the staircase.

We started with a glass of champagne, which is free, if you go on a Sunday night to Le Caprice and book over the internet. Next, came some fairly unremarkable bread with some salted butter.  Weirdly, the waiter never asked if we would like water, and we had to ask for it. Random point but still strange.  They seemed to have gone for a bit of a confused service plan in which we were served by three different waiters none of whom seemed to have a defined role which may explain the slightly disjointed service.

I began my meal with a duck salad. The sauce covering the duck was wonderful. Tangy, rich and slightly sweet and the salad complemented it perfectly. The duck itself however was overcooked. I struggled to finish the dish, although I wanted too (the sauce was that good), because I couldn’t spear half of the pieces on my fork.

The Boyfriend’s salad  of mozzarella, with tomatoes, and crispy avocado with a pesto dressing however was really truly wonderful.

We moved on to mains. Nothing had really jumped out at me from the menu but I ordered - Chicken Milanese. The Chicken itself was too under-seasoned for my dehydrated palate and at a cost of £15.25, for just the chicken I considered it to be on the expensive side. It was okay but not great, I spent most of my time eating wondering what they had done to the chicken to value it at £15.25.

The Boyfriend, who really ordered well throughout this meal, went for the salmon fishcake which was to die for. I was tempted to get out the "If you really loved me" card at this point, and swap meals. Ever the kind girlfriend, I settled for eating every other bite of his meal. The fishcake was unlike any I have ever had, the Salmon composed the majority of the cake as opposed to potato, as in so many other restaurants. Whilst breaking apart the cake you could see large chunks of salmon falling everywhere. Lovely.

As a side we ordered carrots which were lovely.

When it came to dessert I almost cried.  Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen say Hello to my cheesecake. I am a diehard cheesecake fan and one of my cheesecake highlights was the one I had tried five years earlier at this very establishment. It was a classic, beautifully executed New York cheesecake. Obviously, I had to try it again. When it arrived I wondered if they had confused my order as in front of me lay a large blob of something. Upon exploration I discovered that it was slightly salty baked biscuits broken up and combined with a largely unsweetened type of cream, not even a hint of cheesecake flavour. It was such a strange way to serve a “Cheesecake”, especially one not advertised as any modern new approach to cheesecakes, I had to wonder, was this what they normally served? Or was it a late Sunday night service and they were making use of what they had left? Anyway, I would love to know if this is what the cheesecake is meant to look like and whether any one else thought it wasn’t too great but who knows. The plums, that accompanied it,  were little comfort to me.

The Boyfriend’s winning streak continued as his dessert, a Rhubarb Triffle was a triumph.  They had left some cling film on the side of the dish, which wasn’t a big deal but generally gave the impression that they weren’t aiming for perfection with the meal. I can’t really imagine that happening at many other establishments.

The Bill came to around £95.00. For three courses, and by no means did we choose the most expensive items on the menu, we drank tap water and only one glass of wine which we shared. 

To be fair to Le Caprice, it was a Sunday evening, I’m sure the place is entirely different on a Saturday evening or for a Sunday brunch. I’m sure the service never misses a beat and every dish is perfect, but on that Sunday it wasn’t up to scratch.