Cuisine: French

Cost:

Rating:

Where?: Charterhouse mews, Charterhouse Square, London. EC1M 6BB.

Closest station(s): Farringdon, Barbican, Moorgate, Liverpool Street.

Telephone: 0207 608 1609

Website: www.cafedumarche.co.uk

Café du Marché would struggle to hide itself away any further if it tried; in an area famous for its meat market and meat focused restaurants such as St. John it has not gone out of its way to advertise itself to death – it remains relatively unknown outside the immediate area; however it is a cracking place.

The main dining room has a feel that is very much like a French farmhouse kitchen with exposed wood and brick throughout creating a cosy atmosphere which looks well used without for a second becoming shabby. The menu is fantastically French; offering a selection of rustic and often little known provincial dishes.

The black pudding with which I started was some of the best I have ever tried and the ox cheeks with gnocchi with which I followed was divine; wickedly meaty and sitting in a sauce that saw me ordering more bread at the end of the meal to ensure I made the most of every last drop.

At £28.50 for two courses it seems reasonably priced and with the addition of house wine at under £19 the bill was less than I had expected. On the whole the service was good, with the exception of the waiter who took our order who didn’t seem to comprehend any of the dishes that we ordered, couldn’t explain an item on the menu and insisted on me telling him how many down from the top the wine I was ordering was as he couldn’t understand that order either – I can’t say I have ever had that problem before and I certainly hadn’t drunk enough to have reached the slurring stage.

Café du Marché is a great restaurant with a particularly wonderful atmosphere; the food was packed with flavour and would certainly be considered rustic over delicate. I will definitely be going back – possibly after some elocution lessons.