Le Garrick

Le Garrick is a lovely pre-theatre spot, offering traditional French style meals in a romantic (if slightly squashed) setting which is pleasing enough for a longer linger if there isn't a curtain to rush off for. The £11.95 two-course pre-theatre menu (pate or soup followed by steak- or moules-frites) offers good value, and the a-la carte is also reasonable, with most mains around the £10 mark. We started with a fondue of vacherin with white wine and herbs - a gloriously gooey pool of cheese served in one of those vaguely wooden round boxes in which they sometimes sell camembert (£12.50 for two to share). The waitress was surprised at how quickly we slurped it all up with slices of French bread. For mains, we polished off a confit de canard (£12.95) and an onglet steak (£9.95). The steak was OK, though it could have been a bit more pink (in a French restaurant, when I ask for rare I expect it to be *rare*) and the serving of pepper sauce could have been a bit more generous. But the thin chips were crispy, the mayonnaise fresh and overall it was all pretty good. The biggest downer of the meal was discovering that the gorgeous but rarely seen in England French Pelforth brun beer advertised on the menu was no longer on offer. The £12.75 bottle of house red (specially bottled in France for Le Garrick, the label informed us) was reluctantly ordered instead -- it was drinkable (and drunk) but unremarkable. With Pelforth, it would have been damn near perfect, but even without I will come back for more vacherin....

Le Garrick, 10 Garrick Street, WC2 9BH, Tel. 0207 2407 649; Tube: Leicester Square