Brasserie Zédel
January in London this year has been bitterly cold, and one of my favourite ways to fight the baltic weather has been to find a quiet corner in a cafe and hunker down with a book and a steaming cup of coffee. This is how I spent last Saturday, as I cafe-hopped in Piccadilly while making my way through Carlo Rovelli's lovely 'Helgoland', a brisk journey through the philosophical consequences that the emergence and development of Quantum Theory as our prevailing theory of how light and matter works, has wrought. For anyone interested in the mechanics of our universe and who doesn't want to do a degree to understand the mathematics, this is as good a guide as any for the layman. While pondering possible get-outs for entanglement, I decided to pack up from Maison Assouline (a delightful, gilded bar of wonderful sumptuousness just down the road from Fortnum and Mason), and go for lunch at Brasserie Zedel.
Into a small bar-style waiting room and down stairs lined with Belle Epoque posters, the Brasserie is situated in a cavernous Hall that feels like you've walked into the middle of a once-train station that has now been commandeered as a restaurant. The wait stuff are bustling around the vast number of tables with plates of food, the chatter is everywhere at once, and for a moment, it feels like I've stepped across the channel and 80 years back in time.
Brasserie Zedel is a bit of Paris in London, accentuated by the brasserie fare on offer (mainly meat and fish, with few options for vegetarians) at very affordable prices. The wait staff are not ones to dither. You are seated and then you wait to be served - there is no rushing them. How very French. I opted for a light lunch consisting of a pastry of mushroom, chestnut and spinach served with chervil beurre blanc, with pommes puree on the side. Everything was delicious, the pastry flaky, the filling rich and overflowing, and the pommes puree absolutely perfect; creamy, buttery and soft. Prior to this, it is worth noting that bread and butter is served gratis.
An abridged seating this may have been, but I would feel remiss not to comment, given the quality of the food I had, and the lively setting that would be perfect for family get-togethers or dates in equal measure.
Value for money? £23 including service charge for a main and a side. It was a very good lunch, so yes.
Would I return? I certainly will - Brasserie Zedel is never going to make you feel at home, but it's whirling dervish act of service has a certain charm.
