La Trompette

La Trompette is one of my favourite restaurants in London. Located just off Chiswick High Road, it recently received its first Michelin star. The French oriented cuisine is delicious and creative, I have been three times and each time a completely different but equally unique, diverse menu has been on offer.

La Trompette is owned by Nigel Platts-Martin and Bruce Poole, the partnership behind Chez Bruce in Wandsworth and The Glasshouse in Kew. It serves some of the best food in London but without the formality or prices associated with the capital's top end establishments.

The staff in La Trompette genuinely wish to cater to your every need, making the whole experience luxurious. From the outside this restaurant is stylish and unpretentious; the interior is much the same, a comfortable relaxed dining room. I have only ever been for lunch, and it has always been completely full to the brim with many regular diners.

As I mentioned previously (Kitchen W8 post), set lunch menus are the way to go. La Trompette offers 3 courses for £25. This is what we had:

Diner 1 –

Starter: Foie gras and chicken liver parfait, toasted brioche

Main: Rump of lamb with Moroccan spiced couscous, aubergine, garlic and coriander

Dessert: Lemon posset with shortbread biscuit and raspberries

Diner 2 –

Starter: Marinated beetroot with fresh goats cheese, candied hazelnuts, endive and granny smith apple

Main: Beef hache with spinach and wild mushrooms

Dessert: Valrhona chocolate marquise with candied hazelnut ice cream

The foie gras was quickly demolished, and immediately the attentive staff offered a second slice of toasted brioche... we accepted greedily. The Beetroot salad was also good although the flavour of beetroot can be a little overpowering. Both meat mains were cooked to perfection, but I didn’t particularly care for the grey mushroom paste that lay beneath my beef. I prefer the vegetarian ravioli that I had on my first visit. Once again desserts trumped as the course of the day, especially the refreshingly zingy lemon posset (a silky smooth mousse similar to syllabub). I like that the menu suited the Autumn season, with warm flavours, comforting after coming in from the cold. I was disappointed that we weren’t given the usual devilish chocolate truffles at the end of the meal although I was already feeling very full.

Really, delicious but very rich; don't count on achieving much in the afternoon!