Review: Pique Nique, Bermondsey

Some restaurants try too hard. I always remember going to L’Artisan in Cheltenham, a place trying outRAGEously hard to be French, and seeing that one of the waitresses had a little label that identified her as “French trainee”. I genuinely couldn’t tell whether she was a trainee who happened to be French, or a trainee who was learning how to “be French”. The latter was very believable.

And yet for sheer outRAGEous Frenchness, Pique Nique knocks L’Artisan into a cocked hat. Because, frankly, it is the real thing. Just happens to be in London rather than Rouen or Rheims. The location is bizarre. Yes, you do need to walk past the tennis courts. What looks like an old Edwardian park pavilion over there is actually an old Edwardian park pavilion that has been transformed into a restaurant.

The menu is short and classic bistro but without resorting to cliche. Six starters, three mains, and a couple of specials for sharing. We went straight for these. Sea bass wellington? Chateaubriand? Get in there! Obviously we had starters first, after all we had some wine to soak up. My crispy egg was good, particularly the salad of broad bean, apricot and girolle that it sat upon. Lovely fragrant flavours set off by a piquant vinegary dressing.

Piquant? Oh no.

I’VE GONE FULL FRENCH.

The chateaubriand was a stunning bit of meat. Insanely soft and yielding, and presumably aged at great length ‘cos it had an unmistakable pong of blue cheese about it. I loved this. Not everyone would. But hey, gallic shrug, what can you do? The jus poured over was just a brilliant dark and silken boozy-meaty glory.

The seabass wellington had mixed reviews. It looked amazing. And the puff pastry I could have nibbled all night. But the amount of mushroom and spinach duxelles kinda dwarfed the fish and – although tasty – was deemed “just a bit much”. Zut.

We overcame any disappointment with a batch of simple and delicious bistro desserts and finished up the wine.

So I can heartily recommend Pique Nique if you and a bunch of friends want to enjoy some outrageously French cooking in Bermondsey. I can’t call it brilliant value; around £36 for 3 courses of (very good) bistro cooking, pushing up higher if you pick the sharing dishes. But it is atmospheric and it is fairly unique.