Le Truc – CLOSED

Odd. Every dish seemed a bit off. My coque au vin was more like coque in gravy. It didn’t have the deep red meat you get from slow cooking the chicken in actual red wine. The gravy was brown instead of deep red. Didn’t fall off the bone the way it should either.
The mix drinks were equally odd. An old fashioned with chartreuse (??). Bad mix.
I feel like this is the English version of French. Like the chain restaurant version. Does ok in a bind, but not essential.

Went to lunch today here around 1.30 thinking that because it wasn’t busy, it wasn’t going to be great. What a surprise! Delicious meals and great prix fixe at £12.50. I had the pea velouté and sea bream nicoise, plus delicious cocktails. She had a salmon rillette and steak frites, cider. All simple, delicious, filling, for £40.

I love this place… the décor is french shabby chic but the food is still wholesome and doesn’t come in those silly little portion sizes. You can take dogs into the bar area which is full of sofas and very relaxed. I’ve never been and not had a nice time!

Breakfast Review:
The breakfast is OK, but the staff and the ambiance are both wonderful, meaning this venue gets a 4 instead of a 3 from me.
Its a standard Full English breakfast, (I still find it funny, being served a Full English in a very French restaurant), but when I got mine, the egg was hard. This is a personal pet hate of mine. Sure, I could have asked them to do it again, I probably should have, but I didn’t — my bad.
The interior is wonderful. The site of the restaurant is brilliant, (on the edge of China Town). I do find it odd however that my friend insists on having a Ricard with his breakfast though. Horrid stuff!

I wish I didn’t have to write this review but it has come to this.
I went with a friend who works in the hospitality trade. We sat between 8 – 8.15 pm on a Tuesday night. There was at tops 5 other tables, the largest having 4 people sit on it. We ordered off the fixed menu as it looked a good deal and we wanted to be out by 9 ish. We finally left at 10pm after half hour waits between each course.
The food was alright as it was a fixed menu at a good price I don’t think it reflects the full menu quality. I had seared which tuna was only barely seared and served as a large lump of raw tuna. Not a seared tuna steak as you have been served elsewhere. It was not to my taste and the manager did take it back and took my meal off the menu. We also had ordered a side of chips which were wedges, soft and not cooked fully.
We had a cheese board to share for dessert as we so late we thought we might as well. We both had a espresso based cocktail. I do not recommend it unless you like toffee flavor side kick. It was served warm, which just added to the shot-​in-​a-​dirty night-​club feel. To top it off the cheese board was served with not relish but apple sauce. I have been assured that is not their standard serving style but apple sauce? So that went down a treat.
At this point I would like to point out the massive wait between each course, the okay food and terrible cocktail and cheese board. We paid and we left. Now for full disclosure I should inform you that I fell ill with gastroenteritis within 2 hours of eating at Le Truc. Most food poisoning happens a few days later but I can inform you that it can happen quicker.

I wrote a email a week later to them. I was called by a lady who was shocked at the service and the whole apple sauce incident. She assured I could not have gotten food poisoning. I agreed to not write a review as I felt it was a one off incident. She said the General Manager will be in touch in the next two days as well.
Nearly three weeks later I have not received a call. At this point I will say that is how you don’t deal with upset customers. I felt like I wasted my money there and maybe the food is better other nights but I can’t recommend a place that can’t even do something simple well.
All in all there is better places to eat in Birmingham, the wine was nice enough though.

I have heard nothing but great things about Le Truc recently, but just hadn’t ever had a chance to get down and try it! It sounds awful (as it’s centrally based), but the Arcadian isn’t an area I get to venture down to very often as I don’t have much call to be around this part of the City…
Well, that’s going to change. With great businesses to try, the Hippodrome Theatre and pubs and clubs galore; I solemnly swear that I will make an effort to walk my boots down to Westside. Le Truc is a great place to start.
I actually ventured down here as it was the venue for last months Birmingham Social Media Café; so as such I was there of a morning meeting other great people for coffee and chats. As such, I can’t yet comment on the cocktails or the food (this will be rectified — promise) but I can give you an overall feel for the venue and some interesting tidbits.
First, let’s cover the coffee. As this is a French restaurant/​cocktail bar; you would hope they have good coffee. I can advise that Yes! Yes they do! And do you know what? They have great service to go with it. I ordered a coffee and then settled down in my seat to chat to other attendees at the event. I hadn’t realised that they had put my coffee down on the bar (even though several people testified that they had — I’m just in a world of my own sometimes), so when I got to my coffee it was cooler than normal. «Not a problem, my fault» I said to the staff who then decided this wasn’t on and made me a further fresh coffee for free!
The place itself is really quirky and fun. I loved the pink poodle head, the artwork and the vibe of this venue. With lovely hard wood, great design touches (DJ Booth made out of cassette tapes for example) and lots of different alcoves and seating areas to choose from; it’s a winner in my books.
I can’t wait to go back and try out the food and the cocktails. Having had such a positive first experience; I’m already looking at my diary and wondering when I can pop back in!

I had three meals in three days here. Great service and I like the outdoor seating area. They have a lot of options that are low cost and I liked everything I ordered except for the soups. They have heart here, the French manager was there each night and she genuinely cares. I think they hire nice people and they’ll really take care of you if you’re a pleasant customer. steak was amazing. The house salad is fantastic, basically a nicoise minus fish — for three pounds. There are finds in the menu! Love these guys and I hope they thrive.

Cool surroundings, great people, amazing food and cocktails… It’s has ambience darling… Ambience!

A great place for a drink and a bite.
Been here a number of times, mostly just for the drinks and a bit to eat on the ‘bar’ side of the place. It’s kind of a hidden gem on a Friday night… with prices a bit above the dodgy clubs around you don’t get many in there mostly, but for what you pay it’s awesome. Even when it’s busy the staff put in effort with the drinks and bar food. Can be a bit of a wait though if the restaurant is packed.
The place also supports the arty scene of Southside and pieces around the walls have been done mostly by local folks and even a few by the staff themselves!
I’ve dined here a few times but I unfortunately can’t recommend it. The dishes are an English spin on French cuisine I think. A bit on the small side and although fairly nice didn’t really seem worth it. They have changed the menu a few times though so I should probably try it again. One thing I’ll avoid if it’s still there though is the Chez Gratin… for some reason it was added to the menu ‘by popular request’ from the other restaurant they used to run. but I couldn’t really work out why… it’s just really cheesy potatoes, kinda like chessy chips you can get from any kebab shop.
All up though it’s a must visit when out around the Arcadian/​Southside area. Oh and they sometimes have a DJ/​Live Music/​Poetry … that sort of stuff ;)

If there is a cuisine that I am not afraid of indulging myself, it’s the French one. From a simple soup to the irresistible crème brulle, everything seems to be always so delicious.
Le Truc was in my list of restaurants to visit for obvious reasons and I glad I finally made it. Even this modern French bistro was open just in 2012; it is not just another hype place to eat, with massive queues to get a table. It’s a well-​established business and it’s also a quiet restaurant. In fact, very quiet!
I have booked a table before my visit but I don’t think it’s an issue. And I liked the atmosphere at Le Truc straight away. A very smile host also helped to make me and my husband very welcomed!
The restaurant has a really young staff and they looked all seemed very interested to serve well. Even if it meant working in the last weekend of the year, when everyone else was partying and saying goodbye to 2013!
I knew exactly what I wanted to try but the pre-​fixed menu looked quite interesting as well. A couple of cocktails to start the night and a nice look around in the eclectic and very French décor style were enough to feel comfy at the place. There is music in the background but it’s just a complement to the nice vibe.
And because I felt in love with all cocktails names and descriptions, it was impossible to stop drinking. A nice excuse, anyway.
My verdict was: Death in the afternoon is the favourite one.. Love fizzy and refreshing drinks! Absinthe, prosecco and lemon is a perfect combination. The intriguing one: Grounds for divorce. For so many reasons. The cocktail prices are quite different from another.
La nourriture was really nice. As I am a big fan of steak tartare, my starter was just what I expected from a nice and French portion of food. The a La Carte menu is a bit pricey but my Onglet steak (which I have never tried before) was also divine. The main course prices are between £12−23. but at least, the crème brulle is just £5 and the whole french dinner wouldn’t be complete without more cocktails and nice service.
The other good news is: you don’t need to visit Le Truc to eat. Their bar itself is very inviting and a nice starting for a night out in Chinatown itself. Voilà, just drinks next time it is!

Fantastic restaurant where I had the pleasure of hosting a live music event. The event was to help raise awareness and funds to buy a defribulator for The British Heart Foundation.
The manager was extremely helpful and flexible to help myself and some other students to host the event. The venue even sourced and donated some free bubbles, that were given to guests at the start of the event.
Le Truc is a fantastic sized restaurant and bar with interesting contemporary french themed deco.
While I have not eaten there I did manage to sample some of the speciality cocktails, which were mind blowing in more ways than one!

I went for lunch at Le Truc between Christmas and New Year hoping for an escape from the sales scrum with some friends. Le Truc delivered. It was quiet. Too quiet in fact. We were the only people in the restaurant for quite a while.
M & I went for a lunchtime deal, 2 courses for just over £10 and K went for two courses off the main menu. I found the vegetarian options that I had very mediocre. The gnocchi was a bit slimy and the tomato and courgette fricasse very oily. M & K enjoyed their mains of duck and steak however. The French aren’t known for their veggie cuisine I guess.
The ‘home made’ fruit cordial, something with pear was lovely. I’d go there again for drinks, the cocktails do look nice, but not for food.