Bistro Bruno Loubet

Dieses Bistro habe ich während meines Aufenthalts im Zetter Hotel kennen gelernt, hier wurde jeden Morgen das Conti Breakfast serviert. Von der Aufmachung her erinnert es stark an ein französisches Café, richtig schön eingerichtet, gemütlich, zum Verweilen.
Trotzdem wollte ich hier irgendwie nie länger Zeit verbringen als nötig. Das lag zum einen an der Frühstücksauswahl, die mich nicht umgehauen hat. Croissants, Muffins, Schokobrötchen… alles etwas mächtig am Morgen. Naja, für eine Grundlage hat’s gereicht und das es im Preis mit inbegriffen war, möchte ich gar nicht meckern. Für einen Normalpreis von 9 Pfund würde ich aber mehr erwarten. London halt ;)
Was mich aber wirklich genervt hat war der Service. Der war irgendwie… umständlich. An einem Morgen war ich als erste meiner Gruppe dort und fragte nach einem Tisch für 6 Personen. Er fragte, ob ich eine Reservierung hätte. Hatte ich nicht, gehörte aber zum Hotel, sollte also demnach kein Problem sein. Er musste dann aber nochmal nachfragen, ob wir auch wirklich 6 Personen sein. Na klar, habe mir das ja nicht ausgedacht, weil ich extra viel Platz brauche. Puuuh… Das hätte mich wahrscheinlich nicht so genervt, wenn der Service nicht schon davor ewig langsam gewesen wäre. Ein Kaffee und O-​Saft sollte wirklich schneller gehen. Außerdem mussten wir nach jedem Frühstück die Quittung unterschreiben. Hatte ich so auch noch nicht, geht das nicht irgendwie besser? Bei 6 Leute und einem Stift dauert das dementsprechend.
Da kam eins zum anderen, also keine absolut runde Sache. Ich lasse mich gerne bei einem weiteren Besuch überzeugen, im Moment sind es für mich ziemlich eindeutige drei Sterne.

Spectacular food, attentive service and superb wine.
I had the beef Indochine with mango salad which was quite simply sublime. The bottle of 2012 Von der Fels Riesling was chilled to perfection and hit the mark. Plenty of impressed and satisfied faces around the table — I will certainly make this a regular destination for dinner whenever I am in town.

A really very good meal in a nice, uncluttered surrounding. Headline — probably 4.5 stars rather than 5, but I’m feeling generous.
Set in an open corner of Clerkenwell, adjacent to the Zetter reception, the Bistro is unobtrusively furnished, with a long curved bar and sightlines to the ‘hotel’ side of things.
A group of us went to celebrate, and boy did the food not let us down. The special starter of tomato salad with goats cheese and black truffles was a glorious concoction, and the beetroot ravioli was given a good rating by the one person who didn’t plump for the tomato dish. The bread was worth a mention for the oniony loaf that makes up half the bread order, very good but not overpowering with flavour.
There was a slight, but not significantly long wait for the mains to arrive, but everyone was pleased with their choices. Of note was the bouillabaisse as well as the unctuous lamb dish (confit shoulder, if memory serves), which was flavoursome and delicate. My steak was good, with a nice béarnaise and chips in an homage to potato wedges.
The wine selection, which we had a nice racy red of during the mains, came into its own with the deserts. The suggested wines partnered the respective deserts perfectly — the brûlée with raspberry was my favourite of the two dishes and came with the better wine. That’s not to say the rhubarb brioche and partner were anything to sniff at.
All in all, a very pleasurable evening, not to mention the company. The service was good, and didn’t get in the way. Surprisingly the restaurant was only about half full on a Friday night at 8pm, so if you come at a busier time then there may be a difference.

Came here when I was visiting London in sept 2013. The food was good but not spectacular. I was slightly underwhelmed after reading all the great reviews on Unilocal.Even so, the food, portions, price, ambiance would have been four star except for the waitress we had. She was totally scatter brained, could not remember our drink orders and it took her forever to get us drinks. She messed up so many times on our drink orders I lost count. Mind you there were four of us and we weren’t switching drinks at every round, it was the same drinks… Then she got all snotty when we asked her to explain some of the choices on the menu. For an establishment like this, we expected really good service. Thats why I had to ding it one star.

Really nice bistro and very good food. The service was very good. Overall an enjoyable experience. I shall be back

This is a little above my budget for food mains are around the £17 mark, plus sides, and my starter was £8, but it’s well worth coming if you’re either not paying (lots of working lunches today!) or as a special treat.
For starter I had the salmon tartare, radish and pickled ginger yuzu dressing 5*. So far, so good. The beetroot ravioli that colleagues were eating looked equally appetizing.
My main was pan fired calf’s liver, green tomato chutney, polenta and walnut vinegar jus, with a (generous) side order of green beans. Another 5*. Liver’s a risky one as lots of places over-​cook it, but this was perfect.
The service was just right and the ambiance lively. So, why not a 5 star? Well, another colleagues steak didn’t have him singing Bruno’s praises, and he was disappointed not to be able to get frites (in a french bistro??!), while another colleague left a little of her sea bream. But, selfishly, based on my own experience, it’s a great place, with big tastes and healthy sized portions.

If I could afford it I’d come to this restaurant every week. It has been a very long time since I have wanted everything on the menu so making a choice was very hard. The food I received, and everyone else’s around the table, was a delight. The service was very good and very professional. It was also a great delight to see the chef in the kitchen cooking.

I’ve been meaning to eat here for some time now, ever since it opened in fact, when even the hardest to please critics heaped praise on Loubet’s spin on Bistro food in this especially foodie corner of London.
So, to the food. The menu is a definate crowd pleaser and well written at that, ranging from intense and gutsy dishes to lighter, cleaner and more dainty dishes. For starters I was alone in sampling the former– «Mauricette» snails and meatballs with a wild mushroom royale– the snails with just the right degree of chew pairing really well with the pork meatballs in a delightful red wine and shallot sauce (almost Bolognese), the wild mushroom royale adding a light contrast to what is quite a rich dish. To the other starters– asparagus and wild garlic soup with a lemon thyme froth– sound technique but the flavours generally underwhelmed, considering what a punch wild garlic can (should) have, and a parmesan mousse with fruit and vegetable salads– a safe dish but well assembled and executed. On to mains– on the lighter side– roast quail with a spring herb and broad bean risotto. The risotto was knock out, the quail cooked well but suffering from wet skin– surely crisp would be nicer (a case for using an oven rather than the ubiquitous water bath perhaps?), over to the dark side– Sirloin steak with a spring onion persillade and piglet, with radishes, bok choi and a lemon jam glaze. The steak was well flavoured the accompanying vegetables tasty and the sauce delicious, however it arrived at the table more medium than the rare requested. The piglet was an absolute delight, all the dishes’ richness counterbalanced by the fresh bok choi and radishes, just cooked, the meat of the piglet layered with just the right amount of fat. All of this was washed down with some decent Rioja (at a healthy mark-​up). Of the desserts the stand out pud was English strawberries with lemon marshmallows and green peppercorn ice cream– a really clever pud delivering excellent flavours and texture.
For food at about £35/​head this was a good meal if not a great one with a couple of real hits and a few misses. Had it not been for the early media hype I may not have left feeling something was amiss.

French bistrot with interesting eclectic décor and nice staff. The menu is short and simple and the dishes are well presented and generous. What I ordered was good, but I tried my partner’s choice, snails for starter and roast rabbit and they were delicious!

Energetic, trendy, buzzing restaurant serving well-​made and colourful French bistro-​style dishes. They do a rather dainty salmon tartare, and put interesting cuts such as oxtail and lamb neck to good use. It’s not fabulous, and the service is slightly stressed and chaotic, but there’s a good atmosphere and you’ll have a decent meal.

I’ve not eaten here, but last night I visited this bar TWICE. That’s how good it is (although not recommended on Valentine’s Day — it looks like you’ve had two dates in one night, classy). Still, if you’re meeting me in Clerkenwell for drinks, expect me to be perched at the bar.
I was celebrating new job goodness so met a Clerkenwell dwelling Qyper for celebration drinks. Excellent bellini, friendly (silly) staff and an awesome atmosphere. This is a trendy, happy restaurant. Swish, without being up it’s own arse. The cocktails do creep up into pricey (as I discovered later in the evening), but I’ve paid more for worse. Actually, a bar this nice charging £6 for a glass of decent bubbly will always get the thumbs up from me.
After dinner with the boy, we decided to pop back for a drink and then one turned into two. I tried a sazarac (rye whiskey, brandy, absinth), which was one of the best cocktails I’ve had in London. All served with a smile. The boy had some weird basil concoction that kinda looked like pesto. But, he liked it so that’s OK.
Sticking to the cheap drinks isn’t easy here («what’s a couple more pounds, it’s Tanqueray 10 gin, why not?») but that’s the difference between a £40 bar tab and a £25 one. But if I’ve got some celebrating to do, I’ll be back here. In fact, I’ll probably find any excuse I can.

Bistro Bruno Loubet is the restaurant of The Zetter hotel, a beautiful boutique hotel in Clerkenwell. I’d eaten there for breakfast when the restaurant was still called The Zetter, and this weekend was my second visit to the renamed/​revamped Bistro Bruno Loubet.
The restaurant itself is in the curve of the front of the hotel (very hard to picture I know, and I would have taken a picture but it was covered in scaffolding). The whole front of the restaurant is all windows which makes it a nice place for breakfast. The place is done up pretty nice, with a scattering of tables, wood and light industrial touches which are so common in this design focused area of London (I once read in a magazine that when it was still The Zetter it was designer Mathew Williamson’s favourite place for breakfast).
The wait staff (which are all French I believe — handy for our little group originally from Quebec) were attentive and friendly. No annoyance when we asked for tap water (I have a thing against bottled water — I think it’s such a waste) and our waiter happily answered all our questions.
The menu has a fair amount of choice and I started with the Beetroot ravioli, fried breadcrumbs and sage with rocket salad (£6.50). The starter was fairly large with about 8 small ravioli, and very tasty. The only thing is that I probably would have pureed the beetroot as the texture was slightly choppy. However, this is a slight comment, and I am no haute cuisine chef so perhaps it’s not done this way for a reason. My fiancée has just piped in that this Beetroot Ravioli is worth crossing the ocean to eat it, so there are some big fans out there!
My main was one of the special’s — the Seafood Sausage (sorry I forget the proper french name) with a fennel purée and a seafood sauce. I don’t have much to compare this too, so I don’t know how it was supposed to taste but the texture was a bit too mushy for me. However, the taste was there and I ate the whole thing with pleasure. Other guests had the cod which they absolutely loved and raved about all night.
I like this place and would go back. We split a bottle of wine between the four of us and with a started and main each it came in at £40 per person with the 12.5% service charge.
Décor: Trendy bistro. It wouldn’t be out of place in Montréal’s bistro scene.
Food: Good solid bistro food.
Price: Reasonable for this standard of food. Starters are around £7.50 with mains averaging around £17.
Good For: Dinner with friends, or a romantic meal for the two of you.

Full review on

Reviews have generally been great (apart from this hilarious lamb ball one from Londonelicious) and I was informed in advance about the fabulously airy big windows by Gourmet Chick. I wasn’t disappointed when I walked in gorgeous hotel and circular bar, great atmosphere, friendly bar staff and prosecco with nice olives to start (on the house because the table was approximately 2 minutes late, not that we’d even noticed service as a whole was fantastic here).
The menu was interesting French with some classics like snails and boudin blanc with imaginative touches. I’ll start by saying I don’t think I ordered brilliantly and I’d like to try some different options next time. But anyway I plumped for soused mackerel, watercress salad, buckwheat bread with prawn butter to start. It was fresh, tangy and light but not mind-​blowing and a little dry the prawn butter was spread so thin I couldn’t really taste it. It was nice. It just wasn’t WOW. My friend totally out-​ordered me with the beetroot ravioli which was absolutely delicious. Humungous portions!
Next, I went for the farmed rabbit leg, filled with a herb farce, carrot purée and young vegetables. My rabbit was tasty but a couple of issues again it was a little oily and garlicky, so much so that I was full really quickly and felt a little icky on the way home And I’m sure I had rabbit before which tasted like gamey rabbit but this rabbit tasted like chicken. But maybe rabbit leg does taste like chicken? Not sure. Anyway the carrot purée and veg were delicious and the meat was very tender I’d just have liked it a little less greasy.
We were too full for pud (the portions are huge) but washed the whole lot down with a £29 bottle of Pinot Noir which was full-​bodied and lovely. I was impressed at the good value wine list which started around £20 a bottle not at all pretentious. The whole thing came to £50 each which of course isn’t by any means cheap BUT extremely good value for lovely service, a beautiful setting and tasty food (even with my gripes above) especially as you can pay similar for a distinctly average restaurant elsewhere in London. With the big windows I reckon it would be a lovely posh lunch option too.

The food is excellent and generous — particularly considering the restrained prices (only a notch over gastropub). The waiters and maitre’d treated this Gibbon well, although I suspect they can turn on the snootiness when they feel it necessary. The wine list is more than satisfactory too. An excellent experience. Oo, oo!

I’m on the bus to Farringdon, salivating rather enthusiastically over Marina O’Loughlin’s description of stickily rich hare royale with onion raviolo, pumpkin and dried mandarin purée at Bistrot Bruno Loubert.
Unsurprisingly, having held the bus driver’s foot to the metal, we arrive early at Bistrot Bruno, like 2 eager puppies. It buys us some time to peruse the menu in the window — tongues to pavement.
And there’s no hare today.
The lip quivers.
But the sun is shining in Farringdon, and nowhere does it gleam brighter than in the breezy modern bistro we’ve come to inspect. With white walls and big windows, BBL is casual but aglow, humming with a contented chatter.
Loubet has returned from an 8 year sojourn in Australia (Brisbane) to once again have the London food scene in a lather. He previously flaunted his skills at such places as London’s L’Odeon and the Inn on the Park where he earned a Michelin star. He was named the UK’s Young Chef of the Year (1985 Good Food Guide) and was appointed head chef of Raymond Blanc’s 2 Michelin Star restaurant, Le Manoir, all before heading to Oz and coming back again to tackle his new creative venture. Blimey.
Loubet’s interesting, creative bistro food adds a modern twist to French classics. It has both feet on the ground, but adds something surprising and creative, often involving exotic Asian or North African ingredients.
I start with the Mauricette snails and meatballs, which circle seductively around a light, creamy mushroom mousse (£8). The sauce is delectably sweet and savoury, but the heavenly mousse steals the show.
We’re dining with our lucky charms, T & M (it seems they never have a bad lunch, at least not with us). TPG and Lucky M have chosen the Sunday roast (beef this week), which comes with a plentiful starter — slabs of hearty terrine, bread and cornichons — and a floating island and Pernod custard dessert, all for £22. The starter is meaty, tasty and generous — we easily could have shared one between all of us. Lucky M is working his magic already.
Lucky T starts lightly with a side salad, which was basic but did the job — she’s only warming up. (Believe me, wait until the chocolates arrive…)
Having braced myself for the hare, my chosen substitute was going to have to be a rip snorter. Lucky T and I both opted for the confit lamb shoulder. The lamb was pressed into a round little bombshell — fatty, juicy and tender — with white bean mash, sweet red pepper, preserved lemon and green harissa (£16). I wouldn’t say there were fireworks, but this was an absolutely lovely combination of flavours, adding some exotic zing to an otherwise hard core meaty dish.
The menfolk enjoyed their lashings of perfectly cooked slices of roast beef with vegetables and bearnaise. Again, servings were generous.
Lucky T and I shared an apple and quince mille feuille with an orange blossom sabayon (£6). Beautifully presented, this was at once a decadent and light finish to the meal. Eternal thanks to Lucky T for allocating to me the larger share.
The menfolk tried to look manly, beating their chests as they nibbled daintily at the their floating island of cloudy meringue in its creamy custard base. In the name of research, I helped TPG crack his way through the toffee coating (which he wasn’t fussed about, but I liked) to serve myself several spoonfuls. The meringue was dense rather than delicate, and TPG thought it excellent. The custard was lovely and creamy with a surprisingly strong hit of Pernod — I don’t know how that works, but it really does.
Coffees came with a scrumptious little chocolate ganache each, with hints of salty caramel undertones. In true Peanut Gallery form, TPG likened the flavour to a sophisticated version of the Cadbury Chocolate Éclair.
Service was friendly and mostly good, although dessert wines would have come after dessert was devoured had we not issued a prompt (and even then we had to hold back our spoons awhile). Then, having specifically requested coffee to arrive after we’d finished the dessert wine, it came early — twice. We let it go the second time.
Niggles aside, I thoroughly enjoyed Bistrot Bruno Loubet. It’s been heaped with praise since it opened some weeks ago, but it’s a worthy recipient. I can see it going from strength to strength as it continues to provide clever bistro delights to us lucky Londoners.
A 3 course meal for 2 with wine, dessert wine and service costs around £90. And you probably won’t need dinner…
For photos see: Greedy Diva @

Having heard so many great reviews about Bistrot Bruno Loubet, I was very excited about trying it for myself, especially since it’s in my neighbourhood. The room was a little too crowded for my liking, with very little space between the tables. The food, although certainly good, did not quite hit the mark with me and I left slightly underwhelmed, which probably has something to do with my having built the place up so much before trying it for myself.
I will definitely return though as I think it showed real promise.