Le Rendezvous

Crisp, bright autumn day, perfect for sharing a cote de boeuf and a bottle of house red with a colleague at lunchtime. We went to Le Rendezvous, tucked away next to Charterhouse Square in the shadow of the enormous Malmaison. There’s something about Smithfields that fosters French restaurants, probably the proximity of all that meat.

Pretty on the outside, pretty on the inside. Charming waiters who are on first name terms, yellow walls, wine lists hanging from hooks, small tables set close together, menu chalked onto the blackboard above the window. The specials were lamb or swordfish but we’d already settled on the beef. We worked our way through the best part of a bottle and baguette (lovely butter), talking office gossip and need-to-knows before the main came.

The cote de boeuf came medium rare on a wooden board, the mini-moat catching the blood. A side of frites, a bowl of green salad and a pot of béarnaise and we were good to go. Although it doesn’t look like all that much on the plate (let me clarfy: it was attractive but didn’t look like much in terms of quantity), it was incredibly rich and we didn’t manage to finish the portion. It was perfectly rare and melt in the mouth in the middle and crusty on the outside, packing a real punch of flavour. The béarnaise sauce was silky and as good on the frites as the meat. The frites themselves were crisp and light.

This is rich food, simple and comforting. We lingered over wine and headed back to the office after a leisurely hour and a half. At £25 a head for the beef, bread, bottle of wine and an extra glass of the stuff and service, it was a deeply satisfying lunch. It’s a cliché to say it’s like a little piece of France tucked away in EC London, but it really is the case.