Blanchette, London

We planned a last minute New Years trip to the capital and after a frantic search for somewhere  to dine that wasn’t charging an arm and a leg for a ‘special’ menu, we finally settled on Blanchette in Soho. A cosy bistro serving French small plates and not a set menu in sight which was welcome, at short notice we managed to bag ourselves a table for four for an early dinner before heading off to find a good location to see the fireworks. 

Typical of most Soho restaurants where space is at a premium, the dining room is long and narrow with bar seats offered along the bar area. Blanchette was established by three brothers, Maxime, Yannis and Malik Alary and also draw on consultancy from another small plate London favourite, the Salt Yard Group who run Opera Tavern and Ember Yard amongst others.

The small plate concept encourages dishes to be shared, which in our opinion is more interactive along with the added benefit of being able to try more dishes! The menu is split between snacks, starters, charcuterie, fish, meat and veg. Dishes range from £5 - £10 and are worth it for the quality. We ordered a whole host of dishes to share including:

Crispy frog legs with bois boudran sauce

From the charcuterie section we tried truffle saucisson from Rhone

Octopus with burnt clementine, fennel and pistachio

Hot smoked salmon with beetroot, quail eggs, potato crêpe and truffle butter

Daube of pig cheeks with dauphinoise croquette

Braised lamb shoulder with anchovy, rosemary and soubise sauce

Confit duck leg with butternut squash purée, hazelnuts, chilli and star anise

Tournedo Rossini with foie gras en croute, shaved truffle and madeira sauce (a NYE special)

Roasted beetroot with pickled girolles, fleur de marquis and tarragon dressing

Brillat-Savarin salad with pear, red endive, honey and poppyseed

Hot chocolate fondant with salted caramel ice cream

Passion fruit vacherin

The favourite dishes of the night were the frogs legs, pigs cheek, salmon and salad dish, the desserts also hit the spot as well with the passion fruit vacherin being perfect foil for the sweet gooey chocolate fondant.