The City of London has just two one Michelin star restaurants: Club Gascon and Rhodes 24 (both St John and Galvin La Chapelle fall outside the City boundary albeit by only a few yards). One might reasonably believe therefore that such a restaurant would be teeming with suits of a lunchtime service but today we found it quite deserted; the sunshine is not it seems Club Gascon's friend.

You might also expect prices to be at the very top end within the Square Mile but here again too, we found that not to be the case with Club Gascon offering very good value for money (once we had finally figured out the menu). The lunch menu is different to the dinner menu which is essentially a la carte and a touch pricier. 

At lunch, the standard menu from which to choose is the Dejeuner Club menu priced at £25 for three courses, and while the food at this price nods towards the bistro, the lunchtime beef cut for example is the onglet, it remains nevertheless Michelin kissed. Also at lunch there's the option of 'Le Marche' at £55 (a seasonal tasting menu that is also available at night), and Le Deluxe menu at £65 which is a sort of all-you-can-eat foie gras menu, courses of which can nevertheless be ordered separately as (supplement) substitutions or additions. 

Club Gascon, as the name implies and a foie gras menu testifies, is a very French restaurant indeed and the food is accordingly of the region. FOH staff are of course also French and we did encounter some communication difficulties while their knowledge of the dishes was sometimes lacking (or maybe that was the communication issues again).

The first dish out was something that we're sure would divide households across the nation: Marmite Royale. Bringing together French foie gras and the very British Marmite, all served from a Marmite jar with a spoon to scoop it out. This is of course huge on rich, sweet and savoury flavours that as you will of course either love or hate; we ordered it, we are of course in the love camp. Again, on the value front, this is part of the standard £25 menu and not a substitution from Le Deluxe. The other starter of pine smoked king prawns offered delicious prawns, perfect smoking, but seemed to us muddled in execution offering sliced shell on prawns with tapioca pearls and frosted oyster making it both an eat with your hands and an eat with your knife and fork dish.  

An extra from the Deluxe menu was then shared, Duck Foie Gras 'Pot au Feu' with spring vegetables. While Raymond Blanc has said the pot-au-feu is the most celebrated dish in France that 'honours the table of the rich and the poor alike', we're guessing not with foie gras it doesn't. This up market version was stunning bringing together huge flavours in a dish you didn't want to end even with all its richness. Divine.

The main courses comprised the French rabbit, fennel salad and confit chorizo which came with a visually impactful squid ink sauce and a rabbit sauce, together with the Sauteed beef onglet pastrami, sherry & barbecued ketchup. The flavours on both dishes were excellent but the rabbit dish was so heavily salted that around a third of the plate was returned which was a real shame given how good this could have been.

Another substitution before our chocolate dessert, here 'scrambled Brillat Savarin' on truffled sponge with honey ice cream (supplement £8.50). Some confusion with our waiter over whether this dish has scrambled eggs in at the time of ordering (it doesn't) but a wonderful and decadent construction that made for an original cheese course.

Our final desert was a disappointment as the chocolate fondant had not achieved its full potential. Rather than liquid inside it was at best 'close to gooey' rendering it all too heavy. The salted caramel here was barely salty, salt in all the wrong places today and despite two of us sharing, a third was still sitting unfinished by the end.

There's also a extensive use of flowers in the desserts which we are not fans of: the mousse with violet ice cream, Champagne rhubarb with rose and poppy emulsion and the fondant with lavender chantilly. Clearly a personal preference however.

There's credit to be given here: the food was playful at times, had bold flavours throughout, a couple of excellent dishes and all at a very good price. A failing on the main course however always leaves a lasting impression and the too-solid fondant gives it a final nudge. We love the full flavours the food offers but are equally sad that two dishes went back unfinished because they weren't right. We would for sure return here to eat, we just wont be rushing back.


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