With travel to Paris still problematic, what to do if you want old school French grub? Even if it has a certain charm of its own, Mayfair’s Shepherds Market will never be the Rive Gauche, but Le Boudin Blanc gives you a little taste of what being in France could be like. The restaurant is a Mayfair establishment, having been open for almost 30 years, and I first visited in the mid-2000s, on the recommendation of a Frenchman. Prior to my most recent visit, I had last been to the Boudin in 2018, and it had not been a good experience, reminiscent in some ways of the British sitcom ‘Allo ‘Allo, with appallingly slow service to boot.
With the novelty of being able to eat out again after the easing of lockdown restrictions still fresh and with many more fashionable venues fully booked, I returned – albeit with some trepidation – to the Boudin. My dining comrade (a Portuguese national, with no specific French allegiance) was very positive on the prospect of eating there and this gave me confidence.
Fortunately, my doubts were vanquished and lunch was very pleasurable, albeit helped by pleasant spring sunshine and a bottle of wine (Portuguese of course). Service had improved markedly since my previous visit and staff seemed almost over-eager to be of assistance. Food-wise, there’s no boundary-pushing here, but it’s classic French.
We opted to share a plate of asparagus to begin. It’s a hard dish to mess up and my first bite was of unpleasantly woody stalk – it should surely not be too difficult to source base ingredients – but this proved an exception and the starter was undoubtedly redeemed by the decadent Sauce Hollandaise accompaniment. Onto the mains and we both opted for steak tartare. This was my second time at this dish since lockdown ended (see here) and Le Boudin’s iteration was my preferred version. The chef did not try and over-complicate its preparation and I liked the overall composition with the meat’s juicily rich texture harmonising against the capers and herbs that featured within. Hopefully the streets of Paris will be welcoming me again soon, but in the interim, diners could certainly do a lot worse than visit Le Boudin.