Langan's Brasserie, London, UK

We have walked pass Langan's Brasserie a couple of times before decided to try it. In all those occasions, the brasserie looked very busy, full with local business people. That gave us a good impression. What's good for the local must be good for us...

One Saturday, we made a reservation and managed to get ourselves a table for lunch. Not so busy this time. First impression when we entered the Brasserie was warm and welcoming, but as soon as we noticed that they laid paper table cover, that reminded us to a back street chinese restaurant, we started to feel less than pleased. 

Trying to distract ourselves from criticizing the paper table cover, we're going through the menu. There are quite a large varieties of Anglo-French food served there. Wine selections also quite large and prices seemed reasonable too. One starter in particular that caught our attention was the Spinach souffle with anchovy sauce. So we ordered that, to be followed by Tagliatelle with smoked salmon, also a portion of Poached skate with capers. And we chose a good bottle of Montagny 1er Cru white wine. 

The Spinach souffle was indeed different and well made. Just slightly dry as it gets colder, so we had to keep topping it up with anchovy sauce. Quite a delicious starter, indeed.

The Tagliatelle was very tasty too. The flavour of smoked salmon and dill cream was well blended with well cooked pasta. The portion was rather generous though, it's best to skip starter to be able to enjoy it thoroughly.

The poached skate was slightly less satisfying. The meat was tender indeed, but in comparison to the pasta, portion of skate served was small and it tasted blend. And considering skate is a very delicate type of fish, to us, instead of poach and drench it with creamy capers sauce, we would rather have it simply pan fried to retain the flavour.

When it comes to dessert, you may have noticed that we often order Creme Brulee at many restaurants we went to. Simply because, although it is a very common dessert like Tiramisu, but only few restaurants are able to make and serve Creme Brulee correctly. So, we put Langan's into a test. And as predicted, the Langan's Creme Brulee was not up to our standard. It was served cold and showed very little effort to present it nicely.

Let's get into a fact, Creme Brulee can be pre-prepared. It can be made hours before serving time, then just leave it to set and chilled. And to serve it, simply sprinkle some caster sugar on the top, spray with a little water and blow torch it to caramelise it. Finishing touch that takes less than two minutes but makes a lot of difference. 

So, it really disappoints us to be served cold Creme Brulee in a popular restaurant like Langan's. Our other dessert, Orange and coconut tart was just as disappointing. Grated coconut mixed in the tart was hard to chew, no taste of creaminess whatsoever. We were not impressed at all.

Overall dining experience in Langan's was average. Which it should have been very good, considering it's location and reputation. The service was slightly above average, but we noticed that the cleanliness was poor, especially the floor. 

Would we recommend this restaurant?? Yes, we would, although we must warn you not to have high expectation.


Langan's Brasserie
Stratton Street, Picadilly, London, W1J 8LB
Phone: +44 20 7491 8822
Website: http://www.langansrestaurants.co.uk/brasserie.html