This place makes me happy. Bellanger is a Corbin & King restaurant, which means it’s a sister restaurant to several other restaurants in London, including The Wolseley, The Delaunay, and Brasserie Zedel among others. I’ve been to each of the three mentioned and while they are all of a certain quality, this one is my favorite. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that it’s in an entirely different part of town (Islington instead of West London) or that the menu is a bit different, or just the feel and vibe of the place, but this place is great.
Bellanger, like each of its sisters, has a very old school traditional vibe. But each one offers a different cultural experience. Bellanger is a traditional French restaurant, serving food from breakfast through late night. The restaurant is bustling, but the vibe is very calm. When you walk into the Delaunay or Brasserie Zedel, there’s a lot going on immediately – it’s one big open space and it can get chaotic and loud. It achieves a nice effect, but isn’t necessarily great for every occasion.
Bellanger is also a relatively open room, but divided into more distinct and private sections, so it feels smaller and warmer. We had reservations for a Saturday evening, and in general I’d definitely recommend them. It was a full house, so I don’t know how long a walk-in would have to wait. Peak time seemed to be 8-9:30 pm.
Our hostess gave us a choice of three tables, which is always a nice thing to do. We sat in the front section off to the right of the entrance in a corner half-booth. The other tables in our section were either already filled or filled up shortly thereafter. Our server was fantastic. Though she was busy with tables throughout our entire section, she was attentive enough and available when need be.
She was very friendly and tactful, and was knowledgeable about the questions we asked. We were treated very well.
We ordered the salades râpées, the munster and échalotes tarte flambée, and the coq au riesling (their take on the traditional coq au vin).
Salades Râpées – absolutely my favorite salad in all of London. It’s a trifecta of salads, really. Three beautifully arranged salads of shredded beetroot, carrot, and celeriac, respectively. Lightly coated in a lovely mustard dressing. They do additionally add a French vinaigrette on top of the mustard dressing, but I promise you this isn’t necessary. In fact, it will likely detract. Ask for it on the side or not at all. Your palate will be rivited by the flavors of the spiced vegetables and mustard dressing alone. I would eat this salad every day if I could.
Munster and Echalotes Tarte Flambée – Tarte flambée is a traditional Alsatian dish that’s found throughout the French part of Switzerland, some parts of Germany (“Flammkuchen”), and certain parts of France. It’s a super thin, crispy, cracker-like flat bread. Traditionally, it is topped with bacon lardon, cheese, and onion, but there are many variations. This one was simply munster cheese and shallots.
Roasted Root Vegetable and Goat’s Cheese Quiche – Bellanger has the classic Quiche Lorraine (bacon, cheese, and onion quiche), but also this vegetable quiche. The root vegetables are carrot, sweet potato, and parsnip and it’s absolutely delicious. It’s rich, like quiches tend to be, but so worth it.
Croque Monsieur – probably the most classic French sandwich there is, the croque monsieur is a ham and cheese sandwich with bechamel sauce, served on sliced bread. Often times, croque monsieur has cheese melted on top of the bread as well as inside the sandwich, which, in combination with the bechamel sauce, makes it incredibly heavy and greasy. This one had just the lightest hint of bechamel sauce and no melted cheese on top. The ham and cheese (they used Gruyère) inside the sandwich were very measured and as a result, the sandwich was one of the lightest, simplest, and most harmless croque monsieurs I’ve ever seen. The portion was admittedly not big, so you’d definitely need to order it with more food.
Coq au Riesling – this is Bellanger’s variation on the traditional coq au vin. It is a riesling braised landaise chicken with mushrooms and pearl onions. The fact that Riesling is used makes it, of course, much lighter than its more traditional Burgundy color. It’s cooked and served in a lidded pot, with several bone-in pieces of chicken, baby button mushrooms, and pearl onions. “Landaise” means it’s cooked in goose fat (in the Landes region of Western France, geese are abundant). It is served without any accompaniment, so to the extent you would like a side dish, order that separately. You can order the dish for one, two, or four.
For dessert, we were generously given a complimentary dessert sampler of:
Complimentary bread is provided and a water pitcher is provided on each table for convenience.
Incidentally, Graham Norton was at the table next to us and he seemed to be a very nice and unassuming guy.
