Former Plateau head chef Allan Pickett trialled his Anglo-French cuisine with a residency at Fitzrovia’s Sanderson Hotel in the summer, while his debut restaurant was being created down the road. After opening its doors last week, we’ve been down to Piquet to trial those tastes…
Enter this sleek little bistro off Oxford Street and you’ll be seated either in the dark wooden-panelled narrow ground floor, or the much larger 1920s-style basement: all reclaimed-wood floors, brass fixtures and capacious open kitchen. After cocktails, peruse the classic French menu of chef-patron Allan Pickett (ex-Plateau and Galvin Bistrot de Luxe).
Our amuse bouche bode well; we could taste every ingredient in the salmon and chive rillettes, served on a buttery biscuit. Next, half a native lobster arrives in a beautifully garlicky broth of samphire and beans; a glass of Eroica Riesling complements it perfectly. For mains, venison with braised cabbage, elderberries and chestnuts from the carte is autumn personified, while steamed monkfish with seared ox tongue and port-butter sauce offers a highly inventive take on surf & turf.
The delectable crunch as our dessert of pear and red wine Tatin is carved for two at table shows why Pickett deserves his name – albeit Franglaisised – above the door. There’s also a lunchtime carving trolley, a market menu, and a killer bar menu, marrying British produce and classic French cooking techniques. Our conclusion? Piquet is that little black dress of restaurants: so timeless it will never go out of style.
If this has piqued your interest, check out SquareReel News for an interview with Allan and this week’s foodie update.
This article was published 1 October 2015