Le Cassoulet

Arrived with high expectations but was seriously let down.The waitress was attentive but both my wife and I were unable to understand her accent. Both tables adjacent to us had the same problem – with the waitress having to repeat herself several times. At one point a waiter came to our table and asked – “is this your wine?”. We said no but wondered why he was asking us.

As for the food it was average at best – my wife's scallops were severely overseasoned (excessive salt). Then, my wife's dessert order was incorrect, meaning my hot chocolate fondant (for which we had waited , happily, an additional 15 minutes) got cold whilst the correct dish was prepared.

Finally they got the bill wrong and made me argue the fact in front of other diners before they admitted they had made a mistake!

Basically the prices suggest this is a fine dining restaurant. It's not.

Save you money and find somewhere which delivers that experience as Le Cassoulet certainly certainly falls well short.

France in South London Michelin Star food at bistro prices what a find. Set menu at lunch can not be beaten on price or food quality. The only thing that lets this restaurant down is the service it can be very surly, but luckly you would go back time and time again for the food. Three course on Saturday is £19 unbelievable!
Decor is perfectly french so are the waiters uniforms and the lonly other thing which irritates is the parking outside which is very expensive and not long enough to have along french lunch with plenty of wine. Fab Fab Fab

Having read various breathless yet mildly patronising reviews about how the good citizens of Croydon ought to be jolly pleased that something a couple of rungs up the culinary ladder from Texas Fried Chicken had just opened, we booked a table in high expectation.

Unfortunately for us and Le Cassoulet, they had what is popularly described as a ‘mare’. This was almost entirely due to a power failure which saw the electrics being knocked out faster than British heavyweight boxer Audley Harrison.

Consequently we all sat in candle-lit gloom as waitresses valiantly attempted to serve diners without actually being able to see them. The payment processing system was also clobbered so staff had to come to each table in turn asking people what they'd eaten and drunk before adding it all up on a bit of paper.

It was good fun for a while as the Dunkirk spirit kicked in. However we were lucky in that we'd eaten our first two courses (out of three) before the blackout arrived but even so the food was only slightly above average. My steak was too dry to be medium rare and we had to order three bottles of wine before they could give us one that wasn't corked.

This happened a year ago and I'm sure Le Cassoulet has improved. In that time another restaurant, Albert's Table, has opened in the near vicinity. I've been on four occasions so far and it's brilliant: expertly cooked modern British cuisine. And a decent wine list too. Can Square Meal please go along and take a look?

Had lunch here on Sunday, 22 Feb. Was very good. We were next to a very large table (approx 20 people) but as our booking (just 2 of us) was at 2pm, the large table was just getting its main courses so we fortunately missed what might have been a difficult service period.

Sunday lunch is 3 courses for £19.95 which is excellent value given the quality. Bayonne ham with celeriac remoulade was brilliant, as was the endive salad with roquefort and walnuts. Main courses were tiger prawns with chilli and garlic (not so french maybe but really good all the same). My friend enjoyed the rabbit pie. Nice merlot, not too expensive and a fantastic cheese selection and creme brulee for dessert washed down with a nice dessert wine (sold by the glass).

Overall, a really nice sunday lunch – the place was very busy – always a good sign!

Le Cassoulet, Croydon.
Booked for 7.30pm on Sunday evening, but arrived at 8.15pm (after phoning to warn of our late arrival) to a friendly welcome. Something, perhaps the maroon walls, made me think for a moment that I had entered an Indian restaurant. The restaurant has a bar, with some seats, near the entrance and extends quite some way back, but the large room was mainly empty, with perhaps 4 tables occupied. I later asked a waiter if the lack of customers was down to the snow which had begun falling that evening, but he replied that Sundays were always slow.
While my wife was parking the car, I ordered a caffe latte and a jug of tap water for her and a bottle of sparkling water for me. These came quickly. I subsequently ordered a bottle of Vacqueyras (£29) which took a little longer to arrive and was the 2005 vintage, rather than the 2004 vintage listed. The waiter, not unusually, did not mention the difference in vintage and I did not feel like making an issue of it. It could have done with longer in bottle, but was a decent example of the wine.
I chose to start with the rabbit salad and go on to the cassoulet, whilst my wife chose the shallot & gruyere tart followed by assiette of hare. The hare comes with truffle mash, which she asked to have served in a side dish, which it was.
The tart was a fairly standard quiche, with a pretty mild flavour of cheese. My rabbit salad was more interesting. Several portions of loin, some liver on a cocktail stick, mushrooms, a sticky brown savoury sauce and some croutons, all covering a small pile of greenery. There was quite a variety of flavours, ranging from the very mild loin to the hefty kick of the liver. Unlike some dishes I have had, the flavours all went well together.
My wife’s assiette of hare was a small pie and a large quantity of what appeared to be fairly rare hare – looking purple and bloody. I did not fancy trying it, but my wife enjoyed it. I was first presented with an empty soup dish, then a casserole, filled to the brim with the cassoulet, and finally with a soup spoon. The cassoulet is said on the menu to be duck and pork, and I detected both of these, as well as at least a couple of sausages, plus, of course, the beans. Not the best cassoulet I have ever had, but by no means the worst and much enjoyed. I also asked for a side of chips, which were mid-sized and rather floppy. My wife had dauphinoise and a side salad, both of which she enjoyed. The truffle mash, by the way, was a little on the cool side, but did have a definite truffle flavour, which is probably why my wife didn’t eat much of it!
We were both feeling rather full, we were the last customers in the restaurant (at 9.30pm) and the snow was still falling, so we decided to forego dessert and make our way home.
The bill, including service, came to £112, which did not seem unreasonable for what we had. I would say that this restaurant is worth a small detour and is a useful addition to an area not overly endowed with good restaurants. I am not sure it was worth the 2 hour journey home, mostly at less than 10mph, that the heavy snow made necessary. We will return in better weather.