La Trompette

La Trompette - it's seen better days.

I've been coming to Trompette for years and considered it to be the height of haute-cuisine in Chiswick, but on eating there last night, although I can still say the food is excellent, since the refurbishment and change of Chef earlier this year, everything else has slipped.

Service is very slow (our neighbour had to wait 30 mins for a starter!); fewer waiting staff; no longer a dedicated Maître’D, nor sommelier; new decor lacks the old intimacy, and overall ambience is simply lacking; the bill was simply dumped on the table without our requesting it, straight after they left the coffees! What's worse is that formerly 3 courses for two people, with a modest bottle of wine and coffee used to be around £60-65 per head, now its £90-95.

In short, it's lost its crown and probably soon its Michelin Star as well I would have though, which really belongs to the previous chef. Such primacy I think has now been passed on to Michael Nadra or Quantus – both of which are a stone's throw away from Trompette, have fine menus, lovely service and don’t break the bank – this last point being so important during recession, Trompette had better re-think things or I fear for its longevity.

Another fantastic night at La Trompette

Table for 4 in the window, La Trompette only loses half a point because there was a slight draught coming in at the start of the meal, once we'd had a glass of wine and some food we didn't seem to notice any more. The salmon mousaline in corgette flower was exquisit for a starter and the chocolate wafer with salted caramel mouse was completely delicious as well. The main course were all equally delicious but something about the creative starters and deserts that really stands out for me at this lovely restaurant.

This is my second favourite french restaurant in town.
The big protagonist is food!
The waiter was good in guiding me through the wine list and I had a lovely white wine to pair with my fish menu.
I found the decor too neutral and standard. I would like it to be a bit more personalised.
I went back there with a group of 10 people and we were all happy with the experience.
Excellent desserts and top level cheese board!! A dream for cheese lover…a little comment to add on this. Some of the guests were french and were really surprised when they were offered savoury buiscuits to go with the cheese.
They've immediatly called the waiter back asking for some baguette!!

Great food in comfortable formal but not stuffy dining room. Very good value for money. Great service. Almost like a hidden gem. Great value for money, much better than many central London restaurants.

Lunch arranged by friends to be equidistant from our homes. A marvellous accident. The meal, an early New Year lunch, was one of the best we have eaten in the last year. It was matched only by Chez Bruce, its Wandsworth sister, and the Galvin's two London locations.

It may have been that in the immediate post New Year period the restaurant was almost empty and perhaps we benefited from attention of the service staff, the sommelier and the kitchen but I don't think it was simply that. The staff all seemed knowledgeable and took real pride in the food and drink that they poresented. Bewtween us we enjoyed a wide variety of dishes – ham hock terrine with a crispy poached egg, a beet salad, a wonderfud daube full of flavour, some perfectly cooked sea bass and splendid desserts. Dry sheery to start followed by some great and unusual spanish wines. It was a tremendous experience and we will undoubtedly return.

I had been longing to return to La.T. having been recommended it last year by a regular diner and also recalling good memories of my own from a visit in the past. We booked end Oct 2008.

Décor and atmosphere like the rest of the Brucey group is informal which we like. I ordered boudin blanc in Madeira sauce served on a bed of spinach which was afloat. How it arrived without the very thin juice being spilt was a miracle, and with no starch on the plate I would have welcomed a strainer. The sausage itself was very good but I am sure that the sauce/jus was not as intended and perhaps worsened by poorly drained spinach. It had a slight acrid taint as though some cooking juices had been burnt but no sweetness present as would have been expected from fortified wine input. When asked if everything was alright, I mentioned the foregoing (minus the bit about acrid/burnt), but waitress returned to tell me that it was how it was meant to be. I can’t help wonder why it is no longer served that way – now with roast apple, bacon and mustard sauce and to be fair could purely be for grounds of variation/seasonal change. I think red mullet followed but the rest was not good enough to be memorable.

My partner and I had 3 unremarkable courses between us, the fourth as above. It was all sloshed down with reasonable quality wine; my yearning now quelled and desire to return again waned. Had I booked another night, it may have been as good as Sq.M. states in preamble if chef was on form. Looking at Glasshouse latest menu I could eat the lot, but not perhaps all at once. I hope Anthony Boyd’s standard is as good as it used to be when it was a ‘regular haunt’ of ours. He and his sous chef had been working together for over 15 years and it showed, or should I say it didn’t because you could not detect when Head Chef had a night off. Fantastic sommelier at Kew too. Anyone been there recently?

The food is really really good and the wine list is as good as the reviews suggest .