Café Rouge - Highgate

Lovely venue, over the many years of being here I have always loved it: excellent decoration, every seating area with different things to look at. The food is always excellent -- and the re-addition of salmon to the menu over the last few months is a very welcome addition: always lovely, tasty, cooked to perfection with good accompaniments. They also do a gluten free version (no sauce) - and the staff as specifically trained to cater for GF (no cross-contamination).

Also recommend omelettes and salads. Again, good GF understanding and menu.

Overall my favourite restaurant for many years. Consistently good food, friendly staff, wonderful location. I highly recommend it.

So it was Halloween Friday night, the local kids had got their sweets, one of my daughters was on a sleep over so my wife and elder daughter decided on a local supper. I reserved a table at the normally dependable Cafe Rouge. We arrived into a busy restaurant seemingly a bit of a surprise to the sparse staff, who were keen and helpful but few and far between. We ordered two steak frites one medium one medium rare plus a confit of duck. Plus bread and a glass of wine. We got the wine and water in a relatively short time but had to wait 20 minutes for the bread "its a bit hectic tonight" commented our waitress! After 30 plus minutes our food arrived both steaks medium to well done, we sent one back and surprisingly rapidly got a replacement. My confit had clearly not been cooked in the restaurant kitchen but assembled and gently warmed! The warm duck , OK but dry, the immaculately cut warm small square of dauphinois potato adequate and meagre but the sugar snap peas dreadful, again warm but incapable of snap - soggy almost mushy. To charge £50 for this is inexcusable. I felt sorry for the staff....