{"id":482,"date":"2009-11-04T20:37:40","date_gmt":"2009-11-04T20:37:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/?p=482"},"modified":"2009-11-04T20:37:40","modified_gmt":"2009-11-04T20:37:40","slug":"seasonal-flavours-at-bellevue-rendezvous-in-wandsworth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/seasonal-flavours-at-bellevue-rendezvous-in-wandsworth\/","title":{"rendered":"SEASONAL FLAVOURS AT BELLEVUE RENDEZVOUS IN WANDSWORTH"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEASONAL FLAVOURS AT BELLEVUE RENDEZVOUS IN WANDSWORTH<\/strong><\/p>\n

Located at 218 Trinity Road, London SW17 7HP. Telephone 020 8767 5810<\/em><\/p>\n

Trying to find a really good classic, simple Bistrot style restaurant is no longer as easy as it once was, even in France, as we have found to our disappointment in recent years. Here in London and its suburbs, the proprietors of French restaurants are often over ambitious, a failing that can end up in disaster. So, when I heard that the Pyrenean chef Pablo Gallego had opened a proper Bistrot on Wandsworth Common, I thought I\u2019d let it settle down for a few months before going along with some friends to see what it was all about. I was also intrigued by the name, which reminded me of that whacky French cartoon film Belleville Rendezvous, with its crazy cyclists and hilariously manic dog (not to mention the toad eating witches)! http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=QHB_dzJOk4U<\/a><\/p>\n

Bellevue Rendezvous has a fresh, pastoral look.<\/strong> The bright dining room is filled with light from the large skylights, and with the steel blue woodwork, it\u2019s a sophisticated pastiche of French country style. By the entrance is a sitting area with a view of the Common. A large banquette, upholstered with red cushions, is great for larger groups of friends or family to lounge about on. Elsewhere, pine tables and chairs are topped with grey and white runners, fresh flowers and candles, while attractive enamelled panels with bright floral images decorate the walls.<\/p>\n

Chef patron Pablo Gallego offers an ever changing set menu of sensibly few choices, but which celebrate his enthusiasm for sourcing seasonal produce. (Lunch: 2-courses \u00a312.50, 3-courses \u00a315 and dinner: 2-courses \u00a316, 3-courses \u00a319
\nThis is served alongside an a la carte menu featuring four more choices for each of the three courses. To get an idea of what\u2019s on offer we\u2019ve appended an example menu below, but it\u2019s already quite different from the Autumn menu we enjoyed the other day.<\/strong><\/p>\n

From the set menu the starter \u201cSeasonal Quiche\u201d was light and creamy and flavoured with mushrooms. From the a.l.c menu a scallop raviole was really well executed and went down a storm. My pigeon breast was incredibly tender and came with grilled figs \u2013 a marvellous marriage of flavours. <\/p>\n

Then out came our mains In slightly indecent haste \u2013 getting the timing perfect is such an art and this was really one of so few little things we could find to criticise. From the set menu the guinea fowl was impeccably cooked, ably complemented by pumpkin mash and nutty braised chicory. My sea bream was beautifully succulent with close textured flakes of tender flesh and a crispy skin that all got eaten.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The main course venison fillet with celeriac pur\u00e9e, salsify and ceps (\u00a319), was pink in the middle and tender, but a bit lacking in gamey punch, easily out manoeuvred by its delicious accompaniment of celeriac mash and ceps. Butchers these days seem to be afraid to hang meat, especially game \u2013 for long enough. The confit duck leg might well have come from a small goose, hugely generous, with plump meat that fell off the bone \u2013 gaining a serious quack factor of 8\/10.<\/p>\n

How two of us could have managed chocolate fondant beats me! It oozed runny chocolate sauce which was surprisingly cool (in both senses).Signature dish Gateaux de Pablo was like a cross between an apple tart and an almond slice and pleased me very much. We shared a platter of morceaux des fromages de France \u2013 all in perfect condition and a great treat, especially the oozing Vacherin..<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wine is an integral element of the Bellevue Rendezvous experience and the wine list majors on French wines, with the inclusion of the option of enjoying wine from the barrel, available by the glass (\u00a34), half litre (\u00a310) and litre (\u00a318). There is also a selection from \u2018la cave du patron\u2019. For something a little different I recommend the White Gros Manseng (\u00a319.50) from the ever reliable Alain Brumont. The house red is jolly decent too, at \u00a317.00. <\/p>\n

In conclusion, I can recommend The Bellevue Rendezvous for good country style French cooking that I am sure would have won the late Elizabeth David\u2019s approval.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Clifford Mould November 2009 <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Bellevue Rendezvous is open Tuesday to Sunday for lunch 12 noon \u2013 2pm, and dinner 7pm \u2013 10pm. The restaurant is located at 218 Trinity Road, London SW17 7HP. Telephone 020 8767 5810 or visit www.bellevuerendezvous.com<\/a> .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SEASONAL FLAVOURS AT BELLEVUE RENDEZVOUS IN WANDSWORTH Located at 218 Trinity Road, London SW17 7HP. Telephone 020 8767 5810 Trying to find a really good classic, simple Bistrot style restaurant is no longer as easy as it once was, even in France, as we have found to our disappointment in recent years. Here in London read more …<\/span><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[16,17],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":483,"href":"https:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482\/revisions\/483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}