L'Absinthe

L'Absinthe Restaurant – Primrose Hill

Welcome to the world of l'Absinthe; a restaurant, a coffee shop and deli and an outside catering service.

Come and experience a little corner of "la belle France" in this enchanting part of NW London known as "Primrose Hill".

JC and the team will sprinkle a little Gallic charm and look after your every need.

Our coffee shop welcomes you for breakfast, lunch or an afternoon treat where Ilaria and her team offer everything from a fresh range of tarts and homemade cakes to a range of hot breakfast dishes.

And if your preference is to entertain guests at your home or clients at your office or anywhere else for that matter we can provide you with tailor-made catering, wine and refreshments for your event.

http://labsinthe.co.uk

L'Absinthe - London Restaurant Reviews | Hardens

A simple but pretty-much-perfect Gallic bistro, on a Primrose Hill corner site that's seen a number of occupants in recent years.

If, on the the other hand, your idea of perfection in a no-nonsense Gallic bistro, you won't do much better than this Primrose Hill newcomer.

Let's be clear, it's not an establishment 'inspired by' the classic Gallic bistro, it really is a classic Gallic bistro (run, in hearty style, by a Frenchman who's worked in the MPW empire for the past 20 years).

Having tried all of the above, though, we'd have to concede that everything is done to a consistently high quality, and our guest felt similarly about the dishes he tried.

Indeed, the quality seems so high, it seems rather odd just how quickly everything comes out of the kitchen.

L'Absinthe, 40 Chalcot Road, Primrose Hill, London, NW1 8LS ...

Primrose Hill’s L’Absinthe has been around for five years now, making it a veteran compared to some of the restaurants that have previously lived at 40 Chalcot Road.

Their combination of classic French food (confit de canard, steak frites, escargots) and low prices for the area have proved a hit; mains average £11 to £15, and this is after all the home of celeb haunts like The Engineer and pet shops frequented by the likes of Sadie Frost and erm, Imogen Thomas.We start with the salade Lyonnaise, but don’t be fooled by the term “salade”, for this is a bowl filled with smoky bacon lardons, crispy croutons and a poached egg, with the curly lettuce leaves drizzled in mustardy dressing the least important element.

Clearly this is the food that winter was made for.The confit of duck has meat so soft you could hold a drumstick up and it would fall off, and it’s coated in crispy, flavoursome skin, paired with tasty savoy cabbage and baby onions.

The beef Bourguignon has the piercing aroma of thyme, tender beef, carrots and a large portion of mashed potato on the side to soak up the fragrant stew.For dessert, there’s a rich chocolate mousse flavoured with coffee, and apple tarte tatin with ice cream, the latter could be a little warmer, but it’s a tiny point in an otherwise great meal.About two years ago the owner bought the premises next door and opened Spirit of L’Absinthe, a café and deli selling quiches, croque monsieurs and Toulouse sausages, food that is several notches above average sandwich shop fare and that has saved me from many lunchtime hunger pangs.

With the demise of Trojka a few weeks ago Primrose Hill lost one of its few affordable, quality eateries, so thank heavens for L’Absinthe, with its unassumingly retro menu and fantastic value for money.

l'Absinthe restaurant review 2008 July London | French Cuisine ...

L’Absinthe aims to be a friendly, neighbourhood brasserie, and throws in a bonus: a very generous wine pricing policy.

The list is all French and covers just a couple of pages with mostly some moderately obscure growers, but without doubt this wine list is very good value indeed; I can’t immediately think of another London restaurant with pricing this kind.

Instead of bread there were pieces of toast, which I don’t think is a good idea; a simple rustic bread would surely be an improvement (apparently the kitchen is tiny and even warming up bought-in bread presents a logistical challenge).

I found the overall experience very pleasant, mainly due to the charming service from the owner and the great wine list, but strictly as a food experience it was merely adequate.

If this was at the end of my road I probably go back every now and again given the generous wine pricing and nice atmosphere, but it is not really worth a long journey for the food.

L'Absinthe, 40 Chalcot Road, London NW1 | The Independent

All the clichés are present and correct: French onion soup, cassoulet, blackboard menu, flickering candles, belle époque posters, dark bistro chairs and ebullient French host.

With its leeks vinaigrette, moules marinières, steak frites and crème brûlée, the whole place is a warm bath for bistro-lovers, and JC, as he is known, makes it very easy to just lie back and enjoy it.

Served in a white bowl the size of a hand-basin, a Lyonnais salad (£4.95) is gutsy, big-hearted and straightforward – a massive retox of chunky, smoky bacon lardons, perky friseé lettuce and good crisp croutons, bathed in a suitably sharp vinaigrette and topped with a poached egg.

So it's not actually full of clichés after all, because this sort of exceptional value for good produce, skilled cooking and warm service is not, sadly, something with which we are overly familiar.

His Le Cassoulet opens soon in South Croydon This restaurant/wine bar/café/bistro, along with its siblings in Sherwood and Wirksworth, serves up bistro classics including boeuf bourguignon Located in Leamington Spa's French quarter (OK, Oscar's is the French quarter), this bistro is as Française as it gets, from the spinach crêpes to the duck confit

Restaurant review: L'Absinthe | Life and style | The Guardian

Flawless being an adjective she ordinarily lavishes only on HM the Queen, praise comes no higher from the planet's most remorseless restaurant complainant, who once sent back a scotch because "This ice is much too cold", and who received a life ban from a Chinese joint for taking aggressive umbrage at the scarcity of lychees.

"I shall say zees only once," my wife whispered, "but somehow we've strayed on to the set of 'Allo 'Allo!"

She began instead with one of many classic bistro dishes on a simple but hugely tempting menu, leeks vinaigrette with a poached egg.

Even she could find no fault with the confit of duck that three of us chose as a main course, and no wonder because here was a magnificent rendition of this old faithful, richly flavoursome, crispy skinned meat, served on a bed of Savoy cabbage, flaking pliantly away from the bone and all but dissolving on impact with the tongue.

My wife and I went for the rabbit casserole with mustard mash, and this superbly tender, delicate meat came in a great, gutsy sauce.

L'Absinthe | Restaurants in Primrose Hill, London

In a placid part of Primrose Hill, it reproduces the feel of a classic French corner bistro as unerringly as a scene from Amélie: from the signs on windows to the snug tables and unfussily retro decor.

Menus feature suitably classic French comfort food – salade niçoise, fish soup, hachis parmentier, steaks, croque monsieur for lunch – in generous portions at generous prices.

Pea soup and a lyonnaise salad with plenty of bacon lardons hit all the right notes as starters, and supreme of chicken with creamy tarragon sauce was very pleasant.

Lunch menus are especially good value, and the attached wine shop provides an excellent list including a house red – Petit Mas – that’s a robust snip at under £17.