Eat Out London!The Balcon
Grade II-listed grand brasserie located in the heart of St James’s and specialising in French and British cuisine, The Balcon is ideal for business and leisure guests alike..
The Balcon London
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The Balcon in Pall Mall is number one on the rich list | Metro News
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Restaurant review: With its lavish decor, flamboyant waiters and some seriously rich, hearty dishes on its French-English hybrid menu, The Balcon in Pall Mall provides the perfect antidote to fast food.
The apotheosis is a cast-iron dish of Scottish beef and chanterelle mushroom cottage pie, the buttery potato grilled until toasty, and topped with three fat, salt crystal-dotted slabs of foie gras, which melt into its searing heat.
Female sommeliers are designated ‘champagne angels’, leading to some disappointment on our part that they aren’t suspended from the ceiling on wires as they are at Las Vegas’s Aureole.
The place looks as if you’re going to be spending a lot of money – and we do – but you could simply rock up for a burger and a glass of wine as easily as I scarf that disgraceful pie.
If it’s sophisticated comfort you’re after, The Balcon will embrace you like a feather-fingered poule de luxe between 500 thread count sheets.
The Balcon, Sofitel St James - London Restaurant Reviews | Hardens
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On a grand scale, an unnecessarily fussily-conceived Theatreland brasserie; it offers a long and unduly esoteric charcuterie-heavy menu, and an extensive wine selection, all at very high prices.
The same striving is evident in the menu, which goes out of its way to offer a plethora of choices, few of which you may actually want.
We are in the heart of Theatreland: a place where menus should not need explaining.
I picked my way through the menu - as irritating in its layout as its content - to secure a plain supper of onion soup (not bad), Cornish brill (fractionally overcooked) and a cocotte of plain vegetables (hurrah, what I wanted).
And that would have been without the least extravagance on the wine selection: the long list here bamboozles with its range and expense, not least, the range of Krugs it offers.
The Balcon restaurant review: is the 500 calorie three-course 'De ...
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Their brand new 500 calorie set menu has been carefully constructed in French kitchens by top French nutritionists, allowing health conscious diners to “indulge without the bulge”, promising to be low in fat yet full in flavour.
Within the Sofitel St James hotel sits The Balcon, a stunning restaurant with classic 1920s style decor reminiscent of a French Brasserie.
As we take our seats, an equally stunning French waiter welcomes me and my dining companion, Fi, by telling us: “This is a meal originally for obese people who are perhaps unhappy, you know?”
As our generously portioned Salmon fillet arrives with vierge sauce and seaweed greenery (£17, 320 calories), a superbly French man pops in for a coffee, cigar tucked behind his ear, to complete the Parisian cliché.
The set menu’s honey fried apple with orange cream (£6, 125 calories) sounded promising as a light yet wholesome pudding, but in reality it was a disappointing, cold and pricey mush, albeit presented in a charmingly hipster jam pot.
The Balcon Sofitel St James, 8 Pall Mall, London SW1Y | The ...
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Having returned from a week of eating rough-hewn slabs of ibérico ham and messy heaps of paella in southern Spain, taking Sunday lunch at a new brasserie in London seems a good way to ease gently back into dismal, autumnal English urban life by way of some refined dining.
The other cheffy special, those snails with garlic jus and parsnip purée (£9.50), is a little too mannered for Mr M – he was hoping for bubbling, greasy little chaps still in their shells – but he can't fault the taste; and a Normandy onion soup with Roscoff onion and Aspall English cider (£7.50) is exemplary.
The star of the show, if rich brasserie food is your thing, is Mr M's Scottish beef and foie gras cottage pie with chanterelle mushrooms (£23), which must be the pinnacle of Anglo-French gastronomic marriage.
Scores: 1-3 stay home and cook, 4 needs help, 5 does the job, 6 flashes of promise, 7 good, 8 special, can't wait to go back, 9-10 as good as it gets The Balcon Sofitel St James, 8 Pall Mall, London SW1Y, tel: 020 7968 2900.
About £120 for two, including wine (though there is a daily set menu from £16) This grandly fitted-out brasserie by the iconic Eastgate clock makes a lovely lunch venue in particular Everyone who's anyone is to be found at Corbin & King's star-studded grand café by The Ritz; but it can be noisy and crowded, and the brasserie fare is competent, rather than dazzling A superb, snazzy interior twinned with a crowd-pleasing menu of comfort food is making a smash hit of this casual new Fitzrovia brasserie Reviews extracted from Harden's 2012 iPhone app, £6.99, available now.
The Balcon London restaurant review 2011 December London ...
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Starters were £7 - £19.50, main courses mostly around £19 to £24, side dishes at £3 and desserts £5 - £8.
On the champagnes, Bollinger NV was £85 compared to a high street price of around £33, a bargain (relatively) was the excellent Jacques Selosse Initial at £150 for a wine that actually retails at £144, and Cristal 1990 was at £750 for a wine you can find at £300.
There was plenty of choice under £50 on other wines, examples being Tinpot Hut Syrah 2007 at £42 compared to a high street price of £12, Grand Puy Lacoste 1998 at £126 for a wine that retails at £55 while at the upper end of the list mark-ups were erratic e.g. Chatuea Margaux 2004 was £1,159 for a wine you can find in the shops for £316.
The beef was Scottish, and the dish worked well enough, though if anything it seemed too much beef relative to the other ingredients, while the beef for me would be better minced a little finer; still, very pleasant (14/20).
This was pleasant enough, but the fish itself slightly overcooked and did not have much flavour, and I thought the seasoning could have been bolder; on the positive side, the butternut squash had good flavour, and the capers and shrimps added a useful extra taste element (13/20).
The Balcon restaurant review: is the 500 calorie three-course 'De ...
food value staff menu ambience desserts drinks
Their brand new 500 calorie set menu has been carefully constructed in French kitchens by top French nutritionists, allowing health conscious diners to “indulge without the bulge”, promising to be low in fat yet full in flavour.
Within the Sofitel St James hotel sits The Balcon, a stunning restaurant with classic 1920s style decor reminiscent of a French Brasserie.
As we take our seats, an equally stunning French waiter welcomes me and my dining companion, Fi, by telling us: “This is a meal originally for obese people who are perhaps unhappy, you know?”
As our generously portioned Salmon fillet arrives with vierge sauce and seaweed greenery (£17, 320 calories), a superbly French man pops in for a coffee, cigar tucked behind his ear, to complete the Parisian cliché.
The set menu’s honey fried apple with orange cream (£6, 125 calories) sounded promising as a light yet wholesome pudding, but in reality it was a disappointing, cold and pricey mush, albeit presented in a charmingly hipster jam pot.
The Balcon, Pall Mall, London – Restaurant Review. Jen Grimble is ...
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The Balcon, Pall Mall, London – Restaurant Review The Balcon, Pall Mall, London Restaurant Review by Jen Grimble Some restaurants leave you wanting, or provide little to no wow-factor, while others immerse you into a different world the very moment you walk inside.
Finally, we sample the staple of any good British menu, steak.
The interior, the experienced staff, and the mesmerising food make The Balcon a dazzling theatre of a restaurant.
The Balcon is open every day from breakfast until late evening, offering a traditional a la carte menu, a seven-course tasting menu and an authentic Parisienne Afternoon Tea.
The Balcon, 8 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5NG Mon – Fri 11am – 11pm Sat – 11:30am – 11pm Sun – 11:30am – 020 7968 2900
The Balcon | Restaurants in St James', London
Small plates, a la carte options and ‘market specials’ are available, as well as a three course 'tray rapide' lunchtime option comprising one small plate, one market special and a dessert – all served at the same time.
Expect dishes such as stuffed cabbage with Scottish pheasant and foie gras, sautéed girolles and parsnip purée, and Scottish sirloin steak with béarnaise sauce and fries.
There is also a small charcuterie bar, where you can have a drink accompanied by a light meal or snacks.
The St James Bar, open from 8am to midnight, has a drinks list including a number of cocktails, such as the Pop Corn Negroni, made with popcorn-infused bourbon, Campari and Antica Formula.