BRASSERIE ZEDEL, PICCADILLY

When I booked Brasserie Zedel (another by Corbin & King), I maybe should have paid more attention to the website as I was completely shocked when I arrived - the restaurant is so not what I was expecting. I thought Brasserie Zedel would be very similar to its sister restaurants such as Colbert, The Wolseley and my own personal favourite The Delaunay (Review here) however it had a completely different atmosphere and was absolutely HUGE!

You walk in through The ZL Cafe and then you go downstairs and there is The Bar American (a classic art deco American bar), Le Crazy Coqs (a cabaret and performance venue) and then there is the Brasserie Zedel - the biggest restaurant I have ever seen! I felt like I was in a dining room on a cruise ship.

We were late for our reservation as our taxi had been delayed so we were told we would only have the table for an hour and a half - I hate it when restaurants do this especially as I had phoned to let them know and the restaurant was so enormous - surely they can't have that many reservations coming in at nearly 10pm.

Anyway we were shown to our seats and we ordered some drinks - a Ricard for Pascal and a g&t for me. They arrived very promptly with the most gorgeous warm fresh bread and salty butter. The menu was jam packed and despite having studied it before I came I was still undecided (menu) - there were so many different starters I wanted. I couldn't decide between the Quiche Lorraine, Pate de Campagne Maison, Crabe Mayonnaise, Tartare de Saumon - it all sounded too good.

I ended up for for snails in parsley butter.

These were OK, chunky snails with lots of butter however they were not the best. I was disappointed, I did add some salt which helped but I was expecting more.

My second shock of the evening was that Pascal ordered a fish based starter and fish for main. Never in 5 years has he done this!!

He ordered Soupe de Poisson et sa Rouille which he did enjoy although I found it full of pepper.

For mains I had the Steak Hache, Sauce au Poirve et Frites. This was nice, cooked medium rare and a delicious sauce. The chips were my favourite kind, thin, crispy and salty and were perfect to dip in the sauce - I was even kind enough to share a couple with Pascal!

We shared the Epinards a la Creme which was very good, you could really taste the hint of nutmeg. I could have easily just had one to myself.

Pascal ordered Dourade au Four en Croute de Sel with Lyonniase Potatoes. The potatoes were cooked inside the fish and as before he really enjoyed it - I was too busy with mine to have a bite plus still in shock that he had ordered fish.

We were tempted to order the cheese plate to share as it had a great selection, plus the bread was so soft and warm but we were both too full and tired. We ended up just paying the bill and heading home - all done and dusted in just over an hour.

We were both satisfied and enjoyed the meal however it was not amazing. Service was good, the food was nice but it wasn't memorable and did not live up to it's "sisters" standards. If I was in the area and I didn't have anywhere booked I would happily go there again but I wouldn't make the effort to reserve a table etc….there are many other better restaurants in the area such as Polpo or Bob Bob Ricard.

I think it is better for lunch or pre / post theatre - one thing that does have to be mentioned though are the prices, it is extremely extremely reasonable which is very rare in the West End!

Brasserie Zedel

20 Sherwood Street
London
W1F 7ED
Tel: 0207 734 4888
Email: reservations@brasseriezedel.com