Le Relais de Venise l'Entrecôte — Restaurant in London

The night is falling as i am on the verge to arrive at Liverpool street station to meet a friend, shortly before heading to the much talked-about "Le Relais de Venise" located in the city of london and whose original restaurant was born in Paris over 60 years ago.

We have both been longing for that evening to take place... Hardly because this spot has mysteriously become a social media sensation in the past months but due to the real simplicity of the concept:

A piece of steak of whichever cut is available that day, hand-cut string fries, an accompanying salad as well as a secret sauce, whose recipe seems to be kept as secret as the next SpaceX rocket program. Add to all this a small wine menu, a surprisingly extended dessert selection as well as a no booking policy at the door.

If, like we did, you arrive there when the restaurant opens (6m for evening service) you will most likely experience a queue already. However, with the restaurant capacity you shouldn't wait too long (Took us 20 minutes on a Friday evening).With that in mind, needless to say that the larger the table the longer you may have to wait as you would need to be fit in accordingly.

Once you go through the queeing process, you are then brought to your table and explained the procedure. Our cut of meat that day in that 29 pounds menu was basse entrecote. We paired it with the house red wine named after the restaurant for 26 pounds the bottle. Both prices are in tune with london standards.

If you have ever watched the movie "Midnight in Paris" you will likely get the same taste of nostalgia. Busy yet charming waitresses dressed in french maid costumes, small square tables with paper tablecloths, comfortable banquettes and a large bar filled with a more than sufficient amount of bottles of wines. All delivered in a rowdy room pleasantly decorated with flowers and mirrors. Add to this the pleasure to see your food preparation and plating unfolding right before your eyes!

Shortly after ordering, our rather small but palatable accompanying salad arrived along with a plate of warm slices of baguettes. Perfectly seasoned with a creamy and mustardy french dressing and some chopped walnut satisfyingly adding to the overall crunchiness.

While finishing our salad, we were wondering why we could only choose between rare, medium and well done for our meat. One may believe that medium rare is probably the best way to eat this cut of meat (I personally prefer rare) and well done is usually thrown upon nowadays (and could still be offered to the few people wanting it). It is a business decision that still is a mystery to me today.

Having said that, the meat itself was tasty and cooked as we wished (rare). Although served rare the meat wasn't cold which is what it should be in this case.The hand cut fries were crunchy and well seasoned.

The secret sauce was matching the food nicely. It was rather buttery and herby with a drop of unami flavour and a slight punch of acidity. The only objection to this is that similarly to the salad and despite the 2 servings the portions are quite small and served in a starter plate to somehow cover this up.

On the contrary the dessert menu has more choice and seem more generous. We opted for a creamy, crunchy and full of flavour crème brûlée as well as "Le gâteau du Relais" which consisted of 2 different chocolate cakes. One seemed to be a flourless cake while the other one ressembled a chocolate marquise. Both tasty and chocolatey and served with a light chantilly.

Overall, the experience at "Le Relais de Venise" was a pleasant one. Was the food served tasty? Surely! Were the staff pleasant? Without any doubt... Did the restaurant have a nice atmosphere? Definitely, at least the kind you would expect in this type of restaurants.

But somehow despite all of this, "Le Relais de Venise" brings a hint of nostalgia which just lack a bit...

The famous L’Entrecôte serves everyone who walks in three items: salad, bread, and steak frites, all for £31. There’s no ordering when you sit down, they will only ask for your desired temperature - no in between temps either, only rare, medium and well done. You then get the salad and bread first, followed by the steak frites which comes in two servings.

Firstly, the salad is walnut mustard and is known for its pungent dressing. If mustard is not entirely to your taste this may be too strong for you as it was for me. The bread is a good, crusty baguette which comes with no butter and is served with your salad. Nice tasting but wouldn’t say anything atypical from a supermarket baguette for example. To be honest, not a mind blowing start.

Then the steak arrives almost immediately. This is the true star of the show. Since this is the only main dish they serve they have truly perfected it. I got mine rare and it came thinly sliced and perfectly cooked with a soft tender red centre. The steak comes doused in their house green sauce which is excellent especially with their hot crispy fries. The whole combination together is fantastic. The portion is decent too with plenty of fries and a decent sized second serving too. The whole dish is simple yet so effectively streamlined to be so good.

We also had a try of their new rum baba dessert which was a rum and syrup soaked cake which came with whipped cream and a soaked orange. This was excellent and once again tasted fantastic when all elements of the dish were eaten together.

Due to the simple menu, the service was extremely quick and our whole dining experience is done within an hour. My biggest concern is the sanitary implications when they plate the second helping of steak, fries, and sauce as the cutlery used in this process will often touch the plates they are serving on to. I noticed this whenever being served and would think there could be a more sanitary approach.

Overall, I would definitely recommend a visit. No booking so be sure to queue in advance of opening or visit during an off peak time like I did (Monday lunch). The place is also known to not allow too long of a stay after finishing your meal - especially when busy. However, you come here for a quick yet indulgent experience so this won’t matter...

Came here with a friend whilst exploring all the places London has to offer in terms of food, and we were not disappointed!

£26pp gets you a salad starter with a really delicious dressing; some warm bread; and steak entrecôte and fries.

There was a small queue of around 10 people outside by opening time at 6pm, but talking to others in the queue this is nothing compared to pre-covid. We were seated by staff wearing face masks and there was hand sanitiser available on entry. All very covid secure.

Our table was small, but the atmosphere really was that of a french bistro - typical wood panelling, colour scheme etc. Exactly what we had hoped for.

We were given a few minutes to decide on our order - essentially, the restaurant only serves one option; however we were able to choose drinks. There’s a half bottle of red wine for £9pp, but as we weren’t drinking we opted for a very nostalgic bottle of Orangina - they even came in the old style bottles! We were asked how we like our steak and when consulting the waitress she agreed that rare was the way to go if happy with this.

Food was brought out quickly and was absolutely delicious. The salad was not huge, but as a stater with the bread was exactly the right size.

The main course of the steak entrecôte was delicious. When we were nearly finished the waitress came and simply said “second serving?” to which we were offered more steak and frites - essentially, they were keeping the second half of our main warm for us whilst we ate the first half. What a treat!!!

The restaurant has an extensive dessert menu - at least 10 from what I can remember. I chose the Mont Blanc as it’s a bit kitsch, you don’t see it very often any more and it’s WONDERFUL if done right. And these guys get it spot on!! Not only that, but the desserts sit around the £5 mark which is cheaper than most chain restaurants in London; and much better quality!

I will most definitely be coming back - this really is one of those hidden gems of a place that once you discover, you wish you’d known about years beforehand! Thank you for an...