Cafe Rouge

Sayeeda and I found my father and brother at the Cafe Rouge just after the sun set, and after they had finished plates of escagot and pate. The Lanes was slowing down, though in the air were distant roars from pubs where a football game was fueling the night. The Rouge had just set out the candles for the evening, as had the Italian restaurant across the way.

I had done a little research on the Rouge; it's a chain restaurant with more than 150 locations throughout the UK, although it doesn't look the part. The menu seemed typical French, the kind of menu you'd see in any French restaurant anywhere. Altogether not exciting points for me when considering a restaurant. The worst part for me was the fact that all the product probably came from some warehouse in London (when I asked the server where the salmon was from she said, "Uh, I'm not sure... it comes from our supplier in London.) And I could taste it. The minute steak I ordered was really chewy, and though cooked well it was pretty much flavorless. Sayeeda's nicoise salad was topped with an overdone salmon fillet, and seemed pretty unexciting (the saving grace on this, in my opinion, was boquerones!) And Kilian's steamed mussels had a sea taste that wasn't quite right... as though they had been sitting around too long or were from bad water. Kilian also ordered the fried camembert with raspberry sauce, which was practically a dessert.

Later, when flying out of London to Italy, I saw a Cafe Rouge at Heathrow Airport. Now that I think about it, I think Kelly and I spent a night on the floor of their dining room last year on our way to Amsterdam. No more airport food.