We can’t stop thinking about Ploussard

Ploussard is proper novelty in London for a few reasons. The food that the kitchen is putting out feels like it could, should, be recognised by the folks at Michelin. But the prices and atmosphere is different to what you’d expect at a Michelin restaurant; it’s not mean on the bank balance and the vibe is anything but stuffy. It’s giving European vibes like you might find at a small eatery in Barcelona. It’s bustling but manages to feel relaxed and unrushed. The food itself isn’t so Spanish- the British small plates are everything you want if you are keeping up to date with the London food scene at the moment. Easily shareable dishes that you might ‘accidentally’ order another round of.

They do bottles of natural wines really well, of which you can get a good few by the glass. Though we don’t usually drink red, we were persuaded to give the natty house red a go. This organic number was light, fruity and very drinkable. Everything you’d want in an easy wine.

The food menu at Ploussard is fabulous. They’ve got a mix of vegetable, meat and fish options and because they are small plates and meant to be ordered en mass, you can make a good dent in the choices. You bet we did. The smoked cods roe which was as striking as it was moreish (it came with bold, black squid ink crackers to scoop up the roe) and the asparagus with a creamy sauce gribiche and topped with crunchy walnuts felt like the perfect dish to bridge the gap between winter and spring. We loved that the freshness of the tomatoes with wild garlic and ricotta was offset by some oily fried bread- an unexpected indulgence. Some of our highlights were the Angus beef with oyster mushrooms and a punchy green peppercorn sauce- a flavour bomb. It’s hard to sway us from our usual butter and Marmite combo on a crumpet, however the lamb and anchovy crumpet was so incredibly moist we quickly forgot our Marmitey loyalty.

We will say, and this is the complete truth, we’ve not stopped thinking about pudding. The chocolate mousse with a salted caramel ice cream and hazelnuts was special. There was nothing to fault- salty, sweet, soft, crunchy… What a memorable way to finish the meal.

If you’ve not clocked it yet let us put it to you straight. We are a little bit obsessed with Ploussard. Have we told all our friends to go? Yes. Have we begged them to bring us with them when they go? Also yes.