Auberge du Petit Prince, London

Our bad meal last night was offset by a great one tonight. I was so disappointed in our meal the night before that I had to squeeze in a quick dinner before my flight home. It was a little tight, but I managed to make reservations at Auberge du Petit Prince, one of the restaurants I originally wanted to go to. This place was great. The food was spectacular, and the service was excellent.

The atmosphere was very warm and inviting. The restaurant is an old house with different themed rooms. We ate in the Provence room, a very quaint and charming area. I even found their restroom to be beautiful. The sinks had rocks in it, so when you washed your hands, it looked like a stream of water rushing through natural looking rocks.

We had exactly one hour to place our dinner order, eat it, and drive to the airport in time for me to check in for my flight. We warned the waiter in advance, and he made sure that all of our food was placed on rush order.

To start our meal off, they brought us some freshly baked olive bread and french rolls. Each person was also served a lobster and corn fritter, which tasted delicious.

I ordered the Bourgogne escargot as an appetizer, and the others had the lobster bisque, and pernod shrimp.

The escargot was wonderful. The sauce wasn’t overpowering so you could still taste the escargots. It was actually my first time using tongs while eating escargots. At home, we generally use toothpicks, and they have always been de-shelled at the restaurants I’ve been to in the past.

I was debating between the slow braised beef cheeks and duck confit for mains. In the end, I went for the beef cheeks because the waiter guaranteed that it would be unique eating experience, and that it definitely was! To me, the beef cheeks tasted like a plate of soft tendon pieces. Luckily, I like tendon so I really enjoyed this dish. I’m not sure if beef cheeks always have that texture or not, but it definitely tasted quite different. This was served with a mushroom thyme sauce.

Luckily, TT ordered the duck confit, so I got to try that as well. It was delicious, and the duck meat basically fell off the bone. It was served with a side of parsnips, carrots, and mashed potatoes.

Jo opted for a caesar salad, and it still looked great.

For desserts, we all shared the lime sorbet and truffle pyramid. The lime sorbet was extremely fresh. It tasted as though they put lime rind into it because it had somewhat of a tart and bitter taste to it. I really enjoyed it. The truffle pyramid was super rich.

I highly recommend this place, and I would definitely eat here again if I visit London another time. There were many other things on the menu that I would have loved to try.