French: La Trouvaille

La Touvaille
12a Newburgh Street
W1F 3RR
020 7287 8488

The Victims: Howard, Ben, Antonia

The Damage: £45ish each?

The Background: We have it in our heads to go to Dehesa, the new tapas place run by the same folks from Salt Yard. Dehesa doesn't take reservations, so the American early-diner in me is a bit worried about getting there and getting a table. We meet up at the Soho Hotel first (which is very nice, by the way) and then before you know it it's 8 p.m. and Dehesa tell us it's an hour and forty-five minute wait. If I heard that correctly. I think I did. And that's crap because there doesn't seem to be anyone waiting. But we're S-o-L.

So we wander the streets for a bit and Howard suggests La Trouvaille which looks all cute and cozy downstairs. Upstairs is all sparkly white and bare and Antonia points out that their Starck chairs are knock-offs.

Service is sweet and very French. Attentive at first, but suffering from a terrible case of ennui later in the meal and we are passed over to someone else.

Starter: Foei gras with eel and leeks, a fastastic combination. I want to have foie gras and eel every day for lunch for the next week. But then I'd probably get gout, which is not a good thing.

Main: Rabbit. I do love rabbit. Carrot mash. (They called it flan.) More foie gras. Spinach.  Lovely. Fantastically so. I am very happy. So is everyone else.

Discussion Points: Proper use of the semicolon. Why people can't write anymore. Diagramming sentences. Its vs It's. Their/they're/there. Scrabulous. Why no one likes an editor, when so many of us really need one. Hmmm.

The Weird Part: My request for bread...it was like they didn't really believe I was asking for bread. And the wine...they kept the wine very far away from us. This would have been fine if the service was super-attentive and always on the lookout for an empty glass, but it wasn't.

The Verdict: Pretty decent. I like foie gras and eel. I'd take my mom here.

Coming up...Market in Camden, National Dining Rooms, Fouronine in Clapham, Japanese street food, the Fox & Anchor in Clerkenwell, tea in Spitalfields...