Enjoy the charm of simple French fare

Jan 31 2008 By Paul Fulford

Bristrot Romance 11- 12 Bennetts Hill, Birmingham.

JACQUES Brel's heart-tugging ballad Ne Me Quitte Pas - known better by us Brits as If You Go Away - was echoing around the recently opened Bistrot Romance on the night I visited.

Appropriate that they should be playing a song about parting at premises which have been occupied over the years by a succession of restaurants that have now gone.

Not that the departure of the building's previous occupants left me nursing the sort of melancholy that Monsieur Brel so eloquently expresses - the meals I ate at these short-lived ventures were uniformly unmemorable.

However, I should be struck by a certain degree of grief were Bistrot Romance to disappear.

I'm not going to over-sell the place, but it did charm me.

The food is simple French bistro fare.

The combinations are intelligent, the ingredients are decent, the cooking is skilled and the prices are reasonable, especially the pre-theatre and lunch deals.

A starter of foie gras terrine, with a very pleasant grape chutney, was creamy, sweet and enjoyable. It would have been even tastier had it not been served so chilled.

My wife Lynn's starter of chicken livers and mushrooms won praise.

Our son Ewan's roasted pepper salad was nicely caramelised and gloriously garlicky. Its fragrance had me drooling.

Main courses, too, were well received.

The entrecote I ordered was - unusually in a country that often interprets the term 'rare' as 'cooked to a near-cinder' - properly bloody when I cut into it. It was very tender.

The herby café de paris butter that topped the meat, though, was, like the foie gras terrine, a touch too cool.

The dauphinois potatoes that came alongside lacked creaminess, but were still enjoyable.

Ewan's duck was delightfully pink and came with a tangy orange sauce. Lynn's salmon came with polenta and was, likewise, happily eaten.

A shared side salad was fresh, varied and good.

The cheeses I ordered for dessert were meagre in size, but fabulously ripe.

Ewan's tart tatin included a surprisingly small layer of pastry, but the apples were nicely squidgy.

If I wanted to be hyper-critical, I'd moan that even though we visited fairly early, the restaurant had run out of one of the starters on the menu and a couple of types of red wine. But these shortcomings were more than compensated for by the charming service we received from a waitress who had forsaken her native Nice for wintry Birmingham. Brave, foolish woman.

We settled on a very decent bottle of Claret. Our bill also included soft drinks and a coffee.

Bistrot Romance, ne me quitte pas.

Verdict

How much? ...£83 for three Vegetarians? ... Choices Child friendly? ...Yes Disabled access? ...Seems fine Parking?...P&D nearby Go back?...Absolutely