The main printed menu is standard across the chain. The sourcing of ingredients is therefore centrally controlled, a mixed blessing, and the recipes are supposed to be adhered to as closely as possible. Freedom of expression is encouraged on the part of local chefs who offer plats du jour on their daily changing blackboards. At the Esher branch, we tried the chef's starter of grilled goat's cheese on a croustade with a garnish of crunchy red cabbage with sultanas. The cheese was nicely browned and the flavours were well defined and contrasted, well worth 3.75. From the printed menu came marinaded salmon 3.95, done on the premises we were assured, with pickled cucumber and lime oil. The rather delicate salmon was a little overpowered by the cucumber. I felt that the dish could have made greater impact if it had been better presented - nothing too fiddly, but inspiring more enthusiasm and expectation on the part of the diner.
The day's specials included Gigot d'Agneau et ratatouille, 8.50 and Pintade Roti - roast guinea fowl 9.50, with properly gratinated dauphinois potatoes. It tasted very good and was done to a turn, but it came crowded into a ridiculous little nursery sized soup plate. You can't do anything useful with plates that size, as everything turns out looking like a dog's breakfast. But since the tables are equally miniscule, (though not at all crammed together), proper restaurant plates might be rather an encumbrance.
From the standard menu, I was tempted by the Marmite Dieppoise, 7.85, a rich fish stew whose velvet creamy consistency revealed its Norman origins. The scallops were small and tender, the mussels in their meticulously scrubbed shells were sweet and there were generous chunks of salmon standing in for sole or other Channel fish. The make weight button mushrooms weren't slimey but were surprisingly full of flavour. This generous earthenware bowlful plus some fresh bread was all I needed. Additional vegetables sufficient for two cost 1.50 extra.
I would like to have tried the preserved duck breasts with lentils or the navarin of lamb, cooked traditionally on the bone, I noted. There was an interesting sounding Tatin de lègumes au Couscous to keep the veggies happy. Talking of tatin, I rounded off my meal with the more traditional apple pudding version. The fruit was excellent and well caramelised, but the pastry suffered from the tarte having been made sometime earlier. The reheating was patchy, "warm in parts, my lord", as the curate might have said. All the puddings cost 2.95.
We had a perfectly reasonable if unexciting bottle of Syrah La Serre for 11.45 followed by a glass each of claret at 3.30 each. Wines are all priced between about nine and fifteen pounds but the selection is very dull and unadventurous. This is silly because there's so much super French country wine in today's off licences and supermarkets, so restaurants must jolly well keep up. What it needs is an enthusiast, some fun tasting notes, a few food matching suggestions, above all a little imagination!
The service at Esher was excellent, putting many more upmarket places to shame. I would attribute this to the local manager, Joe Marshall, who is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and professionally trained, as I discovered when I gave him the third degree after we had finished the meal. I suspect that there is a lot of variation from branch to branch which accounts for the less than scintillating write-ups in some of the guide books. But our experience was a good one, and the meal could very easily have approached excellence with only a little more imagination and attention to detail.
Our three course dinner for two with wine and coffee came to 57.77 inclusive of service at 12.5%.
Café Rouge, Portsmouth Road, Esher, Tel: 01372 465550
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your nearest branch, call head office on 020 7478 8000
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