Image above: The chocolate and bitter orange marquise, with pistachio ice cream, just melting in our mouths. It was heavenly! [Friday 04 March] | [View all photos]
Having enjoyed the excellent Italian at Il Baretto in our February dinner with See Yun and Wendy, for March we went for something different and ended up The Forge in Covent Garden.
Billed as a French restaurant, their menu seemed more Modern European though their service was classically formal and discreet in nature. What IT Girl and I loved about the menu was the range of seafood dishes on offer and our highlight was the seafood salad of lobster, scallop, squid and octopus. Carefully bringing out the natural flavours of the seafood with a citrus dressing it was a very moreish yet light dish that whetted our appetites for the next course.
For mains, the girls all went for different types of fish. For See Yun and Wendy they had the pan fried fillet of seabass with pea and tomato risotto and lobster sauce and the roasted cod with brown shrimps and samphire. Whilst IT Girl loved the flavours coming out of her black bream baked with Morrocan spices and toasted cous cous. All the fish dishes were perfectly cooked and each tasted wonderful.
The only slight disappointment was my confit of duck leg with puy lentils and bacon. A classic French dish that should’ve been lighter and less dense than what I got. Quite surprising really and whilst it wasn’t awful, I did wish I had gone for one of the fish dishes instead.
However, all was forgiven over dessert. Not having heard of a marquise before we shared a chocolate and bitter orange marquise with pistachio ice cream. Each bite was like eating light ganache and it just melted in your mouth. I would come back just for this dessert. The other dessert of note was their spiced apple tarte tatin which was good though, being completely biased, I prefer IT Girl’s home cooked version.
As always, dining with See Yun and Wendy is always fun and although IT Girl has already converted them to her side, it’s still a brilliant way of ending a week with great food and even better company.
With regard to the restaurant I would heartily recommend it for as a date / special occasion option given the price point and also the formality of the service. We just prefer having service staff which are more chatty and laid back. Stick with the seafood and definitely order the marquise – you won’t regret it. :)
The Forge | 14 Garrick Street, London, WC2E 9BJ | Map | Nearest station: Leicester Square
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Looks just delicious!!!!!!
@Yeji: Yep … when you next come back to London you’ll have so many places to eat in. :)