It's an Anglo-French collaboration, a real example of the entente cordiale at work!”
That’s how co-owner of L’Eglise, English-born Julia Martin, describes her first business venture with her French husband Jean-Christophe.
L’Eglise, which is on the site of the former Lum Thai restaurant, is already building up a base of regular customers since it opened in December.
The restaurant is in the style of a French brasserie, with a long leather seat along the right-hand wall, small intimate tables, soft lighting and light walls decorated with black and white Henri Cartier-Bresson photographs of Paris.
“The restaurant is a mixture of different places we have worked at,” says Jean- Christophe, who moved to England from his hometown of Bergerac when he was 18. He has since worked in the London restaurant business for 21 years, and met Julia when they worked together at a Camden brasserie in 1989.
It might be surprising that another French restaurant is opening in Hove, but where the couple feel they have the edge is in their attention to detail.
Thought has gone into everything from the art deco lettering on the windows to the beautiful wood and pewter tables commissioned from Lyon-based furniture specialists Au Bon Pin.
The restaurant can serve 56 covers, although there are no set service times. The all-day opening makes it a good location for business lunches.
The French head chef is Jean Yves Guiomar, from Brittany, who comes with an impressive pedigree having worked at London’s Le Deuxieme, the reopened Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club and the House of Lords. His two young chefs came from the highly-rated Troisgros in Roanne, France.
The evening menu is a selection of French classics. Starters include moules marinieres (£5.25) and L’Eglise steak tartare (£8.50), with entrees ranging from locally caught fish of the day (priced according to its market value) and Dover sole (£18.95) to duck confit with sweet potato mash (£13.95) and a gorgeous L’Eglise onglet steak echalotte (£11.95), a French cut steak served with delicious duck fat chips.
Among the desserts are a tarte au citron to die for (£6.50), creme brulee (£4.95) and a brand new addition, a religieuse – two chocolate profiteroles stood on top of each other to resemble a nun, following the restaurant’s holy theme.
Between noon and 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday, the restaurant has a “menu rapide”, offering two quick courses for £11.95, featuring several dishes from the evening menu.
There is also an extensive French wine list, including dessert wines, champagnes and roses, with plenty of wines available by the glass as well as by the bottle. There are even wines made by Jean-Christophe’s sister in her Bergerac vineyard.
All the wines have been chosen from winemakers who favour nature over chemicals, followers of so-called “viticulture raisonee”.
The restaurant has a daily specials menu, including a roast on Sundays, and regular extras – which last week included cote de boeuf for two (£46.95), an aged rib of beef which had been hung in the restaurant’s own cold store for several weeks, served with sauce bearnaise and roasted vegetables.
Julia speaks warmly of the number of Francophiles she has already met in Hove, and the customers who happily soak up the restaurant’s ambience during the day before returning in the evening with friends for a meal. There is even talk of passing their knowledge of French food on with a series of cookery courses.
“We are now seeing taxis pull up outside having recommended their customers come here,” says Jean-Christophe.
Review by Duncan Hall |
