Saturday, June 20, 2009

Eat French: Le Petit Parisien, Camberwell


One of my old favourite haunts in Camberwell used to be the "Dark Horse" in the middle of Grove Lane. I say used to as it’s been a while since it closed down and was replaced by Le Petit Parisien. A French restaurant in Camberwell, interesting.

When Le Petit Parisien first opened, it received quite a stinging attack on the @camberwellblog (website here). It wasn’t very well received and it sounded like it was still finding its feet. One thing that really impressed me was that the management responded to the criticism and said it was working on rectifying a few of the wrongs outed on the blog. What this told me was that the place was willing to admit that it had made some mistakes, but most importantly, that it was listening to its clientele. People’s opinions will inevitably influence others, but I would rather make my own mind up so off I went.

Initial reaction is that it hasn’t really changed that much. It’s received a lick of paint and few new windows but the décor remains pretty much the same. That’s no bad thing, however. I was always quite fond of the place.


The menu is simple and sticks to some French classics. I went for the steak whilst sis no 1 went for the duck confit.


As we waited for our mains, we were brought a small portion of olives. I found this rather odd, not really something I would expect from a French restaurant. I saw some perfectly good baguettes on the counter and was sort of hankering for a bit of that. But not to worry. I wasn’t seeing any of the service problems that other people had commented on and was having an enjoyable, quiet evening.


The steak arrived and was medium as requested. This was accompanied by a really delicious Béarnaise. Creamy and quite subtle. French Fries were crispy and very tasty if a little on the salty side. Steak is easy to screw up but this was above average. It was tender and flavoursome with a nice char. Not quite up to Hawksmoor standard but a welcome addition to Camberwell.


My sisters duck confit wasn’t quite as successful as my steak but was still quite enjoyable. It was a little on the oily side and the duck was a bit dry in places but the flavours were there and was swiftly polished off. Not too bad.

A quick dinner came to under £15 a head with service so it’s not going to burn a massive hole in your wallet. Honest opinion, its not quite the Dark Horse but I enjoyed myself and will certainly go again. A decent addition to Camberwell’s smorgasbord of restaurants.

Le Petit Parisien
16 Grove Lane, SE5 8SY

Le Petit Parisien on Urbanspoon

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"My latest photos" does not have an apostrophe

Anonymous said...

Wheras "My sister's duck confit" does require an apostrophe.

Also, what's odd about olives in a French restaurant. Have you ever been to France?

tehbus said...

This is a food blog not a blog on grammar. I am sorry if my inappropriate use of the English language is offending you, but essentially, its all about the food. That should be it's shouldn't it. (Notice the correct usage of of the apostrophe in shouldn't. Yay me)

Anonymous said...

As a French national, your comments
show me that you have no knowledge of French habits! French people do not eat bread with an "aperitif" but olives are perfectly acceptable. The bread is eaten during the meal...
Also, do you know that a "confit" of duck is slowly cooked in its own fat ?
You've got it all wrong my friend...! Stick to fish & chips...