A blast from the past at Racine

This review was published in July 2002

It's a daring concept, but I have a feeling that real restaurants might just catch on. My theory conforms to the first rule of fashion: namely that if most people are heading in one direction, the most fashionable thing to do is travel the opposite way.

Thus, with restaurants becoming more self-consciously exotic, star-studded, design-conscious and expensive, the truly chic thing to do is to open an unpretentious, inexpensive restaurant. At least, that is my way of explaining Racine.

This 75-seater restaurant is operated by Henry Harris, who has cooked at Bibendum, Harvey Nicks and Hush, and Eric Garnier, who worked on the launch of Quaglino's before going on to run Bank and Fish!

Racine looks French with its banquettes, mirrored walls and vaguely brownish palette. These surroundings hint at the bourgeois French food carefully prepared to reflect an authenticity in approach, presentation and flavour. The menu is crammed with dishes that return to an age of French food as it was imagined by upper-middle-class Francophiles during the Sixties and Seventies - hearty stuff with strong regional bias: Marmite Dieppoise, salade Lyonnaise, Bayonne ham.

I started with pot de crevettes au Madére, pain Poiléne - a perfectly good dish of potted shrimps, while my main course of skate benefited from a broad bean and caper relish. Side orders of potato fondantes and a cucumber and mustard salad were excellent, as was a main of lamb chops with pea, bacon and shallot salad. The only slightly disconcerting dish was the meringue-based classic Mont Blanc, erupting with its chestnut purée.

If you want a restaurant that does what it says on the packet and comes in at a reasonable price, you should like Racine. It struck me as entirely appropriate that a good proportion of the customers were French.