A meal at Galvins la Chapelle, City
A few weeks ago @bmcboy and I celebrated a special occasion. It took a while to select a restaurant, and in the end we picked Galvins la Chapelle. We had never been before, it looked like a beautiful venue and the food reviews seemed to be positive.
Indeed, the venue is stunning, a former chapel with large windows and stone column, and a mezzanine floating mid room, with the open plan kitchen underneath. The service was very good. Pleasant welcome at the reception, friendly and professional waiting. The menu is French inspired, and does not really offer a huge choice. We actually would have liked some of the dishes in the fixed price, which is unfortunately only available until early evening.
We thus chose the same starter of Crab lasagna and mushrooms sauce. I liked it, yet not sure why it is even called lasagna as it bears no resemblance to what a lasagna is.
The layers of pasta were very light and delicate, the crab subtle and the mushroom cream a nice combination.
@bmcboy’s main of Roast halibut was good, a large size portion and well cooked but expensive at £28.50. My main of Braised ox cheek was, well the wrong choice. A good, sturdy dish yet absolutely too heavy and too large a portion and sadly I did not finish it. The taste was fine, rich and intense, but it is way too wintery a dish for an early October evening and was not really that special nor original. Again, too costly at £27.50.
We were simply too full to enjoy a dessert, so it was a nice touch to get some petit fours with our bill, to underline our anniversary.
Two macarons and two truffles, the macarons being quite plain but the truffles being rich and chocolatey.
With just a glass of wine each, the bill was, I suspect (@bmcboy’s treat!) fairly pricey. I am in two minds about this place. The food was ok, good enough but I wasn’t satisfied. I went home feeling absolutely stuffed which is not a nice feeling.
It’s a proper city restaurant, a bit old fashioned and a bit stuffy. Not really a place I would go back to.
