LES 2 GARÇONS in Haringey

I always say I am going to review this restaurant after I visit this area. It is consistently excellent. Great food and wine and a welcoming atmosphere.

Food was really good, but was really loud in a small place, felt like I was In a pub with the football on , shame really because food was 100%

Was looking forward to this but hugely disappointed. Pretentious, arrogant (eg illegible chalkboard specials, impossible to read from our table), noisy, a novice waiter who should have been trained - & oh yes - gingham tablecloths outside: how original, must be French! Food uninspiring

Best service I ever had. Food was amazing, representing authentic french flavors with subtle twists.

Brilliant little spot in Crouch End. Fantastic food and great service. 10/10 would recommend.

We've had some wonderful meals here and Robert Reid's food is much loved and something special. Wines are delicious and good value. But a recent evening with old friends was spoiled by the 'vacate your table in 1.45 hours' policy. Of course, as JC reminded us (loudly!) 'you were told'. We were. Many London restaurants do the same, and we all understand why: costs are rising inexorably; it's getting harder and harder for restaurants to make ends meet. Especially small local treasures like this. At the same time, the pressure of rapid turn around isn't great for customers or staff. If eating out starts to feel like a conveyor belt experience, won't it simply be more relaxing to stay at home? I don't know the answer, but we left feeling sad.

One of a kind , there deep love for this brilliant bistro restaurant .

Amazing food experience @Les 2 garçons! Everything from starter to dessert was simply delicious. Efficient and pleasant service, lively atmosphere with a definite French touch !

Great authentic French Bistro. A bit pricey but you get what you pay for. Service could be better but they pack a lot of people into a tiny space and do their best! Best veal I’d ever had Great onion soup The whole tart Tatin is exceptional!!!

Have walked past this place for months, and wanted to save it for a special occasion. It lived up to expectations and it’s a truly wonderful atmosphere. The food was brilliant, and we felt very looked after. Thanks for making my 30th so wonderful. The house red is so brilliant… too brilliant… dangerous!

I've been wanting to go here for a while and managed to plan ahead and get a reservation. The food is very French and very very delicious! We went on a rainy evening and ordered the French onion soup which was deliciously cheesy and had tons of flavor in the broth. The bread was toasted really well and retained that texture that you want in a French onion soup till the last bite! For our mains, my husband ordered the duck with lentils and I had the fish. The fish was phenomenal! Incredibly light but complex flavor. I chose to get Dauphinois potatoes on the side. That was perhaps not the best idea. It seemed to be lacking a little bit salt and just didn't really go well with the fish. Entirely my fault! The duck itself was a tad on the dry side but it ate very well with all the rest of the items on the plate. The lentils were absolutely perfectly cooked and very delicious! Both mains were very generously sized. The star of the night was the pear tart Tatin. You get an entire tart!! It is super flaky, perfectly caramelized and not overly sweet.

Make sure you book before you go! We booked and came in a hot summers day. suffice to say, there is no air conditioning and they had a few oscillating fans but was still suffocating hot inside… Despite that, the food we got was all so delicious. It felt like a very family owned restaurant where the chef cares about each individual dish served. All but one was absolutely delicious… would still come again but not order that one let down. We didn’t quite like the confit ducks it felt dry, the skin had peeled off, and just tasted bland. the sauce was also sub par… not sure how this dish got served when everything else was 5/5. Highly recommended still !

A beautiful meal from start to finish. The staff were courteous from the moment we walked in through the door and the food was just delicious. It’s no wonder it has an excellent reputation as the food is purely wholesome but incredibly flavoursome and tasty. Alongside a great wine menu and cocktails too, it’s worth a trip out of the centre for, if you’re visiting London!

I’d go so far as to say this is the best French restaurant I’ve tried in London… and I’ve put in the research! Almost full marks across food service and atmosphere but would just like the waiting staff to be a little less French and a little friendlier. Food wise, the concise seasonal menu and a brilliant selection of specials will have you struggling to choose. Starters: Our table tried the pate and the gazpacho, divine. Main: fish and steak options all wonderful Dessert: creme custard type dessert was smooth and the tarte tatin got rave reviews We try not to ask for changes but swapping out cream for ice cream in dessert felt like no trouble. Wine went down a treat Will be back.

Really enjoyed our dinner here Tuesday evening! And the critical frenchies in our group were also pleased (phew, since I chose the resto :)) Scallops (on the specials, cooked perfectly well, though a tad pricey at £19 for only 2 small pieces), cote de boeuf (cooked very well), fish stew (delightful flavour though the squid could use an extra 2-3 mins to be a bit more tender), duck confit were all delicious. The pear tarte tatin base was lovely (the pear just needed a couple more mins of cooking to be perfect). The chocolate mousse was a fantastic consistency. And the rhum baba was moist. Great wine list and twas nice to see the chef popping out every so often as well. We can see how / why the place was packed on a Tues evening.

Excellent food all around, but the pear tarte tatin was standout

Really great food here. Went for lunch on a Saturday and was not disappointed. Ingredients were fresh and dishes were delicious. We had four starters, two mains and two desserts between 2 and were stuffed by the end of it. Good portions, good service, will definitely return.

1. Dayum - the Ox Cheeks babaaaay!! So incredibly tender that it just fell apart as long as my fork touched it. So tender that it melted in my mouth. 2. The Apricot Rum Baba dessert: so fluffy and the rum on top was absolutely perfect 👌🏼who invented this combo? Absolutely genius. 3. I also loved how the chef came out and said hi to us. Lovely atmosphere, good place to get well fed, and do some walks in nearby park. Thank you, definitely will come back and recommend! Merrrrcii! 😋

We had an excellent evening at Les 2 Garcons. This is not a stuffy, fancy French restaurant; It has a lovely local/nice casual/very chatt vibe and all of our dishes were quite good, but I wouldn't say excellent (except for the amazing onion soup).

Good recommendations from the waitress. Service was attentive but not overbearing. Very well flavoured food. Portion size is okay for the price. Lovely presented. Escargot- well balanced and very flavourful. Duck and Mellon - loved the smoked duck. Interesting pairing for me. Creme caramel - not too sweet, or heavy, a great dessert to finish lunch

Inconsistent cooking of very traditional French food. My experience was 7/10, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if on another day one might have an 8+ meal here. Had dinner here with one other person. One starter each, one main each, one shared dessert, tap water only. Bill was just over £90 including service. Ordered tomato and burrata from the specials and the endive, beetroot, caramelised walnut, and blue cheese salad from the main menu as starters. Tomato dish was very pleasant, nice tomatoes and a piece of burrata with a few basil leaves. For me, it's hard to justify paying something like £12 for that. At that price I'd expect another element (an olive crostini, for example). A very nice dish at 2/3 that price, but too expensive for what it was. 6/10 Endive and beetroot salad was bordering on unpleasant. In my head, the caramelised walnuts would have been plentiful and generously candied to balance the bitterness of the endive. Instead, I got a miserly dusting of walnuts, just about candied, that gave nowhere near enough sweetness to balance things. Worse still, the dressing tasted overwhelmingly of truffle oil, which paired well with the blue cheese, but meant the whole dish consisted exclusively of aggressive undertones. Get rid of the truffle oil and add in some pieces of roasted pear and you'd have a much better dish. 4/10 Mains were bourguignon with mashed potato and roasted sea bass with fennel. Bourguignon was cooked very nicely, incredibly succulent meat, but every element on the dish was lukewarm as though it had sat on the pass for an extended time before service. Onions were nice, but could have been seared harder; mushrooms were desperate for some colour and were quite bland without it. Sauce had very nice flavour, but didn't have the texture and shine that you'd expect from a really good sauce made with a heavily reduced stock and a miroire. Mashed potato was excellent, very smooth and quite obviously groaning with butter. Really lifted the dish. Little garlic parsley croute was a nice way of introducing some texture and a punch of flavour variety, but was sadly also a bit cold. Had everything been served at the correct temperature, this would have been an 8, but as it was, 7/10. Sea bass was the standout. Cooked on the bone, very moist, with deeply caramelised fennel and a smattering of herbs. No issues with this dish whatsoever. 9/10. Dessert was a bay leaf creme cassonade, which is a fancy way of saying creme brulee. Cassonade is a brown sugar, but they used coconut sugar for no obvious reason. I have admiration for them trying a dessert with an unusual flavour, but it just doesn't add anything. As it was, it was a mediocre creme brulee with an underwhelmingly crunchy top. 7/10 There is undeniably good cooking to be found here, but there was also a lot of indifferent cooking. The dishes are quite straightforward with well known flavour combinations. That's not a criticism, that's just an expected function of this being a French bistro. The problem, however, it that it leaves little room for error, and my experience here was that the food is very much not without error. Quick notes on everything else. The room is quite dark and very loud and small. Some may like that, others not. It's cosy but hard to hold a conversation. Waiting staff were friendly enough, but a tad hasty. The restaurant is clearly at capacity almost non-stop, and good on them for that.

Traditional, perfectly executed food. Good choice of dishes plus a specials board. What is really worth mentioning, is it was extremely good value. I felt the customer is respected, food that does not cut corners, quality ingredients, cooked with care and the plating was assured. Sometimes that is exactly what you want but rarely find. I highly recommend booking at jumping into a taxi for a perfect dinner in a lovely brasserie.

Just finished the most wonderful feast with friends and all I can say is WOW. Food was the best frenchie we've had and service was on point. The dessert stole the show - a rum baba to remember!

Wow. I'm returning just for the mash potatoes. If you ever wanted to know what the French rave about when it comes to the quality of their cuisine then dine here. Amazing If I could give 6 stars I would.

Hidden gem! Better food than france! Chefs excellent, great sourced food, brilliant sisters birthday Unforgettable night x

This restaurant is amazing 👏- the food is so delicious - I had the scallops & duck. It is a great find always booked but worth the wait to get a table. Robert the chef is outstanding ..... and takes pride in all his food/ dishes and has a great personal approach with all the foodies that came to enjoy the wonderful French ambiance !!!

I had missed their several calls and emails to confirm my booking so was at first concerned when arriving that the booking was technically cancelled, but that they had kept a table for us just in case so that was very nice of them and I was very relieved. Great atmosphere, very buzzy at 6:30 on a Friday evening. Lots of service staff around which is always a great sign, with (I think) the two owners being a very present maitre d' and a chef, with the chef taking our orders for our mains and checking how we wanted our food. I'm vegan and being a French place unsurprisingly there aren't loads of options, but the radish and bean dip appetiser, and the artichoke bean and ratatouille main were both extremely tasty and perfect for springtime. The sort of food that you think 'maybe I could make that at home' but would never end up being close to the same quality of flavour. I was just glad that I ordered some bread as well because my main didn't come with anything carby, maybe some simple potatoes would have been nice. All in all a lovely experience near to home, and I thanked the owner again on the way out for accommodating us.

Food is excellent, space is a little cramped but

Friendly and warm environment. We had a full menu. For starters for home made onion soup and snails, then we tried the fishes and some desserts as well. The service was fast and precise.

My partner and I had a fantastic dinner at this restaurant, our first visit. We thoroughly enjoyed every dish; the food was delicious. My partner particularly loved the onion soup. The staff were incredibly friendly and attentive. While the tables were a bit close together, the overall atmosphere was wonderful. I highly recommend it!

Fantastic French cooking: just as good as they were in their previous location.

Our date night dinner on a Thursday was lovely. The food was excellent, and we particularly enjoyed sharing the rack of lamb and a pear tarte tatin.

I went here on Thursday to celebrate my daughter’s birthday and wasn’t disappointed. We were a group of six. The food and wine were excellent. In fact the rack of lamb was the best lamb chops I have ever had so can highly recommend. My partner had marrow bone to start which was very good. I had escargot which were delicious; my daughter had soup de poisson ….. I could go on but my advice is go for yourself….. you won’t be disappointed.

Absolutely amazing from starter to dessert, the price is more than reasonable, portion is huge, lovely down to earth French bistro vibe, most importantly the story behind the founding of the restaurant is such a lovely one too

Excellent French food from a chef and front-of-house team who are at the top of their game. Relaxed vibe. Great selection of house wines and the best Tarte Tatin this side of Paris. (Pre-order it if you want it)

A lovely little gem in Crouch End - JC, Robert and team are fantastic

Considering the price, this was extremely disappointing. The food was distinctly average and the service wasnt good either. TripAdvisor review from 2 weeks ago summed it up perfectly. Wish I had read it before!

Great local restaurant, excellent service and very busy. Food was real quality (French house/Racine). I will return, if I can get a booking

Les 2 Garçons is a brilliant bistro restaurant in Crouch End. Immediately upon arrival I felt whisked away to France and enjoyed every minute of our visit. Great choices on the menu are backed up by a daily specials menu. The scallops, ox cheeks and pear tarte tatin were particularly good. There is a clear passion here for good French food and good service in a nice setting with a wonderful atmosphere. Robert and JC really deliver! Thank you!

Second visit. Food is excellent. Personally, I find the space too loud and cramped but that won’t be an issue for everyone. Amazing tuna carpaccio starter was 10/10. We did get two email requests for booking confirmation 1-2 days before. I’d already confirmed the first time so didn’t appreciate the hassle of needing to reconfirm the next day. Not sure if this was in error but would be great if it didn’t happen again - I appreciate no shows are a pain.

outstanding food , beautifully presented . wide choice of french classics . attentive service and lovely atmosphere . superb

The scallops in orange butter were to die for!

It was absolutely fantastic from the start to end, and it's definitely one of the rare restaurants in the area.

Absolutely love this restaurant! We went to their previous venue for our first date and returned last night for our two year anniversary. The restaurant is very pretty, and the people lovely, warm and welcoming - such a cosy, relaxed vibe. The two garçons themselves are very involved in serving and making sure everything is perfect, and we got to chat to both briefly. Clearly a labour of love. The food was out of this world - made with real care and pride! Treat yourself!

Ridiculously good! Fun, excellent service, expertly cooked food, great wine and people, who truly care.

Absolutely delicious cuisine! The “2 boys” are particularly welcoming and charming. The smoked haddock with mustard sauce is deliciously subtle. I particularly recommend the baba for dessert. Flambé with apricot compote. It's a real killer. Thank you for this very pleasant and delicious meal.

Just utter and unashamed joyousness. This feels like the pinnacle of many many years of dedication , blood sweat and toil in the trade from the boys. It was a privilege to experience this moment in time . So much more than a dining experience.

Wonderful gem of a restaurant in London n8. Always busy make sure you book in advance . Wonderful fresh food very friendly service Will definitely go again.

Went here with my partner for early dinner. (6pm). Very welcoming and a lovely atmosphere, romantic and cosy. It's a small restaurant so feels intimate, perfect for a date night and beautifully decorated. The owners are very active and engaged in the dining room and all the staff made us feel welcome and taken care off without being intrusive. The food was excellent. Classic French food done well is so hard to find and Les 2 Garcons is the best French food I've eaten in the UK. We also had a lovely bottle of bordeaux with our mains. It's reasonably priced considering the expertise and experience. I highly recommend for a romantic evening.

Food was very good but not outstanding enough for me to give it five stars. Arguably a bit pricey for what it is.

Simple food, incredibly cooked! I finally managed to secure a reservation on a Tuesday evening, and I was immediately impressed by the friendliness of the chef and the other staff! I ordered a foie gras that came with a blackcurrant quince, a morel mushroom with shaved truffle toppings, and escargots as a starter ; the foie gras was incredible, the quince of blackcurrant was the perfect accompaniment to the foie gras, an excellent choice to enhance an incredibly tasty foie gras. The other starter with morel mushrooms and truffle shavings was another master class in enhancing the flavour of quality ingredients, it was delicious. The escargots were very nice too! As a main I had a Beef Tartare, one of the best I have ever tasted in my life! I finished the meal with a Baba’ with apricot compote and chantilly cream flambéed at the table. This was incredible, and it came with a free rhubarb side to appease my disappointment in not bringing able to order the Tarte Tatin( it appears that it has to be ordered in advance, but the website does not mention this anywhere). All in all an incredible experience, I can’t wait to go back to order the rest of the menu ( and the Tarte Tatin ! )

Excellent. !!!!. JC is a wonderful Host. The food is soooo good. . Staff are really friendly. We have been there quite a few times. Always fantastic.

Genuinely delicious food, lovely service and exceptional quality for the price. A thoroughly enjoyable meal!

This is the best restaurant in Crouch End. The owners are always on hand and super friendly the staff are extremely gracious and knowledgeable and the atmosphere oozes Paris. The cosy table lay out adds to the feeling of sharing a dining experience with the other guests and makes you feel like you’re staring in a Cartier Bresson photograph. The food is unapologetically French. If you like snails, steak and French onion soup you’ll be in the perfect spot. This is my second visit, and I’ll definitely be going back. Good for mid week meals and family celebrations.

Best food experience. The food is delicious, the service is amazing and very welcoming, totally worth it.

YUM YUM YUM. Lived up to the hype, very authentic and absolutely delicious!!

Tres Bon! We have just returned from a wonderful pre-Christmas dinner and we have throughly enjoyed our experience. Thank you & good luck for 2024! X

We finally managed to book a table for this restaurant yesterday evening. The food was delicious, the service spot-on, the ambience just right - buzzing and a great atmosphere. What a gem in the middle of Crouch End!

We've eaten here 5 or 6 times. Consistently excellent food. Great service from people who are actually interested. Striking value. Just a cracking restaurant.

Great quality French cuisine in Crouch End. French onion soup and chocolate mouse definitely highlights.

This is SUCH a good restaurant- delicious food, good vibes - lovely staff. Apple tart was stand out. Really understanding about us being late, all round great hospitality. Would highly recommend

JC has outdone himself. Excellent in every way and JC is the perfect host.

First time here and it was wonderful. The food was absolutely outstanding. I had beef brandade de morue to start which was a gorgeous garlicky delight and beef cheeks for my main. The sauce was so delicious I almost cried! Accompanied by excellent house wine and finished with an exemplary creme brûlée. This is seriously great cooking. Best meal I’ve had in a long time. Poss best French food I’ve had in London. Go there!

The best dining experience I’ve had in a long time! Great authentic atmosphere, friendly attentive staff; starters, mains & dessert were all wonderful - not one dish disappointed. Make sure you make a booking!

A beautiful petit restaurant in North London. We were greeted by the 2 Garçons that the restaurant is named after as soon as we sat down to our table. Everything about this restaurant is lovely - the personal touches, the excellent food, the delicious house win and the world class service. Its no wonder this restaurant is so highly rated by the Good Food Guide and Time Out. We had to book 1 month in advance and it was certainly worth the wait. Fantastic I cannot wait to go back.1

This restaurant is a real gem! The food is amazing and the service is friendly and efficient. We tried the cod and the sea bass which were both delightful. The apple tart was the perfect finish to a great meal. Can’t wait to visit again.

Amazing restaurant. Incredible service, food and drink. I have been to many fine dining restaurants - and this is not a fine dining restaurant - but I would choose this over them every day of the week. Very reasonably priced for the quality, and the wine list is the same; the cheapest wine was just over £30 and it extended into fine wines too. All round, couldn’t recommend more.

Simply wonderful been twice now and will certainly be back the best restaurant in north london by far.

By far the best French restaurant in North London! Probably in the whole of London?

Delish food, great customer service

Really good food and brillant atmosphère !

I love this restaurant, absolutely one of my favourite restaurants in London

The food was amazing I ordered blue steak cooked to perfection The service was excellent No complaints

Fantastic! Food and service both incredible, will definitely be back

Les Deux Garçons has always had very high standards but the meal we had this evening was exceptionally good. Better than ever! Lovely to see the same friendly efficient and wonderful staff. Faultless. We had three courses, a bottle of wine and other drinks and it came to under £60 per head inc service. Great value for money

Lovely local French restaurant in the heart of Crouch End

Wow, possibly the best fish dish I've ever eaten. I dream about the sea bass dish, it was that good. Service was lovely. Only complaint was it was a bit cramped, so felt a little claustrophobic with waiters having to squeeze between tables and chairs. Will definitely go back though, as food was lovely.

We'd heard many great things about Le 2 Garcons ahead of our evening there, and our experience lived up to them all. We started with the radish, white bean and garlic dip, classic French onion soup and sourdough. For mains, the blackboard specials took our eye and we enjoyed the roast monkfish, steak tartare with fries, complimented by an excellent house red from the Cotes Du Rhone. The restaurant has a charming, authentic atmosphere and the staff were very welcoming and attentive throughout. We'll certainly be coming back.

Food was first class. Which is why it was disappointing for us to be in such a noisy space. It felt a little as though the restauranteurs were relaxed about it, but when a place is so noisy, forget chatting through the albeit excellent meal. The girl at next table just got louder and louder as the meal went on because she couldn't hear either ..and so did everyone else. I'd never book it again unless something's done to create or encourage a calmer atmosphere! Such a shame. But we applaud the chef for sure. Bill for two was around £120. We declined dessert simply to leave sooner than anticipated!

Sorry Conchita - I was the girl at the next table - not the restaurant's fault really - I am loud everywhere because I'm partially deaf - hope I didn't ruin your evening at this amazing restaurant

Superb French food (cod, beetroot salad, apple tart) in a beautiful little space with very friendly service.

Had a fantastic meal at Les 2 Garçons - a great local bistro worthy of a visit! The menu offered some broad choices and every plate which arrived was full of flavour. The team was exceptionally welcoming, attentive, and warm throughout the entire meal, despite it being busy. Can’t wait to go back!

Only regret is that I was too stuffed for the tartin. So will have to return for that. It's one of the gems that you will return again and again.

Amazing dinner at this restaurant, main and dessert were fabulous, I really recommend the lemon tart, the service was also really good 👌🏻 the only downside it's that's really noisy and difficult to have a conversation.

Every dish was perfect. Brilliantly priced for London!

A lovely menu but mediocre food. Our frites arrived 10 minutes after our steak and were not cooked long enough. No apology given and hence not a restaurant we'd return to.

Best meal I’ve had this year. Incredible food and lovely service

Fabulous cooking, menu appears traditional French but has unique twists. Great service effortless and very prompt but not rushed. A gem in the heart of Crouch End. Desserts were simple but incredibly good.

Delicious French cuisine at its best.

Voilà, le dinner était superbe! Great atmosphere! Great food! Good earthy French food served in a lovely cosy surrounding. My duck confit was very tender, I loved it! Definitely a place to go, several times! Highly recommended

Fantastic. France away from France. Top.

Just one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in a French restaurant. Amazing food, very good service and welcoming atmosphere.

Wonderful ! The food and service were excellent. We had the special of the day which was pig’s Trotter and it was delicious. The pear tart Tatin was the best I have ever had. I wish I lived nearer but nevertheless will definitely come back soon.

Recently relocated to slightly bigger premises, but, still a challengecto get a table, which is a good problem, for them. Excellent on all counts but will be noisy.

Very noisy. Impossible to speak to those at same table. Ordered lamb but was not asked how it should be cooked

We managed to get a table at short notice at 9pm last night and had a fantastic meal. A buzzy cosy room, lovely personable service and, most importantly of all, absolutely first class food and wine. And at £75 for two including a 460ml carafe of house red, this is also excellent value for the quality and whole experience. We will definitely be back. Highly recommended.

Brilliantly French, brilliantly delicious. Bravo.

Fantastic food in a pleasant, relaxed, atmosphere. Will definitely visit again. The rum baba was super light and the best we've had.

My wife and I just got home from having dinner in this utterly wonderful restaurant. From the outside, an attractive small fronted restaurant, lights glowing through the windows under the awning, reminiscent of a typical Parisian bistro. Entering through the door and a set of curtains, you're greeted by a full, small room (40 - 50 covers, perhaps) and very friendly staff who welcome you to your table. We had a two-seater tucked away where we could eye the whole dining area. Nobody here is looking for you to see them, no influencers or anyone there because it's the place to be, just tables of happy customers deep in conversation, enjoying their night and the delicious food. The food... The food is sublime. Classic, French food a la campagne. You cannot beat this kind of food for sheer joy of eating. We had the beetroot entrée and the scallops from the specials board. I'll try not to go into detail because this review would become too long, but in short, beautiful dishes. On the beetroot one of the most majestic vinaigrettes I've ever had, and on the scallops, a delicious orange dressing. We were blown away. Then for main, from the specials, roast lamb with a dauphinoise on the side. Herbs garnished and with wild mushrooms throughout the plate, this was incredible, so tasty and cooked so, so well, to the highest level (we've been to many Michelin restaurants, I would choose this place over all of them). Before diving in, the chef brought the dish over to us in a deep pan, setting alight some of the contents and quickly closing the lid, which gently smoked out our table area with a glorious charred note - some unexpected theatre before we devoured that glorious dish. For dessert, we weren't going to bother because we were full but after seeing the pear tarte tatin online before arriving for dinner (one of many reasons we decided to try Les 2 Garçons in the first place), we managed to nab the last one. You get the whole thing, the size of a small dinner plate. And this was also glorious, served with crème fraiche to cleanse. A dessert I'll remember for a long time to come. Book it, eat it, come back here and tell me I'm right. (I didn't get many pics because we were too involved in the joyous eating. Just one of the lamb, to whet your appetite.)

Les 2 Garcons has been much lauded by the critics and talked about by friends, so we set off by tube and bus to leafy Crouch End (with wonderful views of Ally Pally as you come over the crest of Crouch End Hill) with high hopes indeed. And, from the moment we saw the jaunty red awning and Central Casting red and white checked tableclothed bistro table outside, we just knew we were in for a treat. And, disappoint… it did NOT. The wonderfully upbeat welcome from co-owners JC (front of house) and Rob (chef) was joyful and so we decided to splash out, French style, starting with a delicious cassis kir royale. A perfectly balanced endive, blue cheese, beet and candied walnut salad for me, perfectly cooked asparagus with the lightest, most delicious hollandaise for him were our best choices for starters (although we did manage also to squeeze in a supremely delicious onion tarte with goat’s cheese scattered on top). We then had steak frites, but this wasn’t any old steak frites. The steak was brilliantly caramelised on the outside – crusty if you will – and perfectly rare on the inside. Oh, what a joy. A shared rhum baba rounded off the evening – which was light and fluffy and soused in rum, as all good babas should be – with a theatrical flame to “pipe it in” to the table. A reasonably priced and eminently quaffable bottle of Languedoc accompanied us through dinner and we shared a glass of house red at the end, just to ensure that it was as good as we thought it would be – I can confirm, it was. And we were accompanied throughout by the dulcet tones of Jacques Dutronc and Serge Gainsbourg – belting out chanson after chanson – a pure delight it was too. There was a very jolly vibe in Les 2 Garcons and we will definitely be making regular pilgrimages to this utterly brilliant neighbourhood restaurant again (and again and again).