If you're planning a few drinks before heading out into the West End, then the Café Boheme bar is the perfect place to start. At first glance Café Boheme itself is rather unassuming. Nestled on the corner of Greek Street and Old Compton Street in London's Soho, its faux French exterior is carefully cultivated to look like a perfectly Parisian café but designed to ensure it doesn't stand out. Look again and you'll catch a tantalising glimpse of candles and fairy lights — and a crush of people standing at the bar.
Because Café Boheme is popular. Really popular. And it welcomes all sorts — not bona fide bohemians, perhaps, but everyone else, from local office workers and trendy actorish types to the pre-theatre hordes. It's hard to know whether its popularity is thanks to the décor (cartoons by late, great Evening Standard cartoonist JAK and intimately low lighting), the classic French food, or the owner. It's part of Nick Jones's Soho House Group, and housed downstairs from Soho House itself. My mother and I begin at the bar, perched on a red, leather barstool, happily sipping a gin and tonic until our table is ready. The bar is loud and noisy and rather dark. It's intimate and has a buzzy, young atmosphere. A few wooden tables and chairs are scraping against the tiles. We people-watch to the sound of clinking glasses and low-level chatter. Some people never make it further than this, but we are here for the food.
The menu is a list of French favourites. We begin well: the leek and girolle tart is creamy with perfect shortcrust pastry and served with a lovely, light salad of frisée and cos lettuce; the scallops are excellent, beautifully complemented by salty bacon and buttery beans.
For our main courses, there's a wonderfully fresh heritage carrot, beetroot and fennel salad with a lemon dressing. I plump for steak frites. My steak is more well done than medium, but it's a lovely cut of meat served with perfectly salty, thin fries. Both were big portions and thankfully we are hungry, but sharing is definitely an option.
I've never been known to decline a dessert menu, and this time was no exception. We flip a coin to decide between the chocolate tart with salted caramel ice cream and tarte tatin. The chocolate tart wins. It's a little too heavy, but the ice cream — elegantly presented with a quenelle (that oval blob of a serving), is one of the best I've tasted: creamy and salty to perfection. My only complaint is that the 'quinnell' is too small. Our waitress suggested a good bottle of Gamay to accompany our meal and was attentive without being overbearing.
The restaurant is worth the wait at the bar and the money. Brilliantly, Café Boheme is open until 3am Monday-Saturday so whether it's a lazy weekend brunch or a quick snack after an evening out, there's always an excuse to go. Don't expect dainty, groundbreaking dishes but if you're in the mood for simple, delicious, classic French bistro food then it's a winner. An affordable, truly French experience in the middle of London.
Café Boheme, 13 Old Compton Street, London W1D 5JQ +44 (0) 20 7734 0623; cafeboheme.co.uk)
THE BILL
Two gin and tonics — £14
Leek and girolle tart — £7
Scallops with haricot beans and bacon — £11
Heritage carrot, beetroot and fennel salad — £10
Steak frites — £14.50
Chocolate tart with salted caramel ice cream — £7.50
Gamay — £17.50
Service (12.5%) — £10.20
Total — £91.50
