Au Belge

To say the Restaurateur here has lost his passion for the work would be a bit of an understatement and perched on Old Bailey Street next to a ropey looking bar and a lovely looking Thai, is Au Belge.

The restaurant itself is not bad - what you would expect for a homely steak-frite/moule-frite joint - a little dated, a little chintzy. As for the food - again, not bad, but then, not good either.

First things first, the bread basket was dreary - warmed cheap bread, the sort which you buy half cooked in the freezer section of ParkNShop and the butter tasted of the fridge - most unpleasant.

I opted for the French onion soup - it was ok - nothing outstanding and the croutons which had obviously sat in it for a while before coming out where of a similar texture to old dish sponge - why they hadn't left them all crisp, with a topping of grilled Gruyere, on the side so I could add them at will? Or at least scattered them on as it left the kitchen.

For the main course E and I shared a Chateaubriand. We have a rule that you can only order steak at a steak restaurant (or the Press Room) as it's too easy an option and you might miss out on something excellent elsewhere on the menu. But, as we were in a place that specialises in it, we went all out. It was good - as one would expect - fine quality, done to medium-rare as requested, so why, oh why would they offer to spoil it by trying to get us to "pick a sauce" to go over it - surely a Bearnaise, blue cheese or pepper sauce would ruin it and detract from the texture and flavour we were supposed to be savouring? And, as for the frites - not great, and bearing in mind the fanfare they got, I was disappointed. Two of our party opted for stews (one beef and one chicken) and these were very good - nice base, good hearty food.

The puddings were ok - the kind of cliched fare you can find in any bistro, especially outside of France/Belguim. We skipped the cheese - they really weren't selling it well - for some reason no-one was clear/could be bothered about what cheese were available. My Crème Caramel was spot on, so it was a shame that one of our dining companions Crème Brûlée had separated and therefore not set properly, resembling a bowl of catsick once he had broken though the brûléed crust. We also thought we would indulge in a spot of dessert wine to accompany our last course, and as the list was limited (to one), we picked it. Unfortunately, they didn't have it, and, with a shrug of the shoulders, that was that. What anyone who wanted repeat trade would have said is that literately around the corner is a Watsons Wine shop and if we popped round there we could BYO, which is what we did as I had spotted it on the way in.

Really, it's the simple stuff that really makes a difference, which is what this place is trying to achieve but seriously lacking. Sort out the bread, be a better host, think about the presentation, do quality, basic traditional dishes that can be well executed easily and ditch the wipe down menus. A little (with no extra costs) could go a long way. So obviously I'm not going back, but if a hearty stew and a 70's style pud in homey surroundings takes your fancy then this might just fit the bill.