Clos Maggiore

I was a bit dubious about Clos Maggiore, as it was situated in the middle of tourist attraction of Convent Garden, but I was very happy to be proved wrong.

Food

We had the 3 course pre-theatre menu., starting with some onion foccacia, which was very caramelised and scrumptious, not at all oily, and brown roll, which was very boring. The 3 of us just about tried all the items on the menu:

• Foie Gras & Oxtail Terrain - pickled silver skinned onion - was beautiful, as it should be, the onions were not quite as caramelised as I liked though.
• Boudin Blanc with beans and game sauce - great quality produce, much better than the ones we bought from Paris, and the beans were so fresh, you could almost taste spring.
• Pan Fried Fillet of Pollock - terrine of purple potato & globe artichoke - at least it wasn’t sea bass. It’s tasty enough, cooked perfectly. I just wish for a bit more seafood taste, as usual. The accompaniment were great though.
• Slow cooked Elwy Valley Lamb Belly -pus pulse & lamb jus with olive oil - a great time for lamb, and this was lovely and tender. I’m a sucker for good pus pulses and these were very good indeed.
• Passionfruit and Chocolate Ganache, Coconut Sorbet. - was definitely the highlight. The chocolate was so good, which was accompanied by the tangy passionfruit, and the coconut sorbet was like eating a ripe, fresh coconut.
• Vanilla Cheesecake & warm Red Berries - good, smooth, but not spectacular. I haven’t really had a great cheesecake at a restaurant yet, with maybe the exception of the Cheesecake Factory.

Rating - 7.5

Atmosphere

Everyone raved about the setting, and I can see why. Clos is situated in one of those terrace houses, so the restaurant consists of a series of rooms. We were seated next to a blazing fireplace, in a room which also had a sky light and a flower canopy. Scrumptious French wallpaper complete the setting.

Rating - 2.5

Service

The wait staff were absolutely lovely. Most of them are French. There was a French couple at the next table and the waiters were all talking to them in French. One waiter was especially charming, explaining the dishes and helping us with choices when we needed.

Rating - 4

C-factor

The pre-theatre menu was 3 courses for £19.95, which didn’t have a lot of choice, but it was good value for the quality of food we got. Gripe, we got charged £4.95 for a bottle of still water!! Warning though - order before 6:30 if you want to make your 8pm show. We were quite rushed at the end.

Rating - 1.5

Brownie Points - 15.5

Info

33 King Street
London
WC2E 8JD
Phone +44 (0) 20 7379 9696
Website