Meribel Brasserie
French Restaurant in Camden
A romantic setting, but food is hit and miss
French restaurant Meribel Brasserie has plenty of romance. It’s tucked away under Camden’s railway arches, lending it a domed-shaped ceiling and rugged, exposed brick walls. There is an open fire, and lighting is seductively subdued. Even the wonky table and a pile of sawdust by my foot can’t ruin the whimsy.
What does spoil things is waiting, as the Jersey rock oysters take forever (well, more like half an hour), and eventually turn up at the same time as the starters, leading to a struggle to fit everything on the table.
Scallops are soft and perfectly cooked, served with a creamy tomato and mayonnaise dressing. There is some lovely smoked salmon in the duo of trout quenelles, but the hunk of trout pâté lacks flavour and could do with some bread (a basket is £2.50).
The grilled lobster tail is nice, but an implement to prize the meat out of its shell might have been handy, and it has the exact same dressing as the scallops. It comes with “seasonal vegetables”, in this instance new potatoes and an unnecessary serving of overcooked broccoli.
Better is the tartiflette, a fantastically rich mélange of diced potato, Reblochon and very smoky bacon, it’s a pity it’s just a side dish. The Meribel Fondue is a whole Camembert baked in a box with a sprig of rosemary - the menu clearly states this so we’re not expecting a fancy Le Creuset pot. The problem is that it cools down and sets very quickly, leaving an unappealing, gelatine-like blob of cheese, unlike the hot gooiness of the real thing. A platter of salami and Serrano ham are both lovely, as are the cornichons and roasted salty potatoes. Sadly there aren’t enough good moments like this to justify the £100 price of the meal.
At the time of writing the restaurant is closed due to the redevelopment of Camden Road station, however the café is still open 8am to 4pm.
Reviewed by Leila
Published on Oct 31, 2012
eally quirky and interesting use the space and I LOVE the long open fire. The chicken liver pate was to DIE for and came with loads of lovely crusty toasted bread...my sis', had the snails which she assured me were lovely and that shed not had better even in France! I think she may have ordered them more because of the suave french waiter tho ;)
Cote de Boef was 'manifique' and came in perfect time with lots of french fries and two lovely sauces....
creme brulee....perfection!
I found the whole experience great on the whole - a very welcome addition to Camden Road!
The restaurant has a very pleasant look and feel. The food was OK but pricey. I had seafood liguine which at £15 seemed expensive for what was served, frankly a mediocre dish in size and quality. What really let the restaurant down was the service. Neither I nor my dining partner cared for the waiter's attitude from the start. Things did not improve and much of the night was spent waving frantically, trying to get the waiters attention even though the restaurant was 3/4 empty. This included having to repeat requests, which ruined the meal as instead of concentrating on the the company and the food, time and effort was spent trying to get attention from someone who seemed to walk round in blinkers. It was not value for money and the really poor service means I will certainly not be going back.
