Fine French tapas hits spot
THE FRENCH QUARTER Arch 6 Westgate road, Newcastle, NE1 1SA Tel: 07443 771120 www.frenchquarternewcastle.co.uk
NEWLY opened in the railway arches on Westgate Road, The French Quarter promises to offer “informal dining” with tapas-style small dishes, and a wide selection of wines.
Inside, it looks stylish and clean, the wines themselves taking pride of place in the decor and a few quirky touches – such as a rather sweet, distinctly French-looking bicycle – stop it from being bare or clinical.
It’s easy to imagine settling in at the bar, or any of the small tables, for a long night sipping good wine – but did it live up to expectations?
SO HOW WAS THE FOOD?
We started with a planche mixte – a selection of charcuterie and cheeses. Beautifully presented, it would make a perfect side plate if you just wanted a small bite with your drinks, as well as a good starter. A few items stood out: soft goat’s cheese started off mild, but packed an earthy punch after a few bites, thin strips of cured ham and gherkins joined a really excellent, pungent sausage.
Moving on, I couldn’t resist a baked Camembert – spooning up the warm, gooey cheese with fresh, crisp croutons couldn’t fail to be enjoyable.
Mussels, in a marinière sauce, were as good as I’ve had, creamy with a powerful kick of garlic, but not over-salty, as the dish can sometimes become. With these, we ate dauphinois potato. The simple dish – little more than creme fraiche and potatoes – was elevated to a thing of pure beauty, perfect in its texture and with a rich, comforting flavour. Subric – a sort of potato croquette with generous chunks of cured ham – were piping hot, crisp outside and fluffy within.
The best choice of the evening was perhaps the confit duck, a whole leg offered a huge portion of tender meat which fell of the bone, and tasted wonderful drizzle in the dark, unctuous orange sauce.
It’s often difficult to decide how much to order at a place where small dishes like this are offered. I’d say these plates aren’t huge – but you could probably easily fill up with just two each.
We ended on tarte tatin, which was sweet and gentle, the puff pastry soft and not too crumbly.
I should note as well that the vegetarian section of the menu was both extensive and appealing – not something one traditionally associates with French cuisine.
AND THE SERVICE?
We visited on a Sunday night just over a week after the grand opening, so it’s unsurprising that the place was fairly quiet.
I therefore can’t say for certain that the attentive service would be quite so excellent on busier nights but if I had to guess, I’d feel pretty confident.
All the staff were consistently friendly and knowl-