Monday night I had a busy and stressful day at work, so one of my closest friends and I headed to Brasserie Zadel in Soho for dinner and a catch up. I've been hearing good things about Brasserie Zedel for a while now, and I wasn't disappointed. It feels a world away from the hustle and bustle of the City, and it really does live up to its hype as a Parisian style brasserie.
You enter through a street-front cafe and walk to the back and down a corridor, where the lighting changes, the artwork becomes more interesting, and a neon sign urges you to descend down the stairs. As you go downstairs you find yourself in a huge space beneath the road filled with buses and cars above. It feels opulent and luxurious, and after getting past the tacky neon sign upstairs you could easily mistake yourself for being in a fancy Parisian hotel.
Before entering the restaurant you walk past a bar, a cabaret venue, and a couple of hotel style reception desks. When you finally do enter the restaurant you are instantly wowed by the sheer size of the place! After the shock of the size, you then realize that the decor, the atmosphere, and the way you feel transported back in time, have taken your breath away. The photos don't do it justice, and I couldn't get it all in - it's much bigger in real life.
I think some people may find the decor too much, but for me, and in this place, it just feels 'right'. We sat down and after being handed the menus, my mouth dropped. The prices. This place is SO incredibly affordable! Starters for £3?! Surely I'm not reading this right? I looked around at the setting we were in, I glanced at the classy and opulent bar opposite, and the table with its heavy 'well made' cutlery, basket of fresh breads, and thick embroidered napkins.
Unfortunately for me, they took the Parisian element a little too far, as the menu was all in French. I don't know any French apart from, 'Parlez Vous Anglais?!'. Thankfully Mr H did, so talked me through the menu. I chose deep fried whitebait with fries for main, and chocolate profiteroles for dessert. Being the greedy guts that I am, I was slightly worried the whitebait wouldn't be enough, but it filled me up and I could barely squeeze in dessert! But of course I did...
Mr H had some sort of lamb and sausage dish...not sure exactly what it was, but it looked delish!
My whitebait was incredibly tasty! Sadly my fries were stone cold, which was a bit of a let down as like most other people, I prefer them hot. The profiteroles made up for them though...I can't even begin to describe how delicious they were, the chocolate sauce was just so rich and creamy, and you could taste and see the vanilla in the cream inside the profiteroles. Needless to say I scoffed the lot despite being full up from the whiting.
I absolutely loved Brasserie Zedel, and would recommend it to anyone. It's perfect for special occasions as it feels so special, yet it's affordable and not pricey at all. The food wasn't 'outstanding' - my main course was tasty, but nothing special, but it was very good for the price, and the profiteroles were amazing! The service was also excellent and I love how you get down to the restaurant from the slightly empty cafe upstairs. The cabaret venue and bar are both art deco, so I'd love to check those out next time.
Also apologies for being a bit MIA and not really posting many 'interesting' posts lately - I've been super busy at work and just haven't had the time. I've also had that horrid Norovirus. But, I promise I have some very exciting events coming up the next week or two, so I'll post all about them!
