Café Luc opened on Marylebone High Street in June 2010, taking the place of a quite peculiar vegetarian restaurant. The new place looks lovely - very shiny chrome, leather banquettes, gentle hues and amber lighting. Good jazz (the sort that has a tune) created a mellow vibe.
The menu is standard bistro fare, and prices pretty average for that neck of the woods. There’s a good range of salads, presumably to cater to the area’s ladies who (don’t really eat) lunch.
It's hard to get service right - London restaurants seem to range at times from grovelling and interrupting every mouthful to ask if everything’s ok (well it would be if you hadn't given me indigestion with your endless questions), through rude, don't give a damn via useless but pretty and/or cool. At Cafe Luc the service was bang on; smart but relaxed, knowledgeable and not in your face. Friendly too. That said, they didn’t have much to do, as the place was very very quiet. We were there early Friday evening but only had a handful of fellow diners for company.
So far, so good. We started with a little fizz to set the weekend off, nicely accompanied by dainty crackers. Good bread arrived.
Have you ever seen crumpets on a dinner menu? Us neither, so we ordered an intriguing starter of smoked salmon and horseradish cream on a toasted crumpet with an open mind. It just didn’t gel – the sweetness of the crumpet clashed with the horseradish. The salmon was a bit grey and there was a mass of it. Good to see chefs being creative but we don’t think they’d actually sat down and eaten this as a dish.
Mains were a pea risotto; moist, good texture but over salty and steak with a peppercorn sauce. For ages we didn’t know whether ‘minute’ steak meant that it was cooked for just 60 seconds or whether it was tiny. In this case it was the latter, although it was cooked just as ordered. The sauce was tasty but had a nasty film on top when poured. The French fries were good and crispy though.
Puddings were ok – pot au chocolate was more like a decent mousse but should have been more concentrated. It was served with a little boat of (rather thin) hot chocolate sauce that was surplus to requirement. Caramel ice cream, probably handmade, had a fantastic flavour, but the vanilla one that came with it was soapy.
So, in all, it was ok. We’d return to try the brunch menu as it did look inviting. This place definitely had a nice atmosphere but at the moment it’s a case of style over substance. If they were to keep a closer eye on the produce they’re using and sharpen up the cooking it could be a rather lovely addition to one of London’s better high streets.
