A Taste of Paris at Patron Restaurant in Kentish Town

I’m a sucker for all those Parisian romantic clichés and if I haven’t had a recent Paris fix the chance to live those out in London is difficult to resist. So I was very happy to be invited to review Patron Restaurant, a bijou Parisian-style brasserie and wine bar in the heart of urban Kentish Town.The restaurant’s ‘patrons’ are a French and English couple, Jean-François & Tanzi who rather romantically met 12 years ago at cookery school in London. They opened Café Gourmand, a petit bistro in Soho and then their next venture, Patron Restaurant, in March 2015 with their bilingual terrier Pippin in tow…

The interior manages to have a classic Parisian feel without descending into parody and is filled with knick-knacks picked up by the couple as they travelled through France. Some places try too hard with their attempts to gallicise their interior but this gets the balance right. There is a small but perfectly formed menu with a classic selection of small/starter plates such as steak tartare, escargot, frogs legs, French onion soup, charcuterie and cheese and four to five mains including Patron’s signature dishes: open fire Onglet steak, melt in the mouth Duck Confit & classic Moules Frites served with a seasonal side of your choice.I’ve come to Patron with my friend Catherine who I’ve known since the early 70s so there is plenty to gossip about and the mineral and citrus notes of our bottle of Petit Chablis, La Chablisienne, 2017 certainly added to the sense of bonhomie. For starters, we went for a simple but delicious plate of Mixed Wild Mushrooms in shallot butter on what was rather endearingly called Josper croutes but was really toast! Baked Fig with buche de chevre and truffle honey needed a touch more baking and truffle honey to be perfect but was still tasty. From the Main Plates menu the Gascon dish of Duck Confit was very rich, tender and full of flavour – perfect for the chilly evenings of early autumn. Whilst a great portion of Moules Marinière served in a tasty liquor, were plump and juicy – I’m getting excited thinking about them! It’s great when side dishes aren’t an afterthought. Sweet and delicious Chantenay carrots came baked and glazed in honey and a gratin Dauphinois was the ideal comfort food to push away thoughts of winter, Brexit and other bad things! For dessert, my Trou Normand (homemade apple sorbet with a couple of shots of Calvados on top) was the perfect way to finish the evening. That heady combination of alcohol and sorbet always makes me happy, and C’s Mousse au Chocolat served with caramelized hazelnuts disc was dark, slightly bitter and mysterious like a Film Noir leading lady. With very reasonable pricing, a sexy French vibe and food that you just want to eat, Patron is really worth a visit and adds a lot of value to Kentish Town. It’s only a short stroll from the tube so why not give it a try.