Walking into Les Trois Garçons, it feels like you’ve walked into a cross between the Natural History Museum and an eccentric Aunt’s house. Trophy heads adorn the walls (albeit with crowns and tiaras), with stuffed animals and chintzy nik-naks (lifesize porcelain dalmations, metal herons etc) crammed into the remaining space, in this former public house.

Awaiting the tardier members of our group, we managed to completely confuse the French waiters with our attempts to order something to nibble on, before we gnawed our own hands off. Once I’d managed to clarify that we weren’t trying to order anything off-menu, we were served some mixed cheese & bread and several complete Fois Gras’. The Fois Gras was excellent, disintegrating on the tongue very pleasantly. The cheese was fine apart from a particularly stinky number, which left a horrible aftertaste of horse manure that had to be quickly washed down with a glass of fine Pauilliac. 

Onto the start of our set menu, which kicked off with a very good amuse bouche of roast tomato velouté that was velvety in texture and rich in taste. The mackerel escabeche starter, with beetroot and a horseradish cream was well presented and rather delicate in flavour, which was a not altogether unpleasant surprise.

The main course of Sea Bass with wild mushrooms, white coco beans and a hazulnut emulsion was far too intriguing for me to pass on, although I wish I’d gone for the aged rib-eye steak instead. The Sea Bass was well cooked, but with a hint of fishiness about it, I’m not sure quite how fresh it was when it was cooked. The coco beans were also a disappointment, albeit of my own making, being identical to haricot beans and although the hazelnut emulsion went well with the beans, I wasn’t entirely convinced it went with the Sea Bass. I had a taste of my colleague’s rib-eye, though, and that was perfectly cooked and full of flavour.

Dessert came in the form of Crème Brulée (we all avoided the cheese option!), which was good, if unexceptional.  

Les Trois Garçons juxtaposes higher end French cuisine with very eclectic décor (which I guess fits in well in the trendy/arty area of Shoreditch & Bethnal Green) and for some unknown reason, it seems to work. I do think that it has more to offer on the food side of things, as catering for a group of 15 on a set menu rarely allows the food to shine, so  I do think it’s worth a return visit for a sample of the a la carte menu. Despite the initial confusion, the service was excellent and in terms of décor, it definitely adds a certain “je ne sais pas pourquoi” (sic) to the restaurant scene.