Tasting Britain
TastingBritain.co.uk - The Rendez-Vous Bar @ Gourmets Des Ternes, Knightsbridge, London
Les Gourmets Des Ternes in lovely Knightsbridge is a (proper) Parisian bistro - food is typical bistrot French - traditional, not nouvelle (but having not tried any I can’t properly comment in that yet!…). We were there for the cocktail bar, the 'the Rendez-Vous’ - head upstairs to the first floor and there you shall find it. Said bar’s focus seems to be on French wines (some of them ‘fine’ - if you know what I mean…) plus cocktails made from the orange liqueur, Cointreau (also French, and quite good!)
The space itself is small and intimate, there’s a balcony terrace that you access by actually climbing out of a window (I thought this was a mistake at first but no, this is part of the fun - especially with alcohol involved). Almost all the staff are French speaking, so it seems like a good place to go and indulge your Francophile tendencies (assuming that you have Francophile tendencies of course… you could just go for the cocktails). Also on the bar snacks menu are pastries from La Patisserie Des Reves. In terms of prices, it can be pretty costly here - even by Knightsbridge standards. What can I say… indulge yourself?
I said earlier that they’re a ‘proper’ Parisian bistro: the original Les Gourmets des Ternes (opened in 1962 in the 8th District of Paris) is something of a Parisian culinary institution, with repeat customers including Sharon Stone and Jack Nicholson (Les Gourmets have photographic evidence of this on their walls). We also got to meet Maximilien (‘Max') Marie - the 20something grandson of Francis, the restaurant’s founder. He was a swell and ‘dynamic' guy and wore a shiny silver suit. It might not have been a shiny silver suit but that’s how my memory has decided he was dressed!
Would certainly return for actual food since, if what I have read is anything to go by, their previous restaurants have set the bar pretty highly! On that note, there’s another Gourmets Des Ternes in Maida Vale - which has been there for longer.
TastingBritain.co.uk - The Rendez-Vous Bar @ Gourmets Des Ternes, Knightsbridge, London
Les Gourmets Des Ternes in lovely Knightsbridge is a (proper) Parisian bistro - food is typical bistrot French - traditional, not nouvelle (but having not tried any I can’t properly comment in that yet!…). We were there for the cocktail bar, the 'the Rendez-Vous’ - head upstairs to the first floor and there you shall find it. Said bar’s focus seems to be on French wines (some of them ‘fine’ - if you know what I mean…) plus cocktails made from the orange liqueur, Cointreau (also French, and quite good!)
The space itself is small and intimate, there’s a balcony terrace that you access by actually climbing out of a window (I thought this was a mistake at first but no, this is part of the fun - especially with alcohol involved). Almost all the staff are French speaking, so it seems like a good place to go and indulge your Francophile tendencies (assuming that you have Francophile tendencies of course… you could just go for the cocktails). Also on the bar snacks menu are pastries from La Patisserie Des Reves. In terms of prices, it can be pretty costly here - even by Knightsbridge standards. What can I say… indulge yourself?
I said earlier that they’re a ‘proper’ Parisian bistro: the original Les Gourmets des Ternes (opened in 1962 in the 8th District of Paris) is something of a Parisian culinary institution, with repeat customers including Sharon Stone and Jack Nicholson (Les Gourmets have photographic evidence of this on their walls). We also got to meet Maximilien (‘Max') Marie - the 20something grandson of Francis, the restaurant’s founder. He was a swell and ‘dynamic' guy and wore a shiny silver suit. It might not have been a shiny silver suit but that’s how my memory has decided he was dressed!
Would certainly return for actual food since, if what I have read is anything to go by, their previous restaurants have set the bar pretty highly! On that note, there’s another Gourmets Des Ternes in Maida Vale - which has been there for longer.