Evening Standard
David Ellis headed east, where Dominic Hamdy has followed up Soho’s Bar Crispin with Bistro Freddie – named after his “half Alsatian” father. “The bistro, all cream walls and wood panelling, and candles spilling their wax over old wine bottles, is perhaps half French, half English; a measure of Casse-Croûte with a pint of Andrew Edmunds poured in.”
It’s already a big hit, full for lunch and dinner every day. Chef Anna Søgaard is wowing fans with signature dishes including a chicken and tarragon pie, and according to The Standard’s fashion editor, Victoria Moss, “The whole fashion industry, despite being on Ozempic, is in there at the moment.”
David Ellis - 2024-03-03The Times
A life-long fan of classic French brasserie cooking, Tim Hayward finally made it to a joint hailed for its “bijou romantic authenticity” by what seemed like “the entire culinary world”. Sadly, he had to report that “it just doesn’t work” – in his view, Bistro Freddie has neither the “effortless and total” authenticity of Casse-Croute in Bermondsey nor the “thrilling” subversion of Borough Market’s new Café Francois.
So what went wrong? The steak tartare was “what any competent pothole-filler would have recognised as an aggregate-heavy ‘dry mix’”; no attempt was made to remove the tendons in the leg of the wild duck, so it was “much like chewing a three-inch length of warm armoured cable”, while its orange sauce was over-salted and the plate it came on was cold; polenta was the fine-grained white variety, hence the unpleasant “hot blancmange” effect; and the salad was clearly bought in pre-washed and bagged – tantamount to the kitchen declaring “we couldn’t be bothered”. Finally, his single ile flottante was “moulded, cold and set in a sea of frigid crème Anglaise. I need another 200 words just for the Brexit gags”.
Tim Hayward - 2024-11-17
