The Bacon Scones At This Covent Garden Restaurant Are Everything You Dreamed They Would Be

Frenchie Covent Garden set lunch menu ★★★★☆

By Lydia Manch Last edited 53 months ago

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The Bacon Scones At This Covent Garden Restaurant Are Everything You Dreamed They Would Be Frenchie Covent Garden set lunch menu 4
Home to the bacon scone: Frenchie Covent Garden. Photo by Nicolas Buisson

Frenchie Covent Garden has a set lunch menu now. That's big news if you've wistfully eyed up the standard menu — leaking modern French decadence all over your daydreams/Instagram feed — and the prices alongside it, and consigned it to the 'only on a corporate expense account' list.

The set menu's both eye-wateringly pricey and, also, thoroughly good value by Frenchie standards: £32 for three courses at a restaurant where that's the usual price for a main course from the a la carte.

Three dazzling courses, too. Options change regularly so there's no guarantee you won't be staring down the barrel of an entirely different lunch menu, but highlights included: a hefty slab of terrine — chewy and flaky-pastried, a starter in name but a main course in spirit; a cod, cauliflower, mussels and whey arrangement of extreme elegance, and a confit duck and blackberry main course as rich-tart-sweet as it sounds.

Bacon scone, maple syrup glaze, clotted cream: Frenchie Covent Garden. Photo by Virginia Ridgers.

Some stars came from the à la carte menu, though — and not the more expensive reaches of it: from the starters and sides. Hispi cabbage with yuzu, miso and parmesan is exactly the thunk of umami it sounds like. The fig ice cream dessert's simple, silky and deeply rich. And those bacon scones: sticky-glazed, salt-flecked, mapley warmth with a pat of butter-thick clotted cream; they are glorious. And at £4.50 each, they're relatively good value for something quite substantial, rich like crazy and fiercely satisfying.

Same goes for that hispi, and the fig ice cream. On a repeat visit we'd be tempted to forgo the set lunch, grab a seat at the sleek bar counter and cobble something beautiful together from the equally dazzling nibbles, starters and sides. A low commitment, high flexibility approach that lets you double back for extra bacon scones if wanted. (*They will be wanted.)

The set lunch menu's wallet-busting but offers up a batch of very, very good dishes. Still, though. It pays to be be led astray.  

The Frenchie lunch menu is £29 for two courses or £32 for three courses. Frenchie Covent Garden, 16 Henrietta Street, WC2E 8QH.  

Last Updated 18 October 2019