Pierre Victoire

Once upon a long time ago, a young M and A had their first date in a French bistro in Oxford.  Years later, we decide to spend a Sunday brunch seeing how the old place has weathered the years.  We go from strength to strength; will Pierre Victoire be the same?

In Sundays they only have a prix fixe menu, which is fine.  It is volumous and covers french classics like pate, duck confit, etc, as well as catering for locals with a range of Sunday roasts.

A ordered the are, and I the salmon cous cous.

The pate is delicious, and extremely fluffy, making the large serving a pleasure to finish.  Oddly almost no bread was served with this, and the gratuitous baguette with the table cover cost didn't make enough of a dent, and we had to ask for more.  What do most people do, eat it with a spoon?  One could, although it's not advised.

Sad baguette.  £2

The cous cous was a sorry affair.  With almost no salmon, and certainly no detectable pieces of eye advertised smoked salmon, it was extremely bland.  Insufficient herbs and peppers to break up the mushy monotony, this was diet food (read: pointless).

The wait was the worst part of the meal.  After plates were cleared away, mains simply failed to appear.  We weren't forgotten; the restaurant just moved at glacial speeds.  Having been seated with no reservation with the admonishment of "ok, but you need to be finished by 2pm", which seemed reasonable since we had come in on the last bell of noon, we were now sitting waiting at 1.15pm for our mains.

A's moule frite was lovely.  Not an overly large portion but plenty for her and some to share.  The mussels were tender and plump, and in a simple marnier sauce.  Frites were rather ho hum.  No bread for soaking up the sauce.  Maybe baguettes are at a premium, or maybe they are habitually wasted, but I would have thought they would replenish with appropriate dishes.  Moan about bread over.

My Sunday roast was a masterpiece.  Something very lean, possibly top rump or silverside, were blasted so that there is still some perfect rareness in a few slices matched well with a good Yorkshire pud and some lively vegetables in jus.  I thought the gravy was too think but A pronounced it excellent.  I do like thick, meaty, gravy, and shouldn't fault this sauce.

For the price, the mains really made the set menu.

By 1.45pm we were worrying about our parking, never mind the deadline they had set.  No sign of desserts; should we just leave.

Finally, these arrived.

A's cherry tart used sweet cherries in season rather than the sour morello type, which meant the flavour was entirely lost in the cooking.  What a waste of good fruit.

My strawberry fool (by some French name) was fine.  After the enormous (even for me) roast meal, a bowl of cream was just a tad too much.

All in all, the price was more than fair for a three course Sunday lunch, and some of here good was excellent and enough to make up for the less interesting dishes.  One needs to pick and choose and learn the menu, which would be a worthy excercise for the best options.  The service does rather let getting experience down.  All very friendly, loud, and extremely french, we were sitting for two hours which rather stretches just how leisurely a lunch we wanted, and at points perfectly good English names and descriptions were given in French.  Yes, I understand it's an authentic french bistro with authentic french staff, but a Yorkie by any other name; a fool is still a fool.

This is the worst photo possible.  I am sorry and I am turning in my blogger card at the door.

Lunch for two with a glass of wine each was around £35-40, and portions are very generous.  Worth becoming a local just to avoid the dud dishes, and order by looking at others' plates, not the menu.