Au Bar

The quest for really good pub grub continued today with a trip to Au Bar, on Shandwick Place. Right next door to La Piazza, it’s a place I’ve regularly visited for drinks, but not previously tried their food.

The interior is really very smart, with the French theme of their name reflected in the design and in particular on the very smart menu cards.

Service was welcoming and attentive throughout, with our waiter/barman showing me and my dining companion for the day, my mother Anne, to a nice little booth table.

Once ales had been selected and brought, we turned our attention to their menu, which featured classic pub grub fare. Anne is a great fan of fish n chips, so that was a straightforward decision. I asked for advice as to whether the Toulouse sausage and mash or the burger was the way to go. The burger was the advised choice, so I went with that.

Dishes soon arrived, looking good. The fish was of considerable size, so Anne got to work on attacking it. I did the same with my burger.

It proved to be a solidly decent effort without particularly hitting the heights. The chips were similarly decent. Anne was very pleased with her fish and as an eschewer of the mushy pea was delighted with the fresh green peas.

So overall, Au Bar is a smart place with a warm welcome serving reliably good food. It didn’t go much beyond “did the job” for me, but it’s still a place to which I can see myself returning as it has a atmosphere that’s conducive to enjoyable times.

Scores
Blythe scores Au Bar
3/5 for food
3/5 for presentation
4/5 for setting
4/5 for service
giving an overall 14/20

Today’s questers were: Anne, Blythe

We ate: burger; fish n chips

We drank: ales

We wore: purple, blue

Total bill: £22.60