When I visited: February 2020

Location: London (near Covent Garden)

Rating in the Michelin Guide: Recommended

Dining Owl Hoot rating: 3/5

What to wear: Men – jeans or nice trousers and a shirt; women – jeans and a smart top or a smart dress / workwear

Ambience: Fun, friendly

Course of the meal: Madeleines

If I could change one thing: More mini dessert options

Review:

Frenchie is a cool pre-theatre dining venue near Covent Garden market, and the sister restaurant of other Frenchies in France (one of which is Michelin-starred).

The pre-theatre menu was good and service was nice and prompt; you can also eat at the bar. There are lots of carafe options for wine (we had a nice white Rias Baixas) to accompany the food.

Between us, we sampled the sea bream tartare and mushrooms on toast to start with, and the venison leg and cod with mussels for mains, with sides of pureed potato and cabbages with blue cheese. All were very tasty and reasonably-sized. The desserts were fairly big and both were very good – we went for the banoffee (presented with nutmeg and a chocolate mousse dome) and the tart of the day (pecan and apple). With the green and mint tea we had to finish, they gave us some really delicious madeleines.

I would recommend Frenchie for a quick and tasty pre-theatre meal.