This review is the second among a set of two and a part of the Turned Tables series. You may find the first review in this set on Instagram.
None of Ranelagh’s food offerings have acquired iconic status, but Excuse My French adds a touch that outshines other restaurants in the area. It’s a bigger space than it appears to be at first glance, a mural gracing one of the walls. There’s no ornate wallpaper that’s otherwise characteristic of most bistros — and the restaurant doesn’t advertise itself as one — but both the menu and intimate setting qualify for bistro status.
Service is warm and perky, with staff willing to accommodate personal tastes. The list of starters is concise but imaginative. We stick to the classics, though, starting with a French onion soup and cheese croquettes. A generous amount of stringy cheddar tops the soup, making up for it being low on salt. The onions are crunchy instead of being softened enough to melt in the mouth as per tradition, but the overall taste of the soup is good enough to overlook this.
A bed of “spiced tomato jam” forms the base for the cheese croquettes, three in a portion, the raclette in which oozes as they are cut into. The tomato jam complements the croquettes well, giving them a slight kick, and is also good enough to eat on its own.
Traditional mains like herb-crusted fish and daube provençale are part of the latter half of the menu, and we decide to go even more traditional with the roasted camembert. The menu classifies it as AOP Normandie, indicating that the cheese has been produced by the traditional methods of local cheesemakers in Normandy. Its pull is impressive, coating the accompanying bread enough to form satisfying mouthfuls. We would have preferred the bread warm, but the staff bringing over an extra portion without charge makes up for what it lacks in temperature. A glass of pinot noir from the lengthier-than-average wine list goes down easy with the entire meal.
The dessert menu lists a profiterole choux with ice cream among four options. We ask for it without ice cream and our server is kind enough to explain that it would feel dry, and so he offers to bring it out with Chantilly cream instead. Minutes later, a massive profiterole filled with Chantilly cream arrives doused in chocolate sauce and topped with slivered almonds. It’s light as air, the chocolate sauce at just the right sweetness level. Our server jokes that we seemed too full to finish the camembert entirely but still had space for dessert, and we appreciate the conviviality.
French restaurants can tend to have service that’s on the stiff side, so Excuse My French’s relaxed version impressed us greatly. The staff isn’t judgmental and makes an effort to accommodate personal tastes, balancing it with not compromising on the kitchen’s competence. This is a rare combination to find, and sets the restaurant apart from its more formal counterparts. We leave feeling like our tastes are valued, a far cry from — (excuse me) — French conventions.
