The first thing you notice when you walk into Josephine Bouchon is the impeccable service. It’s natural, warm, and friendly and they want to do well for you. It was busy for a Wednesday night, but they still managed to accommodate us as a walk-in. You feel instantly transported to France, a little slice of it on the Fulham Road, being a convenient location for this neighbourhood restaurant.
Bread was the first thing to appear with plenty of crusty baguette and rich salty butter nestled between it. A French standard. A pork scratching type of nibble in addition to wet the appetite. And because they are not stupid here, gluten free bread is available for all. (Especially the French with an intolerance to gluten).
For the first main of roasted brill and sauce vierge, the fish had a crisp skin which was well seasoned and the fish flaking and tender. My only gripe was the bones, having to navigate to not taste them as they fell into the sauce, was exhausting but I can’t take away the fact that the fish was perfectly cooked. The sauce was uncomplicated and vast, with the flavour complimenting the fish well.
The only way to go next was in the direction of the Veal sweetbread and morel sauce. As we took this gluten free without flour, it did take away that crucial crisp, but it was an acceptable sweetbread, the sauce was rich as it should be and morels on top to complete the puzzle. This is good bistro food.
Side dishes consisted of a Gratin Dauphinois which was executed in a way that the old generation in France who are no longer here would approve of. I have an old family recipe in my mind, and it was not far off this. The ratio of cream/milk to potato was perfect, it still had that sauce consistency with the bubbling crust covering it. It would have been even better with slightly more seasoning and a little more garlic, but it was delicious and correct, nevertheless. All I needed was the spoon to eat it directly from the dish, yes, it’s a sharing size but that didn’t deter me!
The Haricots verts a la lyonnaise were green still and not overcooked keeping their bite with texture. The shallots got a little lost in there, but they gave sweetness even though it was minuscule. As it was a weeknight, I said no to cheese and dessert, which might have been a regret, but I can imagine that they would be great too.
We had some nice food here, but I would only come back if it were my neighbourhood restaurant, for me it’s not a place to come to regularly if it’s out of your area. But saying this, the service is good, the food is good and if you want to eat French classics without going all the way to Lyon, you can find that here.
