Cooksister | Food, Travel, Photography

Food, photos & faraway places

  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • About me
    • Contact me
    • Work with me
    • Legal
      • Copyright notice & Disclaimer
      • Disclosure
      • Cookies and Privacy Policy
    • Press and media
    • Cooksister FAQs
  • RECIPES
    • Recipe Index – by course
    • Baking (savoury)
    • Braai/Barbecue
    • Breakfast & brunch
    • Christmas
    • Dessert
    • Drinks
    • Eggs
    • Fish
    • Gluten-free
    • Leftovers
    • Pasta & rice
    • Poultry
    • Pulses
    • Salads
    • Soup
    • South African
    • Starters & light meals
    • Vegan
    • Vegetables
    • Vegetarian
  • RESTAURANTS
    • British Isles restaurants
    • Dubai restaurants
    • France restaurants
    • London restaurants
    • Montenegro restaurants
    • New York restaurants
    • Pop-ups and supperclubs
    • Serbia restaurants
    • Singapore restaurants
    • South Africa restaurants
    • Sweden restaurants
    • Switzerland restaurants
    • USA restaurants
  • TRAVEL
    • All my travel posts
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Canada
      • Dubai
      • Cruise ships
      • France
      • Germany
      • Greece
      • Grenada
      • Hong Kong
      • Hotel reviews
      • Italy
      • Israel
      • Jersey
      • Mexico
      • Netherlands
      • Norway
      • Portugal
      • Singapore
      • Ski & snow
      • South Africa
      • Spain
      • Sweden
      • Switzerland
      • UK
      • USA
      • Wales
  • PORTFOLIO
    • Freelance writing portfolio
    • Speaking and teaching
    • Photography portfolio
    • Buy my photos
You are here: Home / Restaurants / London restaurants / Review: Le Relais de Venise L’Entrecote

Review: Le Relais de Venise L’Entrecote

by Jeanne Horak on July 23, 2019 3 Comments in London restaurants

Relais-de-Venise-exterior © Jeanne Horak 2019

There is a French saying that says: Trop de choix tue le choix , or “too much choice kills the choice”. At first glance, this seems rather paradoxical to people who have been brought up in a society where more choice is thought to equal more freedom and therefore be generally better for everyone. Surely nobody wants to return to the Crisp Dark Ages when the only flavours to choose from were ready salted; salt ‘n vinegar; or cheese ‘n onion?! Surely we would pine for our smoky bacon, prawn cocktail, Marmite, sweet chilli, ketchup, roast chicken, Thai green curry, or ham & mustard flavours? According to the Food Marketing Institute, between 1975 and 2008, the number of products in the average supermarket swelled from an average of 8,948 to around 47,000.  Tesco stocks 91 different shampoos, 93 varieties of toothpaste, and 115 of household cleaner. Lattes come tall, short, skinny, decaf, flavoured, iced, spiced or frappé. Jeans come flared, bootlegged, skinny, cropped, straight, low-rise, boyfriend, dark-washed or distressed.  But is the abundance of choice making us happier?

A Californian study found that out of two groups of shoppers presented with 24 jam varieties and 6 jam varieties respectively, the group most likely to go on and purchase jam after sampling was the latter (30%, as opposed to just 3% of the 24-sample group). So it would appear that up to a point, choice is good but that too many options requires too much effort to make a considered decision, creating anxiety rather than pleasure and prompting people to make no choice at all (or a hasty ill-considered choice to be regretted later).  “At this point”, writes Barry Schwartz in his book The Paradox of Choice, “choice no longer liberates, but debilitates.”

How refreshing, then, to visit a restaurant where you have practically no choices to make, other than how you want your steak cooked! Le Relais de Venise L’Entrecote is a paradox – a French restaurant, named after an Italian City.  In 1959, founder Paul Gineste de Saurs purchased an Italian restaurant called Le Relais de Venise (the Venice Inn) in the 17th arrondissement of Paris, near Porte Maillot. He did not have major ambitions as a restauranteur but was seeking primarily to establish an assured market for the wines produced by the family’s Château de Saurs winery in Lisle-sur-Tarn, near Toulouse.  Taking his cue from Café de Paris, a Geneva restaurant that opened in the 1940s, Paul decided for the sake of simplicity to give customers practically no choices and to serve only one menu: a simple salad of green leaves and walnuts with a mustard vinaigrette; followed by steak frites with a complex and flavoursome buttery sauce.  The only choices lay in the dessert menu and the wine list – but despite this seemingly retrograde menu with less choice rather than more, the restaurant flourished and became a Paris institution.  Later formally renamed Le Relais de Venise – L’Entrecote, the restaurant is today run by Paul’s daughter and has locations in Paris, London, New York and Mexico.

 

Relais-de-Venise-interior © Jeanne Horak 2019

 

Relais-de-Venise-winelist © Jeanne Horak 2019

 

I recently visited the Marylebone branch in London and for an early lunch – you cannot book a table and at peak times, queues can be substantial.  But we were pleased not to find a long queue when we arrived and were shown directly to our table. Be warned, though, that by 14h30 or so, there was not an empty table in the house so my advice would be to go early! From the moment you step inside, the ambience is pure Parisian Brasserie with deep red leather banquettes, brass trimmings and marble-topped serving counters. As has been the case since the restaurant opened, all the waitstaff are women and all wear traditional brasserie waitress uniforms of black dresses and white aprons. The mood is relaxed and the crowd mixed – couples and families interspersed with tourists and larger groups.

 

Relais-de-Venise-salad1 © Jeanne Horak 2019

 

Relais-de-Venise-salad2 © Jeanne Horak 2019

 

As soon as we were seated our waitress explained to us that there is no menu, only the decision as to whether you want your steak cooked rare, medium or well done.  There is, however, a brief and totally French wine list to choose from and every wine on it is available in different glass sizes, a half or a a full bottle, which makes a pleasant change. Having made our steak decision, we were served a starter salad of green leaves dressed with a tangy mustard vinaigrette and crushed walnuts, plus some baguette slices. In an age of ever more complicated and ingredient-laden salads, there is something pleasing about the simplicity of crisp, fresh green leaves with nothing but a really tasty dressing and the crunch of the walnuts.

 

Relais-de-Venise-steak1 © Jeanne Horak 2019

 

Relais-de-Venise-steak2

 

Relais-de-Venise-frites © Jeanne Horak 2019

 

After the salad course, the waitress brought our steak (mine was perfectly rare) topped with the restaurant’s famous buttery sauce and a generous portion of fresh skinny frites.  If the steak does not seem very large, do not fret: the restaurant serves you half your steak initially and then the other half when you are done, so you don’t have to eat cold steak towards the end of your meal. The frites are also bottomless – just call your waitress over to refill your plate. Simple as though it may be, everything on the plate is good quality, well-prepared and delicious.

 

Relais-de-Venise-peach-melba © Jeanne Horak 2019

 

Relais-de-Venise-lemon-tartlet © Jeanne Horak 2019

 

The other area where you get a choice is the dessert menu where you can choose from classics such as profiteroles, peach & apricot melba, lemon tart, chocolate tart, creme brulee, a cheese plate, and more (also the decidedly un-French Le “sticky toffee pudding“!). We chose the peach and apricot melba (£5.95) and the lemon tartlet which came as a set of two (£5.95), both of which were excellent – the lemon tart was particularly good with super tangy, appropriately wobbly filling and a uniformly crisp pastry case.

Service throughout our meal was smiley and efficient, and despite the restaurant being full there was no pressure on diners to leave so as to turn the table. The fixed price for the salad, steak and frites is £24, so including the dessert and a large glass of wine, you are still only looking at rather reasonable £40-ish per head. I will admit to having been somewhat dubious about the concept of a single dish restaurant, but the Relais de Venise concept is a simple, good idea brilliantly executed. The restaurant is never going to win any prizes for cutting edge culinary innovation, but it certainly deserves a prize for consistency.  Everything we ate was a textbook example of how it should be done, and delicious to boot – and in this age where everything is clamouring for our attention, it’s refreshing to visit a restaurant where your mind can take a little break from the endless choices. If you would your restaurant dining to provide a respite from the decision fatigue that plagues us in daily life, Relais de Venise provides a perfectly delicious solution.

 

Cost per head: £40 per head for 3 courses plus a large glass of wine
Nearest tube station: Bond Street/Regents Park

Relais de Venise
120 Marylebone Lane
London
W1U 2QG

Tel.: +44 (0)20 7486 0878
E-mail: 
[email protected]

If you enjoyed this restaurant review, have a look at my other restaurant reviews.

DISCLOSURE:  I enjoyed this meal as a guest of Relais de Venise but received no further remuneration to write this post.  I was not expected to write a positive review – all views are my own and I retain full editorial control.

Let’s keep in touch!
You can also find me tweeting at @cooksisterblog, Instagramming as Cooksister, or pinning like a pro on Pinterest.  To keep up with my latest posts, you can subscribe to my free e-mail alerts or like Cooksister on Facebook.

More deliciousness for you!

  • How to braai like a pro for National Braai DayHow to braai like a pro for National Braai Day
  • Mini pistachio tarts for a WTSIM picnicMini pistachio tarts for a WTSIM picnic
  • All I want VIP Food SafariAll I want VIP Food Safari
  • Quick “volcanic” applesQuick “volcanic” apples

Never miss a Cooksister post

If you enjoyed this post, enter your e-mail address here to receive a FREE e-mail update when a new post appears on Cooksister

I love comments almost as much as I love cheese - so if you can't leave me any cheese, please leave me a comment instead!

« Exploring Grenada’s tree-to-bar cocoa estates
Potato, salmon and cucumber salad »

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. Samantha says

    July 24, 2019 at 11:42 am

    With all the amazing steak places in London, this has to be my favourite! Love that you get “seconds” too!

    Reply
  2. Jo Michie says

    July 28, 2019 at 4:00 pm

    Just looking at the photographs is making my mouth water – steak frites what could be better!

    As to too much choice being hard to handle, one place where that is so obvious is in a gelateria or ice-cream shop. Twenty or more flavours displayed behind the counter (our excellent local gelateria in St Andrew’s even has Iron Bru flavour!!) and people umm-ing and ah-ing as they try to decide, before finally saying ‘oh I’ll just have a vanilla’. Vanilla seems to be the default setting for ice-cream!

    Reply
  3. A Brown says

    April 19, 2020 at 5:59 pm

    Le Relais is my first stop in Paris and a time tested cure for jet lag. About that sauce, any ideas? There is a lot of speculation on the web, so what do you think is in it? I join the legions who would love to get the recipe but alas it is more closely guarded than the formula for Coca Cola or cold fusion.

    Reply
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Never miss a Cooksister post!

Get my latest recipes delivered by e-mail!

Search over 500 recipes

Recently on Cooksister

  • Perfect broccoli and Stilton soup [keto, low carb, GF]
  • Masalchi by Atul Kochhar – Indian street food in Wembley
  • Barbecued salmon with blood oranges and capers
  • Roasted Brussels sprouts with feta, pomegranate and pine nuts [GF, V]
  • Love Yourself healthy meal delivery [Review]
  • Antillean
  • Festive roast lamb with pomegranate glaze
  • Rustic blood orange and pistachio galettes

Archives by month

Archives by category

Popular posts

Peppermint Crisp fridge tart - a South African treat
Nigella's Bakewell slices & the Big Bakewell Taste-off
Oxtail and red wine potjie
Beef, broccoli and udon noodle stir fry from "The Japanese Larder" by Luiz Hara
Gem squash 101: how to find them, how to grow them, how to eat them!
Things to do in Kitzbühel if you don't ski

Featured on

Also available on

The wonderful Museum of the Moon installation - a The wonderful Museum of the Moon installation - a 7 metre diameter scale model of the moon suspended in the Painted Hall at the  @oldroyalnavalcollege in Greenwich this week, by @lukejerramartist. A surreal and fabulous sight!
Do you enjoy free art installations? Then you need Do you enjoy free art installations? Then you need to get down to @canarywharflondon between now and Saturday 28 Jan to catch the free Winter Lights 2023 event, back for the seventh year.

My favourites include @lukejerramartist ‘s Floating Earth; Tom Lambert’s Out of the Dark; Fluorescent Firs; Toroid by This is Loop; and the surreal and mesmerising Anima by MEATS - a tunnel filled with hundreds of thin optical fibre lights that change colour and move in the breeze 😍 

Have you been to Winter Lights? What was your favourite?
“When we look down at the Earth from space, we s “When we look down at the Earth from space, we see this amazing, indescribably beautiful planet. It looks like a living, breathing organism. But it also, at the same time, looks extremely fragile.” - International Space Station astronaut Ron Garamond

To experience the “overview effect” (a phenomenon experienced by astronauts viewing the earth from space), head down to Canary Wharf in the London docklands this week where you can see @lukejerramartist ‘s beautiful Floating Earth installation as part of the Winter Lights event. 

This giant 10m diameter installation is created using high resolution NASA images to create a floating scale model of the Earth, lit from within so that it glows from its current home on the Middle Dock, surrounded by the headquarters of international banking and finance corporations.

The artist hopes that viewed in this context, the installation will make visitors and the bankers working in surrounding buildings question how their money in savings and pensions is invested, and whether investments can be greener.

Aside from being a thought provoking piece, it is also mesmerising and surreally beautiful, so make sure you visit the free Winter Lights event before ends on Saturday 28 Jan.
Happy lunar new year! [Invited] To celebrate the Happy lunar new year! 

[Invited] To celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Rabbit, why not head over to @mamachensdumplings currently doing a residence at the @thegantrylondon in #stratford where you can feast on prawn & chive dumplings; pork, Chinese cabbage and shiitake mushroom dumplings; pork & prawn wontons with Mama Chen’s chilli oil; vegetable dumplings; smacked cucumber salad; and spicy noodles coated in garlic and Szechuan pepper oil.

And afterwards, make sure you head up to the @unionsocialoc bar for a cocktail - I loved the Moreish Fashion with bourbon, PX sherry, chestnuts and mandarin orange bitters!
Got leftover Stilton (or any blue cheese) from Chr Got leftover Stilton (or any blue cheese) from Christmas? Turn it into this super simple and super indulgent broccoli and Stilton soup! So easy to make and soooo delicious to eat - and it is low carb and GF. What more could you want?! Click the link in my bio for the full recipe. What’s your favourite soup?
CELEBRATE. So the fireworks are over, the champag CELEBRATE.

So the fireworks are over, the champagne is finished and the leftovers are all eaten. We are one week into 2023 and I have had some time to think about what my intent is for the year. 

In 2022 my brother had a life saving kidney transplant. Since the operation, he has had a Peanuts cartoon as his WhatsApp profile pic, where Charlie Brown and Snoopy are sitting on a pier talking. Charlie says “Some day, we all die Snoopy.” And Snoopy replies: “Yes - but every other day, we will live.”

Waking up in the morning is a gift, every day, and it is so easy to forget this. The last few years have been difficult for so many people and the coming year promises its own challenges. But every day that we don’t die is a day to live, to celebrate life in some small way.

So my intention in 2023 is to celebrate. Celebrate our achievements however small. Celebrate our friends and family. Celebrate small things. Celebrate life.

Did you make any resolutions or goals for 2023? I would love to hear them in the comments! Wishing you all the very best for 2023 🥂
Happy new year, everyone! Here are some scenes fro Happy new year, everyone! Here are some scenes from last night with friends in Deptford. My deconstructed avocado ritz; @twinkleparkstephen ‘s bobitie; Giles’ Ottolenghi tomato salad; and Jean’s clementine trifle - and the London night sky ablaze with fireworks!  How did you spend your evening? 🥂🎇🎆
Merry Christmas to all those celebrating - I hope Merry Christmas to all those celebrating - I hope your day was merry and bright, filled with family, friends and love 🎄🥂. Mine was spent alone at home - my choice and the result of a combination of Covid (not mine!) and rail strikes 🤦‍♀️ but very relaxing and indulgent!
Looking for a stylish and easy Christmas starter y Looking for a stylish and easy Christmas starter you can make ahead? Look no further than my individual smoked salmon terrine! Hot smoked salmon, cream cheese and chives wrapped in cold smoked salmon in a ramekin. Still one of the most popular Christmas recipes in my blog, it looks cheffy but is soooo simple to make - and will save you time and effort on the day! Get the recipe by clicking on the link in my bio.

How is your Christmas meal prep going? Are you entertaining at home or going to friends or family? 🎄🥂🎄🥂🎄
Load More... Follow me on Instagram

Follow Jeanne Horak-Druiff's board Recipes by Cooksister on Pinterest.

Cooksister

The South African Food and Wine Blog Directory

The South African Food and Wine Blog Directory

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

Latest Recipes

Bowls of broccoli and Stilton soup
Salmon with blood oranges dill and capers
Brussels sprouts with feta and pomegranate
Roast lamb with pomegranate glaze
Blood orange & pistachio galettes
Cauliflower topped steak with melted cheese
Plate of potted smoked salmon with slaw and a glass of champagne
bowls of pistachio pomegranate bircher muesli

SITEMAP

Home

Contact

About me

Recipe Index

Restaurant Index

Copyright & Disclaimer

Cookies & privacy policy




blog counter

© 2004 - 2023 · Jeanne Horak unless otherwise stated - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. You may not reproduce any text, excerpts or images without my prior permission. Site by RTW Labs

Copyright © 2023 · Cooksister on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Cooksister cookie consent
We use cookies to ensure you receive the best experience on our site. If you continue to use this site, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions. Accept
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT