Salad Days at the Bouzy Rouge

What do you get when the interior designer whose very own dining room looks like this:

And whose hallway entrance looks like this:

And who designed my favourite bathroom ever in the history of the world:

turns his hand to restaurant decoration?

You get the Bouzy Rouge, in Richmond, a refurbished pub, owned by Jose and Sandra De Oleivera and decorated by Jean Pierre Heurteau, responsible for the above interiors.  You also get an interior which is over the top to say the least.

So, perhaps as expected there is a bit of road kill on the walls with chandeliers thrown in for good measure:

lots of animal print:

and these bejewelled crowns, which act as  bread baskets and make one feel rather Maid Marianesque:

I had a wonderful long lunch for a friend's birthday on a recent Sunday. It was a feast to break the famine I hadn't really had but I could pretend.

We were a table of 10, which was fun for us but not so fun for the waitstaff.  However we had charming, patient, non eye rolling service in a crowded environment.

To begin with we had lots of plates to share (including scallop ceviche with pistachio and blood orange and chilli salted calamari) and then I had roast suckling pig with cabbage and crackling and a beautiful sticky jus.   Also on offer and tasted by me were a baked wild rabbit casserole which retained lots of moistness.

A place with an ever present, hovering owner, poking around behind the bar, offering up freshly cooked cake to annoying people like me who were hanging around asking to split the bill because we had to leave first, is always a good sign.  I know restaurants hate splitting the bill but sometimes it has to be done and I really think, like duck, it is a good test of restaurant management and attitude. 

I would love to return for the salads, as part of my never ending quest for interesting salads.   I think I could live on salads with a bit of beef thrown in every few days.   And well balanced ones with the correct dressing and a bit of originality are hard to come by.

Here are three on offer:

• baby endive salad with figs, sugar peas, cranberries, walnuts, proscuitto and gorgonzola with balsamic and truffle oil dressing.
• beetroot, roast pumpkin and chick pea salad with cous cous, preserved lemon, Persian fetta and chard.
• salad of grilled asparagus, dehydrated olives, and green beans with a seared tuna steak and sauce gribiche.

A great place for a long lunch.   And probably dinner.  And also a drink. 



(Images: (1) and (2) House and Garden (3) Vogue Living Australia March\April 2006  (4) and (7)  Kit Haselden on Flickr (5) and (6) Bouzy Rouge)

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