Piquet

Editor's note: Piquet appears to have closed as of June 2016.

Piquet opened in late 2015 in Newman Street, just north of Oxford Street. Executive chef Allan Pickett trained at Orrery and was the head chef of Bluebird Café before returning to Orrery as head chef. The dining room with its open kitchen is downstairs, with a bar area on the ground floor.

A five-course tasting menu was £45, and there was a £19.50 set lunch menu in addition to the carte choices.  In addition at lunch there is additionally a roast meat of the day served on a carving trolley. The fairly short wine list ranged in price from £19.50 to £95.  Example references were Mas Montel La Petite Syrah 2014 at £22 for a bottle that you could find in the high street for £8, Domaine Tremblay Chablis 2013 at £43 compared to a retail price of £13, and Tenuta Sette Ponti Crognolo 2010 was £74 for a wine that will set you back £19 in a shop. I didn’t think much of the sourdough bread, but as it is bought in from outside this is a detail that could be easily fixed. 

A little onion tart nibble had delicate pastry and was a nice introduction to the meal (14/20). A beetroot, goat cheese and hazelnut salad was pleasant, though a few more hazelnuts would not have gone amiss (13/20).

Venison loin was cooked pink and came with braised cabbage, quince and chestnuts. A little venison faggot alongside the meat slices had particularly lovely flavour but the vegetable base on which the loin rested was rather soggy (13/20).

Rhubarb tart had well made pastry though for me there was not quite enough filling relative to pastry. The rhubarb itself was good but I wish there had been more of it (13/20). Coffee was fine. 

Service was friendly and effective. The bill came to £40 a head with just water to drink. If you shared a modest bottle of wine then a typical cost per person would be around £60. Overall I quite enjoyed the food at Piquet, though there were a few little niggles that could be ironed out.