La Maison

Proprietor

Address

Contact

Description

In the shadow of the beautiful Georgian Powerscourt Townhouse, Castle Market embraces South William Street and Drury Street, linking the two and leading on to the Victorian George’s Street Arcade. It’s also home to the fabulous long-standing French restaurant La Maison, where, on my visit, sitting with a nice cool glass of white wine in hand, I was treated to some premium people watching with a constant parade of uplifting colourful pedestrians of all ages, genders and sizes, sporting the most fantastic combinations of clothes, make-up and hairdos I’d seen in a long time.

Starters include dishes like baked gambas with chilli, garlic, lemon and parsley with toasted sourdough; chicken liver and foie gras parfait with cherries and port served with toasted brioche; as well as their traditional French onion soup with Gruyère crouton, but we shared the most divine coquilles Saint Jacques façon La Maison - served in their shells with sinful amounts of olive oil and garlic, chilli and chives, and brown toast for dipping.

Mains featured a monkfish dish along with a duck breast and a roast squash option, and you can also expect to see favourites like a classic Coq au Vin or their superb hand-rolled gnocchi with truffled wild mushrooms, sage, rocket and aged Parmesan. A whole black sole Meunière for two sounded fab, but we went instead for something I rarely have, a 28-day dry-aged côte de boeuf for two, which was stunning. Seared on the outside, medium rare as requested, the mouth-watering beef was sliced to perfection, sitting on a base of sourdough to absorb the juices, topped with sauté potatoes, tweaked with rosemary, cherry tomatoes on the vine, and a mustard sauce on the side.

Desserts include delightful treats like lemon posset or their La Maison Crème Brûlée with lemon shortbread, but, to finish, we shared a delicious chocolate ganache with white chocolate columns, sesame and honeycomb.