L'Etranger: alone for a reason

The opening of Opal, L'Etranger's downstairs bar, prompted us to catch up on this glossy French/Asian joint. It got raves when it opened at the beginning of the year but we, however, were less than impressed. Starters, both deep-fried, showed a heavy hand.

Rather than lacy tempura, the casing on our squid and soft-shell crab was more chippy batter.

The crab was also unpleasantly squidgy, something you really don't want when you're consuming an entire animal. We didn't go for the cod, despite our waiter's nudging. Maybe we should have. A broth of scallops, beef and prawns had been massacred by lime leaves and coriander: it was like washing-up liquid.
And these few strands of protein marooned in the soup came with a £16.50 price tag.

My fillet steak was stringy and unyielding: unforgivable in this particular cut. My 'sumo' chips were good, fat, floury and crispy, and the 'au poivre' sauce was an OK if underpowered version. But the elaborate pseudo-Japanese presentation meant that, like everything else we ate, it screamed style over content.

After one mouthful, we left our sweet, slimy caramelised onions. Slightly patronising staff were probably more at ease with the preppy rich kids and silver-haired suits that made up the rest of the clientele. Nice-looking spot, though.

Our meal came to £104 with wine, water and service.