Built within a Grade II listed building, Bistrot Pierre is a refreshing take on affordable quality dining mixing french cuisine with local favourites. The restaurant itself is stylish, cleverly renovated to retain the character of a Grade II listed building, but also exhibiting French flare through memorabilia, paintings and design.
In restaurants like these, I am always intrigued when I see a burger on the menu. It would be easy to assume it is there to appease the fussy eaters who will always be able to rely on what they are familiar with. Intrigue got the best of me and I would not be writing this post now had I not gone for the aptly named "Burger maison"; a 100% prime British beef patty topped with aged Gruyère cheese, relish, pickles, tomatoes and lettuce.
Upon arrival, I was impressed with the size and presentation of this burger as it stood intrepidly on its pretentious wooden board next door to its unnecessary giant knife. At a first glance, I thought the bread to meat ratio may have been off given how large the bun was, but on closer observation, the patty balanced it perfectly due to its thickness.
The patty was cooked medium well and was moderately juicy for its size. I was impressed with the quality of the meat, though it would have benefitted from a slightly higher fat content and a minute less on the grill.
The Gruyère cheese was a nice touch, but was lacking in quantity to drive the overall taste, being somewhat drowned out by the relish. I am usually a fan of relish on burgers too as it often complements the meat very well, but in this instance, it dominated the burger. Nevertheless, the overall taste worked and the burger felt fresh throughout.
I was also pleasantly surprised when the bill arrived to find out this burger had only cost me £11, including the chips. Not a bad place to spend a Sunday afternoon, especially with those prices.
Bistrot Pierre is a beautiful restaurant with an affordable and enticing menu. Whilst I cannot fault the ingredients of the burger, the issue came with the imbalance of toppings. Still, this is a solid burger throughout with a high quality feel to it; it just needs a few tweaks to its personality to stabilise the flavours.
Patty Master Musings:
- The restaurant felt a little cramped, so when one person ordered sea bass... Everyone was having sea bass.
- Service was friendly, but extremely slow. Spent longer in here than I did in the Sea Life Center. Probably saw more fish too... Pause for laughter.
- Every place should have a card machine that allows you to tip. I rarely carry cash nowadays, so when I use contactless and they do not give me an option to tip, I am in a world of trouble. I always aim to tip if deserved, but if I have nothing on me, I can only leave the contents of my backpack... I hope the waitress enjoyed two re-usable Tesco bags, a small box of plasters, a packet of tissues and a Lego Minifigure.
- Actually, I'm taking the Lego Minifigure back.
- Did I Dip It? I did not. I dipped my chips in to the burger relish instead.
| Category | Score | |
 |
Taste |  |
 |
Style |  |
 |
Size | |
 |
Venue | |
 |
Value | |
