As I live and work in the City, finding a good place for dinner is a constant crusade. There are a billion eateries, unfortunately mostly only open for lunch and usually never open on weekends. So in another of my more idle moments, I looked around Time Out London for some inspiration.

Sauterelle was what I came up with, close enough to work AND home and to the friend I was about to meet up with (he works around Liverpool St). Better yet, they had a 3-course set menu for £19.95 that looked promising.

The restaurant is housed in the very impressive Royal Exchange which somehow reminds me of the QVB in Sydney (probably because it's a period building converted into a mall with posh shops), on the first floor by the right nearest corner as you go in from the main entrance. The restaurant also has a bar, which was really busy compared to the restaurant at around 8 pm. The restaurant was only half full, and being a Friday night, I just put it down to people wanting to get as far away from work for dinner to celebrate the weekend.

We asked to be shown the set menus, which in typical set menu fashion had some nice things and some things I didn't quite fancy as much. (Objectively though, there was a decent choice - see menu below)

M E N U D U S O I R
AVAILABLE FROM 6PM - 2 COURSES .16.95 - 3 COURSES .19.95
Sweetcorn and potato velout., olive oil and parsley
Rillette of Bresse goose, kohlrabi remoulade, poil.ne melba
Sea bass, caramelized pumpkin ,smoked paprika, lemon and garlic oil
Sauteed featherblade of Longhorn beef, swede puree and red wine shallots
Saffron risotto, ameretti biscuit, parmigiano reggiano
Pineapple carpaccio, coconut glac. and vodka syrup
St Marcellin, fresh pear, Poilane date and walnut bread

Thankfully, my companion Y like some bits I didn't so we effectively ordered one set, and then ordered a la carte and shared. Y had the Rillette in the set, while I had the scallops (£12.50), both were competent and we had a quick wikipedia moment as we found out what rillette was (considering Y is Belgian and French is his first language and he didn't know, I didn't feel all that ashamed wiki-ing it) (fyi, it's very much similar to pate but the technique is different) - a good start when food provides entertainment (admittedly it wasn't trying to).

I had the sea bass, which was probably my favourite thing, I really do love fish with crispy skins! Although nowhere near as sublime as what I had in Can Fabes (see earlier post), it was still fresh and I mopped up all of it. Y had the Roast haunch of Yattendon venison, confit savoy cabbage, swede puree, sauce Grand Veneur (£17) and he seemed happy with his meat. We also shared some purple sprouting broccoli (all the rage in Spring London - I've had this four times already)

Portions are decent so we were pretty full at the end of it, and decided to just have the pear in the set to finish off. This was comforting though a bit lukewarm and quite sweet so I'm glad we shared - too rich for me, though I think Y might disagree and would happily have had this to himself.

We also had half a bottle of white wine and the bill came up to around £90 for two. All in all an enjoyable meal, not too poncy and service was actually friendly and attentive. Was thinking this would be a good place to bring a date to impress ;) especially if you're looking to do so around the City! Set menu is really good value for a place with such setting and for the area, but a la carte might be more prohibitive for regular dining (don't think they change the set menu that often). Even then, it's competitively priced when you compare it to the likes of the Pasternoster Chop House (which has hearty fresh food in a great ambience (more casual and suited for a big bunch of friends) but really quite pricey!).