Upstairs in Le Boudin Blanc, a French restaurant in Mayfair’s Shepherd Market, London has just been declared the platform of culinary Europe by head chef Nicolas Laridan: ‘I am French but I am not ashamed to say Paris is now well behind, as is Lyon. I think that people from all over the world come to London to learn from the masters: the Roux family, Gordon Ramsay, Marco Pierre White. They’re pioneers who started the cooking in London.’

Sommelier Marc Le Blanc adds: ‘Maybe 20 years ago, you couldn’t get a baguette or even ground coffee. Now London’s where the most interesting cooking is and it has an interesting wine scene. I think the Eurostar helped by putting a direct line between London and Paris. Suddenly it was quicker to go to Paris than to Edinburgh.’

Both Frenchmen came to London in the ’90s. Le Blanc helped set up the Nicolas wineshops and Laridan moved with the Roux family. Fifteen years later he’d become headchef at Le Gavroche. He joined Le Boudin Blanc in 2009 and Marc joined a couple of months ago, where he impresses his apprentices:

‘He put six glasses in front of me and I could tell him, “This is that vintage, this is that vintage…” So they went: “Wow, you are a magician!” But I have been working on the wine list and had tasted the wines not long ago. It is easy when you’ve got the palate and the brain configuration. It’s like reading with your nose!’

He is proud of the extensive winelist, ‘especially the burgundies’, which he has helped assist, together with one of London’s top wine wholesalers and some of the owner’s private collection. ’It’s my wine list, I’m the boss!’

Le Boudin Blanc has been described as a bit of Paris in London but Marc, originally from Lyon, suggest that the food is more southern. Nicolas agrees. ‘We try to do regional cooking, being in London I don’t like to stick to one place, but I’d say the atmosphere does recall a Parisian bistro.’

Nicolas and Mark have a close working relationship. Their teams meet every day before the lunch and dinner service, and go through the specials of the day, which are then teamed up with the wines.

The menu changes with the seasons and the signature dish, le boudin blanc, white pudding, will see a more traditional incarnation from October. ‘At the moment, it has sweetbread and ham hock but this autumn, we going to back to more classic with a Madeira jus.’

Nicolas would recommend to diners the escargot, despite them being voted a British food hate. ‘Here the snails fly out of the window! And the onion soup, it might be 30 degrees outside and we will still sell the onion soup. It’s a winning dish. Grilled seabass with fennel, steak tartare… oh and the squid.’

Marc beams about his two really good Corsican rosés that are perfect for summer weather. ’Any light red in hot weather is good too, a heavy red will make you blow up like a kettle!’

At Le Boudin Blanc, they are happy to cater to people’s needs and allergies, but Marc adds, ‘Obviously we are not psychic, so you have to tell the front of house!’

There are vegetarian options on the menu but Nicolas also like to improvise with ingredients available. ‘It’s the spark of the moment, in Le Boudin Blanc there’s always a little bit of magic working.’

Le Boudin Blanc
5 Trebeck Street
Shepherd Market
Mayfair
W1J 7LT

Tel: 020 7499 3292