La Petite Bouchee’s Croque Madame

Croque madame from La Petite Bouchee, Sydenham

This weekend I found the perfect croque madame in the back of a van in Sydenham.  Those are words I never thought I would type.  Allow me to explain…

To be honest, I was wondering when this was going to happen.  My search for a good croque madame has been a long one.  For there are many in London, but few that are actually any good.  Usually they fall down on the cheese.  I’ve seen it all from the poor-quality cheese that somehow refuses to melt, the cheese that tastes of practically nothing and the cheese that is so stingy in portion size that it is barely cheese at all.  I was beginning to give up, but then I was invited to a brunch that had a croque madame on the menu and thought I would have one last go at finding a good one.

There was to be no restaurant at the end of this invitation, but something altogether more special:  a 1973 Citroen H van that had been transformed into a perfect little dining room.  It is called La Petite Bouchee, which literally translates as “the little mouthful” and is parked up opposite a lake in this pretty little south-east London park.  It has everything you might expect when out for brunch: orange juice on the table, the weekend newspapers and a pot of fresh coffee with milk and sugar.  It can accommodate four people and is remarkably spacious considering its diminutive size.  An outdoor kitchen, where all the food is prepared, transforms it into a French bistro serving up local, organic and seasonal foods.

The brunch menu is typically French.  As well as the two croques (monsieur et madame), there are eggs Benedict, Florentine and Royale; and a selection of omelettes.  And like every good brunch, there is booze.  Either prosecco or a bloody mary made with their house-infused vodka.

So, about the croque:  this is not only the best croque madame I have ever had, but one of the best sandwiches I have ever had.  Every element is so well-chosen and executed with such care that when it comes together it is sheer perfection.  The bread is a good-quality white loaf, sliced thickly enough to hold together the filling and lightly crisped in the pan.  The ham is decent and a little smoked and the egg placed on the top perfectly cooked with a soft yolk.  The cheese, often the disappointment of a croque madame, was perfectly melted in the middle of the sandwich, and on the top made into the most delightfully oozing cheese sauce, spiked with just a little mustard.  I asked Anita-Clare, our cook, which cheese she used and she replied “Emmental in the morning and Gruyère in the afternoon.  Gruyère is too much in the morning.”  And she was totally right.

Try as I might, I couldn’t finish it. This is one huge sandwich.  Fortunately there were three other eager diners, forks poised, ready to polish off what I left.

La Petite Bouchee, Sydenham Wells Park, London SE26.  BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL.

For transparency I should mention that I was a guest of La Petite Bouchee, but not in return for a review, simply because they are kind … I just had to share the croque!

Kaffeine’s Ham, Cheese and Grilled Peach Baguette

The ham, cheese and grilled peach baguette from Kaffeine, Fitzrovia

You know when your hangover from Saturday night’s drinking lasts through until Monday it was a good weekend.  After dragging my sorry self into the office with a slight headache and the tail-end of the drunk dreads, the only thing that would remedy the situation was to get on to the streets of Fitzrovia and look for a good sandwich.

I only got as far as Kaffeine when I realised that a good coffee was exactly what I needed to shake me out of my current mood.  This little black-fronted coffee shop has taken a lot of flack since it opened a few years ago, however a slightly negative TimeOut review and some snipes about ‘hipster coffee’ hasn’t damaged its reputation.  Getting a seat outside the front window is near impossible and the inside too is always busy.  It almost always features on the list of best coffee in the capital and I, for one, am in agreement.  They use the excellent Square Mile Coffee and are really particular about how they make it.  Whilst not a coffee expert, I am always happy to receive a nice strong cup with a slick of crema.  Definitely not style over substance.

They have a range of sandwiches that are listed online in their weekly menu alongside a range of cakes, biscuits and pastries.  There are usually three sandwich options, with at least one vegetarian, which are usually seasonal and use a range of different breads.  Some have said that the £5 they charge for a takeaway sandwich (£5.30 to eat in) is a little steep, but this seems to be the going rate in Fitzrovia coffee shops these days, and is only really £1 more than the offerings of the chains, Pret, Eat etc.

I opted for a the ham and cheese baguette, which seems a bit of an underwhelming description for what I was served, which was an absolute delight.  Roasted Italian ham, mature cheddar cheese, grilled peaches, aioli and spinach.  Both the ham and cheese were deep in flavour and good quality, but it was the other accompaniments that made the sandwich.  A ham and cheese always needs a bit of mayo to loosen it up, but the substitution for aoili just gave it a little extra flavour element – a hum of garlic, but nothing too overpowering.  The grilled peaches added the sweetness and did the job that a chutney or relish would usually do.  It got me thinking that adding cooked fruit to a sandwich could actually be a more appealing option than chutney, as many of the ready-made versions are often too heavy in spice and vinegar and overpower the rest.  What else is there to say? Kaffeine make a damn good coffee and a damn good sandwich too.

Kaffeine, 66 Great Titchfield Street, London W1W 7QJ

John Lewis’ 150 Years Ham and Cheese Sandwich

The ham and cheese sandwich from John Lewis’ A Place to Eat

Everybody’s favourite department store is currently celebrating 150 years since the opening of its flagship Oxford Circus store in 1864.  I often wonder what life would be like without John Lewis.  I am so fond of it that my best friend and I refer to it as ‘The Mothership’.

Department store cafes are a strange beast, evoking images of their 1990s glory days when you would trundle up the escalator from homewares for a cup of tea and a scone, and a quick trip to the loo, before heading home.  They still exist in their many guises; some have drastically improved and installed restaurants (Selfridges) whilst others are like stepping back in time to the above (BHS).

There seems to have been cafes in branches of John Lewis since time began and although they have moved with the times somewhat, there is still a sense of nostalgia:  the coffee is still served in teacups and you can still buy the largest scones on earth from the cake counter alongside the more modern vertiginously iced cupcakes.  The omelette station still seems to have the biggest queue which seems strange to me as I have never eaten an omelette in a cafe. Ever.

A Place to Eat, as it has been called for some time, is also celebrating 150 years of John Lewis by offering up some of the old favourites on the sandwich counter.  Prawn mayo baguettes with cucumber curled in a 1970s fashion and tuna sandwiches with a lot of cress sit next to the more modern offerings.  I opted for the heritage ham and cheese. The oldies are the goodies.

The baguette was at least a foot long, so was cut in half by the gentleman behind the counter.  Thick slices of ham were folded into the sandwich with triangles of cheese sticking vertically up from the slit like yellow shark’s fins.  Among the mixed leaves I detected a smear of sandwich pickle.

The bread was fresh and the ham good-quality and well-flavoured.  The cheese was a fairly generic medium cheddar, but nice enough.  The problem was that the whole thing was a little dry and didn’t quite have enough pickle.  A quick trip to the condiment station (that had just about everything by the way) procured a little sachet of mayonnaise that sorted it out right away.  Ham and cheese sandwiches have become a little hard to find of late, but a good one is a thing of beauty.  This is a good one, a little more pickle and it would be a great one.