The Artisan Bistro, Chelsea - Shy, Strange, Manic

Last week I was kindly invited along to The Artisan Bistro in Chelsea to check out their menu. Chelsea is of course, a beautiful area of London and the décor of the restaurant certainly matched it. The atmosphere was laid back, yet classy, with simple, streamlined décor.

Now, this restaurant has a great selection of fish dishes, unfortunately for me, I don’t like strong fish tasting dishes. The owner decided to skip fish entirely for my tasting menu to be on the safe side.

We started off as any good meal should, with cocktails! Harry went for a raspberry mojito, which was refreshing and not too tart, and I went for a Amaretto crumble, which was strong, fruity and sweet. It’s fair to say they suited both our tastes well.

The first round of small platters included sautéed padron peppers with orange and sherry drizzle, artichoke gratin and a selection of hummus with bread and vegetables. The absolute stand out here, and possibly my favourite part of the whole meal, was the artichoke gratin, made with parmesan and mascarpone. Oh my god it was amazing, both myself and Harry agreed we could just eat this alone as a meal, it’s seriously moreish!

Next was a platter or fresh tomatoes and cheese, which was a little difficult for us as neither of us are fans of uncooked tomatoes, but as far as tomatoes go these were nice and sweet thanks to the freshness, and the cheese and oil helped a great deal!

We then had chicken skewers with potato, which had a flavourful, almost creamy taste that wasn’t too heavy.

After this we shared a sirloin steak and truffle fries. I am quite fussy about my steak but I have to say this was cooked and seasoned beautifully, the chips were also seasoned well but I’m not sure I could tell what difference the truffles made.

Then it was of course onto dessert, we shared a rhubarb crumble and a Bailey’s chocolate tart and although I’m not normally a chocolate fan, the tart blew me away! It was so delicate and chocolaty without being overly sweet. I actually preferred It over the crumble which for me is unheard of!

A special mention goes out to the staff who were so attentive and knowledgeable, you could really tell how much they cared for the restaurant.

Overall, a really great meal with fantastic service, I highly recommend for anyone wanting to try something new it a relaxed, bright atmosphere.