Business Lunch at Chez Elles (French Restaurant on Brick Lane)

At the beginning of February, I was still working on Brick Lane. A colleague and I decided to head a few blocks down Brick Lane to Chez Elles. He had been there the previous week and enjoyed it, so we decided to give it a try to see if it was consistent. I knew at this time that I would be leaving Brick Lane, and that was weighing heavily on my mind and his too as everything was 'up in the air' with plans, so we both felt that it was good to get away from the office. It had been a busy few months, and I did not take my lunch sometimes.

The restaurant is Chez Elles, and it's a French restaurant. Most people assume any restaurant on Brick Lane will be Indian/curry, but there are actually a few non-Indian restaurants, even at the southern end of the street where the majority of the restaurants are curry houses. The interior is stylish with floral and feminine displays, bird cages, and vintage posters. It felt welcoming, and the waitress was friendly.

We had the restaurant to ourselves until toward the end of our visit when a group came in and sat at the back of the restaurant and proceeded to actually get quite drunk and loud quite quickly. I turned down the wine from the beginning as the day was a busy one! I also decided to stick with a main and order a dessert. I ordered the chicken with pasta, mushrooms, and mustard sauce. Unfortunately, there was not much meat on the chicken as it was the wing bit, and I did find it quite bland.

I was still hungry, so I decided to order a dessert. For dessert (pictured above), I had the creme brûlée made from vanilla and pistachio. I love pistachio, and I will say that the creme brûlée was excellent, even if I was a little disappointed with my main meal.

Would I be back? I would not rush back. I did not care for the main meal that I had at all. I would return for creme brûlée or other desserts. Note that I am sure that the other meals are really nice, and my colleague had a fish meal, and he enjoyed it. I think I just had the wrong meal, but I was not keen on the other meals on the menu.