Mere is an elegant contemporary French restaurant in Fitzrovia from Monica Galetti, a celebrated chef and one of the judges on Masterchef Professional – a show we love. I’ve been keen to visit Mere since our wonderful first experience of French cuisine last year, but the menu wasn’t very enticing for Shiima. Since then though Shiima’s taste has dramatically evolved (still no pork. That’ll never happen! 😂), so I reserved a table at Mere.

Mere oozes relaxed elegance. The service complements the aura of the restaurant as well, although a tad too eager.

Every table around us – and this is where I add that we were the youngest in the restaurant by a good margin and I’m not THAT young 😁 – was having a tasting menu, but we ordered from the a la carte menu. We ordered Pumpkin, Octopus, and Duck for starters. I ordered Pigeon and Shiima ordered Rose Veal for main.

Starters

Shiima loved her pumpkin starter. She loved the depth of flavour of the agnolotti and the rich sauce.

I really enjoyed the octopus. The octopus was fantastically grilled with a subtle flavour and everything on the plate went really well together.

I wasn’t enamoured with the Duck. It was just about okay, even with the very delicious confit gizzard and the fresh kumquat skin.

Mains

Shiima thought her Rose Veal was awful. And to be fair, I tried it and I didn’t like it either. It was tasteless, even the table beside us didn’t enjoy it. I was excited to try the sweetbread because of my past sweetbread experience and this was a disappointment.

The Pigeon was delicious and it looked appetising as well. Everything on the plate tasted good, particularly the braised leg.

Desserts!

I ordered Pear & Coffee and Shiima Chocolate & Hazelnut.

The Pear & Coffee was beautiful, but I wasn’t a fan. I evidently don’t like caramel poached pears. The coffee mousse was fair, but the ice-cream was good so I just devoured that.

Shiima enjoyed her Chocolate & Hazelnut. It was quite light, so perfect if you’ve had a lot of food. But also quite substantial to leave you satisfied either way. Rich chocolate and the cremeux had a distinct Hazelnut taste.

Verdict

We enjoyed Mere and intend to go back soon. The relaxed elegant vibe is perfect for a date, the service is good, but the food is not consistent. The delicious dishes were really good though, which is why we intend to go back and try other dishes on the menu. We recommend for romantic dates, special occasions with small to large groups (max 12 people), and a mature meal with friends, colleagues, or family. Mere is quite expensive though, so do consider that.

Cuisine: French
Dress Code: Smart Casual (leaning more to Smart)
Shiima’s Star Dish: Pumpkin
Amen’s Star Dish: Pigeon
Price: Over £50pp
Rating: 3 out 5

Mere
74 Charlotte Street
London W1T 4QH
Reserve through OpenTable,
Or call 0207 268 6565