2023. It begins five days in with lunch at Le Petit Bois. Moseley looks tattier every time I visit. So many shops are closed. This previously grand suburb has certainly seen better days. My lunch companion who lives in nearby Kings Heath agrees with me but tells me that nowadays Moseley is all about Friday and Saturday night. The young from surrounding well-heeled suburbs throng here, it’s as busy as Broad Street on those evenings, she tells me. So there’s life in the old dog yet, it appears. For we daytime creatures there are the restaurants, a number of very visitable places to eat and one of my favourites is Le Petit Bois.
I first mentioned the French-style restaurant in Blog 260. I really do like it. One feels instantly comfortable on arrival there. It’s relaxed and appropriately friendly. And the colours of the place are all right. Why have the French cleverly annexed blue and white? And as for the food, it’s very well cooked and nicely presented - cosily, smartly rustic. And it’s not hardcore French. I haven’t seen any escargots or frogs’ legs on the menus so far. It’s Gallic in a reassuringly English way. And I really do enjoy the food served there.
For my starter I chose the scallops du jour - these were perfectly seared and served very aptly with fennel purée, crushed chestnuts and delicate little shallot rings which brought satisfying crunch from time to time. This was a thoroughly enjoyable starter. My lunch companion resolved that she must have French onion soup and she did not regret her choice. It looked gorgeous and resembled a lovely moat surrounding an island made up from a magnificent crouton. Next time perhaps.
I adore confit duck. There is a thin ribbon of Norman ancestry in me. It must be that that makes me love good basic French food - old genes die hard - but basically I’m just a peasant who seeks Gallic comfort in paysan food. This was a lovely dish - the duck skin so beautifully crispy, the flesh admirably moist, the whole perfectly seasoned. There were rather more haricot beans accompanying the duck than I could cope with - clearly my little helping of Norman genes is not adequate when it comes to dealing with these vegetables though they were well-cooked but the cavalo nero was eaten with relish and we ordered a side dish of disgustingly wicked and profoundly enjoyable aligot and life in these difficult times seemed intensely pleasant.
For dessert I had been hoping to order French Colonel but sadly there was no lime sorbet in the house and so I chose choux pastries with vanilla ice cream and hot chocolate sauce. The exterior of the three little choux were delightfully crispy and the interior softly pleasurable.
This was an excellent meal. Le Petit Bois really is very good. I must take a trip to Moseley much more often to visit the little wood there.
Rating - 🌞
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