Meeting a few friends or going out with the other half for dinner this week or later on this weekend? Fancy somewhere different? I have THE place to go.
Le Mercury on Upper Street in Islington is part of a sister-duo (the second restaurant being Le Mercury Deuxieme) which are really cute french boutique restaurants.
I was previously recommended Le Mercury a number of times by old housemates, and when Ally and I made the decision to go out for dinner to celebrate this came up top choice.
We booked our table for half 6 unsure how busy it would be – It wasn’t super busy at this time but it did pick up a lot as the evening went on so I would recommend booking, especially if at the weekend or later in the week!
We had a lovely waiter greet us and seat us in the window – lovely little spot – where we took a short while to browse the menus.
Celebrating obviously lends well to cocktails and so we ordered a Bellini and Rossini from their cockatil menu – the Rossini for me, absolutely delicious! The perfect balance of strawberry puree to prosecco.
Surprisingly we didn’t take too long to decide on mains either – I went for the grilled seabass with crushed new potatoes and Ally decided on the Steak, both ordering a side of vegetables to accompany our dishes. The waiters were extremely prompt and always on hand which was fab, very friendly too!
As we were waiting for our mains we were delivered a small bread basket with butter which we made our way through and sat catching up.
Service was relatively quick and it wasn’t long before our mains arrived at our table. The waiter asked if we’d like fresh black pepper which he ground over my dish for me, and checked we had everything we needed before leaving us to indulge.
Now when i say indulge, i mean it…take a look at these beauties…
The sea bass was so tender, it melted in your mouth, but was extremely tasty. I reckon this is the best sea bass I’ve ever had! The crushed potatoes with mint purée complimented the sea bass so well, and I possibly wouldn’t have needed the side of vegetables had I not wanted the additions to my 5-a-day. However, the side vegetables were also absolutely delicious, cooked a la dent, just the way I like them – can’t say I like soggy veg!
Ally had her steak cooked medium rare and she said it tasted amazing. Really tender and easy to cut – she didn’t even need the steak knife – and perfect with the side of vegetables which also came with seasoned potatoes. It did look extremely tasty but fortunately I didn’t suffer food envy as mine was just too good.
I can’t say there was much of our food left at the end, apart from the few potatoes I couldn’t quite fit in.
Our table was cleared and we upon looking briefly again at the drinks menu we ordered a bottle of rosé. A waitress this time popped the bottle over and poured our first glasses for us – I love it when they do this, makes me feel so important.
Ally and I continued our drinking and chatting for a little while, looking at the dessert menu and trying to decide if we had space left. There was one dessert which caught our eye, rhubarb and ice cream! It sounded so good after our meals, but as we were about to order we were told there wasn’t any left and so that made our decision on whether we could fit dessert in for us.
Still completely satisfied we sat and finished our drinks before asking for the bill. The lovely waiter popped it over and made sure we’d enjoyed our evening.
Not only was the food absolutely divine, the price was very reasonable! With mains priced at £9.95 our cocktails about £6 and a bottle of rosé at roughly £14, with service on top we had a lovely evening for about £27 each! Great for london!
We will definitely be returning, we want to try and fit dessert in next time! Le mercury is a fantastic little restaurant which gives lovely friendly service and serves delicious food whilst also being very reasonably priced. How many places can you say that about?
If you go definitely try the sea bass!
Chloe xx
