Léontine

Review

The French pub

Photo: Katharina Gossow You don't have to love Waterzooi beyond all measure. But El Fontroussi was still a place that made your heart beat faster. Perhaps this was because Mustapha El Fontroussi, the Algerian Belgian, told us that he had come to the restaurant because the previous owner had robbed a bank - with his own car and number plate. Or because he left this ancient, massive bar and refrigeration system. Or because he simply cooked his French-Belgian-Algerian cuisine, which was already quite a minority program in the 90's. Ninon-Theresia Roux and her husband Nicolas Scandella also kept the old bar of the restaurant, even renovated it, polished the chrome strips, painted the bar where necessary, and generally made the pub so incredibly beautiful, with cement tiles, new lamperie, flowers on the tables. But the main point is that Nicolas Scandella cooks incredibly well, which is a basic requirement if you've worked in various Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris like him and then even with Anne-Sophie Pic, the first French "Chef of the Year". Here, in the renovated pub in Reisnerstraße, he has been serving French cuisine without any pretension since the beginning of August, just so insanely good. Four starters, four main courses, three desserts, lots of fresh herbs, delicious marinades and light sauces. And the lunch menu is not only first-class, but currently also the best food in the city that you can get for this price (starter, main course and dessert € 19, two courses € 16, main course only € 13.50). So is Léontine another representative of the "bistronomy" movement, whose members are all top chefs, but who turn their backs on haute cuisine and instead cook great food in a pub/bistro? Yes and no, there is a lot to be said for this, but the post-modern component is missing here, the compulsion for individuality. Scandella's cooking is simply French, grounded, seasonal, doesn't reinvent the wheel, but makes it very well-rounded. As a greeting from the kitchen, you get a potato blini with snail or an appetizingly salty fish rillette to go with the sourdough bread and salted butter. And for starters, a scrambled egg with porcini mushrooms, croutons, spring onions and small cubes of smoked duck - delicious. The main course of the menu that day was cod, a firm piece that crumbled into segments like marble, fried in butter on the skin, with mashed potatoes with artichokes and sugar snap peas, which also tasted great. And the raspberry and passion fruit tart was so fluffy, fruity, tart and refreshing, and the wine list was great. Go there before everyone else does. To sum up: a place that you might think is another one of those bistronomy hipster foodie things. Instead, it's just very good French food. Léontine 3rd, Reisnerstr. 39 Tel. 01/712 54 30 Tue-Sat 11.30-15, Thu-Sat 18.30-23

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