Our neighbors had long ago suggested that we visit the French Quarter Bistro. This weekend we decided to that we had to move away from our regular restaurant haunt of Koramangala and explore newer regions. And so along with friends Pavan and Preethika (who is finally done with her year of vegetarianism) headed to French Quarter Bistro. The restaurant is on CMH road and is right now a bit difficult to get to thanks to the metro construction.

Anyways, we got there and the first thing that impressed us was the decor. Mangalore tiled roof each embedded with a rectangular glass that allowed a lot of natural lighting in. Day time does not require any artificial lighting and I can just imagine how beautiful it will look during a downpour. There is also a wonderful coconut palm growing right through the restaurant. Thankfully no coconuts that can knock you silly.

Now to the food. The blackboards have the plat du jours which are set meals of soups/starters and main courses. The menu is relatively small but since it had the French names and the English explanations, it took us a while to get through it. We decided to go for a full course meal and started with the Potage or soup. Preethika and me split a Soupe au pistou, which was described as Provencal soup with vegetables, pasta and flavored with pesto. This was really nice and hit the spot well. It was slightly tangy thanks to the pesto with the veggies delicately sliced.

Sudhakar went in for the French onion soup which was Beef consomme with baked cheese croton. While the soup was nice, the croton was a bit unsightly. I really preferred the presentation of the French onion soup at 64 in Koramangala. Though the croton was smaller, it was subtle on the eye and went well with the soup.

The starters we had the Poulet Goujons which was crumb fried chicken fingers with honey mustard sauce. This was five strips of chicken that was crumb fried and served with the sauce. It was basically honey with a dash of dijon mustard. It did not really pack the punch of mustard and tasted more honey. The chicken strips could easily have been fish, such was its plain"ness".

We also Potato Sarladaise which was described as diced roasted potatoes that have been spiced. Again it was just that, a plain explanation to an equally plain dish. Nothing seemed to stand out other than the name.

Time for the main courses. I asked for a meal that was part of the day's specials. They were kind enough to make the dish for me despite it being part of a package deal. So Roast chicken in red onion sauce with veggies and mashed potatoes it was for me. What came was a fillet of chicken that had definitely not been roasted, because it looked and yielded to the knife just like shallow fried fillet. The sauce was obviously onion based, slightly on the sweeter side. The mashed potatoes were decent and the veggies few.

Pavan had the French Quarter with three peppercorn sauce. This was red, green and black peppercorns. On first look, we both felt that my dish was repeated. The sauce had the same look and consistency as did the veggies and mashed potatoes. The only thing that distinguished it from mine was that it had peppercorns of the three colors. Pavan's verdict was that the peppercorns added a nice crunch and taste to the whole meal.

Sudhakar had the Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. This was chicken baked with veggies and whole garlic. And despite the 40 cloves you won't be left with breath that will ward off Dracula. The dish was nice.

Preethika was disappointed with her Fish Orly which was batter fried fish with tomato salsa and pommes frittes which turned out to be batter fried potato sticks. The dish was like the chicken strips we had as starters. 4 fish strips and 4 potato strips formed this measly meal. Nothing exceptional about the taste.

Drinks were Flying Tigers (Five spirits of gin, rum, vodka, tequila, grenadine, cranberry juice and coconut milk). Super tasting and equally potent was the verdict by Sudhakar. I had the Cosmopolitan which started tasting of vodka only on the last sip. Pavan had the whiskey sour which tasted odd enough to be left aside. French quarter something which was guava, pineapple and apple juices with a dash of alcohol (I think).

Desserts were creme brulee and banana chocolate crepes which were utterly atrocious. The creme brulee only had a fired outer crust and once the spoon went in, it was a watery mess. We sent it back to the kitchen and were apologised to with the sentence "Oh it was not frozen". Creme brulee frozen??

The banana and chocolate crepes was this exactly - dosa filled with sliced bananas, topped off with sliced bananas and chocolate sauce. Imagine the taste and you have the verdict.

Overall, the ambiance is nice. But the food as in Pavan's words "completely lacked soul." For a bill of Rs 2800 for the 4 of us, we did not come away feeling completely satisfied. Meals at Casa Piccola of yore are heartier and presented much better. The staff are slow and time between order and actual arrival of dishes at the table is vast. While some can be termed good, others are downright bad and nothing is exceptionally great. It took three attempts at getting a drink of my choice since they didn't seem to have anything I wanted. A unisex loo is clean but could do better. Maybe worth a visit once and you really have to be lucky with what you choose.