(redirected from Oui Madame!, N16 7UY)

Oui Monsieur, N16 7UY

  • 182 Stoke Newington Road

A French bar and restaurant which closed at some point in the latter half of 2015. As of September 2016, the premises are occupied by a bar/restaurant called Haunt, which seems to be more burger/BBQ focused. The info below is retained for historical purposes.

A relaxed French bistro and bar on the corner of Stoke Newington High Street and Amhurst Road. It stays open 'till late' most evenings, when the focus switches from food to cocktails, and it fills up with clientele who have outgrown the Dalston bars further down the road. It was previously known as Oui Madame!, but as of spring 2015 the painted sign by the door says 'Oui Monsieur' instead of 'Oui Madame', and the website/Twitter addresses have been updated - it doesn't appear that anything else has changed though.

The seating is spread over two rooms, with around 50 covers in total. The bar runs all the way to the back, though half of it is covered in decorative cookbooks and knick-knacks. In hot weather, the large windows are fully opened for an al-fresco vibe. There's also a downstairs area that the website proclaims to feature 'live jazz' (I did not go downstairs so can't confirm this).

Kat and Rick visited for an early dinner on a Saturday evening in January 2014. We hadn't booked, but had correctly guessed it wouldn't be too busy at 6pm. We were shown to a table in the slightly less draughty back half, where the wall is covered in (stopped) clocks. The music selection was loud enough for us to determine that it included a lounge-salsa cover of Popcorn, but it wasn't obtrusive.

The menu changes daily, and we were offered two options: either small plates or a 3-course set menu (£23). The small plates didn't look incredibly exciting, and as we were quite hungry, we went for the set menu. The salad leaves starter was well-dressed but otherwise straightforward. Kat's main of parchment-baked red mullet with lime, sauteed potatoes and carrots was quite bland (apart from a brief moment mistaking the grilled lime for a potato). Rick's duck breast was also lacking something - the flavours just weren't very strong. The dessert of chocolate and raspberry mousse was quite light and fluffy, and served in an adorable little jam jar. Overall though we were disappointed, and both wished we'd gone for the steak option (£2 extra) instead. It also felt a bit strange that we weren't offered any bread in a French restaurant (whether included in the price or not)?

The wine list was short but interesting and reasonably-priced: Kat's glass of organic, biodynamic white wine was £5. Rick had a small bottle of decent Breton cider (£4.50). The cocktails looked good value - Kat was tempted by a Caipirinha for £7.50. Tap water was brought to our table straight away, and service was added to the bill automatically.

Kat's verdict: I probably wouldn't bother coming here for food again, but the cocktails looked great and it's an interesting room to hang out in.

Accessibility: there is one (unisex) toilet on the ground floor at the back of the restaurant. There are two handrails inside, though one of them was being used to hold around 5 toilet rolls on our visit.

Last visited by Kat and Rick, 18 January 2014. Opening hours taken from the website, though the Facebook page suggests it is sometimes closed on Sundays and Mondays.
Last edited 2016-09-28 15:17:38 (version 8; diff). List all versions.