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Review: Café Rouge

I had been invited to a food and wine tasting event at the newly refurbished Café Rouge at Kew Bridge last month. Unfortunately, due to a busy work schedule, I was unable to make it. However, the lovely people over at Café Rouge invited us to visit and test out the food anyway.

Cafe Rouge Review

Although Mr H and I had been to Café Rouge before, it was pre-children  – you know back in the day when you could just eat out at the last minute on a whim? This was our first visit as a family, so I was interested to see what they had on offer from a family dining point of view.

Café Rouge Kew Bridge is in a lovely location just around the corner from Kew Gardens. It overlooks great views of the river Thames too! The restaurant itself has been re-designed to reflect an authentic Parisian Bistro, and it certainly had that feel when we visited.

Cafe Rouge, Kew Bridge

Kids Menu
The Kids menu included a starter, main, dessert and a drink for £6.95 which was very reasonable. The fougasse finger (mini baguette) that was part of the starter was deliciously warm, and the boys enjoyed attempting to cut this up themselves.

cafe-rouge-kids

There was a good variety of options to choose from on the Kids menu which also had things like beef, chicken, fish, pasta or sausages. E chose the Poulet Goujons (chicken to you and me!) which came with fries, peas and sweetcorn and M chose Le Burger (no translation needed!) Both dishes were really good portions, so much so that they couldn’t finish it all.

What was really nice to see on the Kids Menu is that as well as the mains, there is also a good selection of desserts to choose from. I find that some restaurants only seem to offer ice cream, but this was definitely not the case with Café Rouge. The boys could choose from fruit salad, ice cream, crepes, ice lolly or profiteroles.

M is not really a fan of ice cream when we eat out – not sure why because he eats it happily at home, so he chose the Fruit Ice Lolly and E chose the Chocolate Crépe that was served with ice cream and drizzled in chocolate sauce.

Kids Menu: Chocolate Crépe

I don’t think you can go wrong with a Chocolate Crépe right?

Starters
The adults (Mr H, Mother-in-law and I) started off with some olives and bread while we were deciding what to choose to eat from the menu. For starters, we chose Crevettes  (king prawns in garlic & smoked chilli butter with in-house baked baguette), Lobster Bisque (lobster soup with brandy, champagne and cream served with sour rye bread) and Tempura Moules (crisp mussels with smoked garlic & lemon aioli)

All the dishes were well presented, the lobster bisque (which was my choice) was creamy and full of flavour. I tried both the king prawns and the mussels too, and they both tasted very fresh and the prawns, in particular, were succulent and very tasty!

cafe-rouge-starters
Top left to right: Rouge Olives and Crevettes Bottom left to right: Lobster Bisque and Tempura Moules

Mains
Whenever we eat out, I always tend to choose dishes that we don’t usually have at home. We mainly eat chicken and beef at home, so any time there is duck or pork on the menu it’s pretty much guaranteed that I will choose one of these dishes!

This time round – duck won, and I chose the Confit De Canard which came with french beans, dauphinoise potatoes and cherry sauce. The duck was super crispy, and the cherry sauce complemented it really well, I just wished there was more of it (but that might just be me) the dauphinoise potatoes were also spot on.

Confit De Canard
Confit De Canard

My Mother-in-law chose the Seabass ‘En Papillote which was a steamed butterfly filleted sea bass served in parchment with leeks, piperade and a lobster & dill butter she also ordered a side dish of mash to go with this. She said the fish had been cooked perfectly and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Seabass 'En Papillote
Seabass ‘En Papillote

Mr H went for the French classic of Steak Frites which was served with fries and came with a garlic butter. I usually have my steak medium, and he has his medium rare so I didn’t get to have a taste but he assures me it was cooked to his liking and judging by how quickly it was eaten I think it’s safe to assume it was good!

Sirloin Steak
Sirloin Steak

Desserts
For dessert, I chose the chocolate, banana & praline Tort which came with salted caramel ice cream and dark chocolate sauce. Oh my goodness it was just delicious! Salted caramel ice cream is one of my favourites let alone when it is teamed with chocolate cake AND chocolate sauce! Heaven!

Tort
Tort

My Mother-in-law went with the Crepé Aux Chocolat Blanc et Banane which was a baked pancake with raspberries, banana, warm white chocolate and tarte tatin ice cream. She said it was so nice that she could have eaten it all again.

cafe-rouge-banana-crepe
Crepé Aux Chocolat Blanc et Banane

Mr H chose the Fondant Aux Chocolats which was a hot chocolate fondant with a melting chocolate centre and chocolate & raspberry fondant ice cream. As usual, I didn’t get a look in- he does not share desserts that man!

cafe-rouge-chocolate-fondant
Fondant Aux Chocolats

Verdict
Overall, we were very impressed with the quality of the food at Café Rouge. We found the staff to be attentive and the food arrived quickly. The restaurant had a few families with young children who were enjoying their dinner, and it is certainly somewhere I would take the boys to again. Next time I’d like to try out their lunch menus when we visit, and can already see us going there on a lazy weekend morning for breakfast!

Thank you Café Rouge for having us!

* We were kindly invited for a meal at Café Rouge in return of this review, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

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About The Author

Picture of Maria
Hello and welcome to Suburban Mum! I'm Maria and I'm mum to two boys - E who's 14 and M who's 11. This blog is about my family, the ups and downs of being a working mum and everything in between. If you want to find out more about me and my family head over to our About us page.

34 thoughts on “Review: Café Rouge”

  2. Coombe Mill (Fiona)

    I remember going to my first NCT night out at Cafe Rouge, we had such a giggle I’ve liked it ever since, glad you had a good experience there too #KCACOLS

    Reply
  4. Fi - Beauty Baby and Me

    Lovely review! I went to the Cafe Rouge in Norwich a while back and it was lovely! Glad you had a nice time. Xx #KCACOLS

    Reply
  5. Becky Pink

    OOOh your pictures are making my mouth water!! I love Cafe Rouge, and always find them pretty good with kids. I always have Steak Frites as I love it so much so have never tried anything else, hehe so it’s good to know you all enjoyed your meals so much. xx #KCACOLS

    Reply
  6. critcht80

    Yuuuuuuuuuuum. The food looks so relish. I really like Cafe Rouge restaurants as I think their quality of food is really good. I haven’t been since having children though because I assumed that they didn’t do food for children but now I know that they do. The children’s food looks really good too 🙂 #KCACOLS

    Reply
  7. Island Living365

    That Cafe Rouge looks really cute and the food looks really lovely too and excellent choice of food for the children too #KCACOLS

    Reply
  8. Wendy Hughes

    I have not been to cafe rouge before but now I really want to go, the food looks/sounds amazing. Nice to hear there is a good selection on the kids menu.xx #KCACOLS

    Reply
  11. Amanda CP

    The food looks delicious here, and it seems the prices are not too bad either! I haven’t been to Cafe Rouge for ages, but I remember it to be good. Glad you enjoyed.
    Amanda. #kcacols

    Reply
  12. Pickinguptoys

    Oh my goodness I’m suddenly so hungry reading this!It looks like just the sort of place I’d really enjoy visiting.My hubby also has steak like that.I like it incinerated lol! x #kcacols

    Reply
  13. Jason Arnold

    That food looks amazing! My stomach is rumbling and kinds hurts after looking at all that food. (The duck with cherry sauce looked particularly nice) Shame is, its almost midnight here, so eating anything now is out of the question. Thanks for sharing! #KCACOLS

    Reply
  14. The Speed Bump

    Ooh I’ll definitely need to check out Cafe Rouge, especially if they have a gluten free menu! That looks so yummy! Great review #KCACOLS

    Reply
  18. Squirmy Popple

    The food looks great – well, except for the meat, but that’s because I’m a vegetarian. I could especially go for some of those desserts! #KCACOLS

    Reply
  19. Handy Herbs

    I love cafe rouge and usually find them to be child friendly. Sea bass is one of my favourite fish, so I would have loved that. The desserts look amazing too! I would love to visit the one near Kew Gardens as I love Kew Gardens 🙂 #KCACOLS

    Reply
  20. Rachel B

    The menu looks very appetizing, especially the puddings! It’s so nice to see a decent child’s menu with a variety of foodS and to have a child friendly restaurant is perfect for parents! #KCACOLS

    Reply
  22. Newmumkaboom

    ‘can already see us going there on a lazy weekend morning for breakfast!’ This excites me as we live quite close to Kew Bridge… bring on the lazy breakfasts & lovely lunches #KCACOLS

    Reply
  23. Blissful Domestic

    This makes me so hungry reading this (and I’ve not long had dinner!). Such a shame there isn’t a Cafe Rouge near us, but sounds fab x #KCACOLS

    Reply
  24. The Pramshed

    It’s not even 7.30am yet and I am hungry looking at this, I could eat it all now! The food looks yummy especially the steak and chocolate fondant. That’s a really nice touch of Cafe Rouge to have a 3 course children’s menu. Claire x #KCACOLS

    Reply
  25. alice NipperAndTyke

    That all looks so yummy, you are making me very hungry! There seem to be some really good choices on the children’s menu.
    x Alice
    #kcacols

    Reply
  26. Tin Box Traveller

    What great value for the kids’ meals. All the other food looks lovely too. It’s been a while since I’ve been to Cafe Rogue too and it’s not somewhere that I would have thought of taking our kids, but you’ve changed my mind 🙂 #KCACOLS

    Reply
  27. tracey bowden

    I have always thought of cafe rouge to be not so family friendly, I don’t know why but it’s good to see it really is. The food looks delicious (shouldn’t of read pre lunch lol) and your pictures are fabulous too! #KCACOLS

    Reply
  28. Mommy Muddling

    What a treat! While I’m quite a bit too far away to give it a try, your review sure made me want to visit! Loved the photos. #KCACOLS

    Reply
  29. Silly Mummy

    It all looks really nice! I quite like Cafe Rouge. I always find that I don’t think there is enough sauce/dressing with meals everywhere – I’m a sauce addict! #KCACOLS

    Reply
  30. Mummy & the Mexicans

    This all looks and sounds delicious! I’ve never been to Cafe Rouge, but it looks like a nice place to eat out. #KCACOLS

    Reply
  34. notjustthe3ofus.wordpress.com

    I do love Kew and this Cafe Rouge sounds perfectly located. What a lovely treat for you all. I’ve always enjoyed their food. #KCACOLS

    Reply

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