Restaurants: Le Petite Maison

Le Petite Maison is in Mayfair near Bond Street. Tables are close together, which brought back memories for me of Brasserie Lipp in Paris. Food is served family style, which I love although some restuarnts (mind you, not this one) need a lesson in how to time family style courses better. Two tomatoes and one lemon are pre-set at every table, which is an interesting idea for table decor. If you like, you can slice up the tomatoes yourself and pass them around the table. Bread is also placed directly on the table with no bread plate in sight.

When we sat down, I noticed a distinguished gentleman who my attention was drawn to immediately because from time to time he kept speaking into a dictaphone. My husband recognized him as Michael Winner who is a film director and he also writes a regular food column for Sunday Times called Winner's Dinners. Hmmm, perhaps I shall be checking the upcoming Sunday Times for any reviews of La Petite Maison.

A few minutes later, a gentleman in a tux came in and immediately acknowledged Winner (can you tell I do a lot of people watching in resturants?). They had a quick chat and then the gentleman in the tux sat down at another table as he was clearly waiting for some other people to join him. I kept thinking, hmmm…I wondering who he is waiting for and then Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin walked in. You would honestly have recognized them immediately if you were there, too. Chris is actually much, much taller than I would've thought and he has a huge amount of hair right now, which is all curly and sort of wild. Gwyneth looked lovely. Her hair was pulled up completely off her face in a soft bun, which sat high on her head. She wore a purple top and some gold dangly earrings and a gold bracelet.

Oh and the food was fabulous, too. Starters are fairly reasonable with most priced between £7 and $12. A few highlights for us included some lovely grilled peppers and an artichoke salad. The tables are you close together that you can't help but notice what nearby diners are eating. I must admit that often I make my ordering decisions based on how good other peoples' food looks. For mains, we had some lovely sea bream and steak. Large portions for the main course. Most of the main dishes are priced between £20-30. For dessert, we had an outstanding creme brulee, which was nicely infused with vanilla. If you go, seriously don't skip dessert. Outstanding restaurant, excellent for people watching.