INCROYABLE! L’ABSINTHE OPENED ITS DOORS TO THE HUNGRY PUBLIC 10 YEARS AGO ON 20 NOVEMBER 2007, AND TO CELEBRATE THIS AUSPICIOUS ANNIVERSARY, OWNER JC IS OFFERING THE ORIGINAL FOOD MENU AT THE ORIGINAL PRICES, MONDAY 20 – FRIDAY 24TH NOVEMBER. CALL THEM ON 0207 483 4848 TO BOOK. HERE’S THE PROPOSED MENU:
And to celebrate the decade of L’Absinthe, I asked JC some pertinent questions and discovered the following…
FAVOURITE EVER DISH ON THE MENU: Salad Lyonnaise and Steak Frites, which he eats at least once a week: “It would be a shame to ‘ave the bloody place and not eat it – but I love zem all!”
FAVOURITE WINE: Burgundy – for white, Mersault or Maçon, for red, Gevrey-Chambertin. “I am a wine snob!” (We all knew that!).
FAVOURITE MOMENT: Michael Winner coming to review. He was brought in by a local who didn’t realise he would write a review “but there wasn’t enough acid to be really memorable!”
FAVOURITE ASPECT OF PRIMROSE HILL: Without hesitation “the village atmosphere.”
LESSONS LEARNT FROM L’ABSINTHE: “to slow down, which is quite difficult for me. Our location means that it is busy, but at a slower pace than the High Street – we have fewer customers but higher quality.”
ADVICE FOR ANYONE OPENING A RESTAURANT IN PRIMROSE HILL: “Look after the locals, they are very supportive. I am an extrovert so I went the extra miles to be friendly. Originally, people were not prepared to engage, thinking there was no point, that we would be gone in six months. There had been three restaurants in five years in this location and the locals at the pub were taking bets on how long we would last.”
HOPES FOR THE FUTURE OF L’ABSINTHE: “At least another ten years!”
And JC has more than his decade of L’Absinthe to celebrate: on November 11th he is set to marry his fiancée, Carmen, in San Sebastian, Spain, to the great delight of his friends and customers. All the very best to you, JC and Carmen, and here’s to many more happy years of L”Absinthe in Primrose Hill.
© 2017 Joanna Reeves, all rights reserved.