Located at walking distance from Oxford Street, London’s best known shopping street you will find a Michelin star awarded French restaurant called Pied-a-Terre. It’s home base is a nice little street full of restaurants and shops, just outside the part flooded by tourists. Just like many or even most restaurants, the outside of the restaurant is not spectacular and hardly recognizable as a restaurant.
Inside, the restaurant the space is divided in two dining areas. The entrance is quite tight as this is also where the staff gathers to process the orders and where the coats are put away. Through this narrow entrance, we were escorted to the back of the building where tables are on either side of the room. 
This means that there is plenty of room between the two rows of tables, as well as between the tables on either side of the room. Tables itself are just big enough when having lunch, but have beautiful plates on them when you enter. These artist-designed plates are not used for a meal and a nice touch is that they are on display in the cabinet in the room. The room is stylish and in a way a little minimalistic. With a skylight having frosted glass in the ceiling, it is nice and light without the light being harsh.
With the restaurant being a popular spot for business meals, it is good to know that everyone is welcome. Even when having lunch as (for example) a solo traveller, they have a table for you. Unlike some other restaurants that I have visited before, the size of the party or the size of the orders (e.g. wine or no wine) does not affect the level of service in any way.
In times when every ingredient is available year-round, we have really gotten used to having strawberries in the middle of winter. As product in season is much nicer than out-of-season products, it is nice to see that good restaurants still go with the seasons. For some restaurants this may be the Chinese calendar, but for many the menu highlights the seasonable vegetables, meats and/or fish when they are at their best. At the time of the asparagus season, we had lunch at Pied-a-Terre.
Like many restaurants, there is a choice between a-la-carte or prix fixe menu for lunch. Not surprisingly, the menu in one course features asparagus both in the prix-fixe menu as a-la-carte. As I was having the fixed menu, this was my first course. 
Looking at the ingredients, the first course was simplicity itself: Green asparagus with egg and a sauce of asparagus. When the dish is this ‘simple’ the execution is key. Presentation was absolutely beautiful, with the asparagus being almost folded around the perfectly runny poached egg, without the vegetables losing its crunch. The whole thing is sitting on top of a foamy sauce of asparagus. Nice detail is that the yolk is perfectly centred in the egg white and visible in the middle of the plate.
Two preparations of duck followed for main course. Even when you don’t like the dish, which is highly unlikely, you got to appreciate the presentation: A beautiful dark plate with the pink duck, white turnip and green of the spinach popping out. The duck breast is, as you would expect, perfectly cooked and surrounded by its own gravy. Amount of spinach is perfect to not overpower the duck. Hidden under the turnip is some confit duck leg, which is equally nice. Overall, the dish has great flavour and where it may look small, the portion is just big enough considering the richness. I really enjoyed this dish, but it does need a good beverage pairing.
Before dessert was served, there was a pre-dessert. A small cup full of deliciousness. A foam of apple with lemon curd, 
blueberry compote and some meregue. Perfect combination of sweetness and freshness to help you get over the heavy feeling you may have from the previous course. The actual dessert itself was a great ending of a delicious meal. I could way the same as for the pre-dessert. Touch of sweetness from a caramelized mango with some freshness of a lemon foam and raspberry sorbet. A parfait of green tea added some creaminess. For the first time I had a tea-flavoured parfait that actually did its name justice by having a noticeable green tea flavour. Perfect mildly sweet and light ending of a meal beautifully presented.
The restaurant may have a somewhat more formal setting that some other good restaurants in London, but don’t let that stop you from booking a table here. Food is excellent and so is the service. I did not mention the service as it wasn’t really noticeable. There is plenty of staff and all are equally attentive and friendly. If I have to say something about them, it would be that where they really strive to make it a pleasant meal, they do congregate around the entrance. This is merely an unfortunate consequence of the layout of the restaurant. The meal comes to around GPB 40 or EUR 50/USD 55 (excl. drinks and service) for a set lunch, which I consider great value for money. Would I go here again? Well, yes and no. The food was really good and I am curious about the other dishes, so yes. Another reason for me to go back would be to see if the nice food was a fluke or not and there I am convinced it wasn’t. However, with London having so many good restaurant, I think I will try another place first….
Restaurant location: View on Google Maps
Restaurant website: http://www.pied-a-terre.co.uk