Blandford Comptoir is a new restaurant on Blandford Street from Xavier Rousset who created Texture and 28-50. It’s a charming space with a few seats out front, a bar with stools in the middle and a tiny dining room out the back which is flooded with natural light.
To start, raw cannon of lamb (£8) was an intriguing one as I’ve not seen much raw lamb on menus before. The flavour of the meat was superb, helped along by a zesty little Amalfi lemon dressing and some rocket.
A taste of summer came in the form of cuore di burrata Stracciatella with heritage tomatoes (£9). There’s something about burrata (and this one was the creamiest I’ve come across) that just makes me so happy. A side of raw courgette, pine nut and basil salad (£4) was far more exciting than I thought possible – if you can make raw courgette taste that good then you’re a wizard.
A courgette flower stuffed with goats curd (£5) was a straightforward thing of beauty executed perfectly. Duck Breast, ravioli and fig (£18) was another corker; the thick chunks of duck had a soft, pink middle with a crisp, fatty exterior. And the ravioli of leg meat was heavenly.
Service was friendly and attentive meaning the whole experience at Blandford Comptoir is a really pleasant one. The food isn’t breaking any boundaries but that’s actually rather a nice thing. Sometimes you just want to eat straightforward food that tastes good – if that’s what you’re after, then you’ve found it.
Would we go back? Yes.