La Petite Petanque - Southend

Whenever I visit Southend, I often pass the forlorn, closed and boarded up Alexandra Bowling Green Pavilion in the lovely Victorian Clifftown Conservation area just on the edge of the town, and without fail say the same thing to my GF....."That would make a fantastic restaurant".

Well it seems the owners of San Fairie Ann, a successful restaurant just round the corner in Alexandra Road have been thinking the same thing.

La Petite Petanque, a Cafe-Bistro opened a few weeks ago, and the new owners have obviously refurbished the Victorian Pavilion building to an extremely high standard, which is lovely to see. I hate to see fantastic old buildings such as this one fall into disrepair. They have so much character and history, they deserve to be looked after.

I visited on a Sunday for lunch, a typical British summers day with the Sun making the odd appearance out from behind the clouds, but the threat of rain ever present. The lush emerald grass of the Bowling Green in the middle of the pretty Victorian Square with the Pavilion sitting at one end, large Union Jack fluttering in the breeze. People seated outside and sitting under the open terrace framed with ancient wisteria....It presented an almost timeless picture, and could have been anytime from the late 1800's to the 1950's.

We briefly passed through the restaurant which has been refurbished in the style of a French Bistro, a baby grand piano sitting at one end, and opted to sit outside on the terrace, to study the menu.

I went for the club sandwich which the menu told me consisted of Chicken, Red Onion, Tomato, Egg Mayonnaise, Avocado Cream and Bacon. This came with hand cooked vegetable chips and a green salad.

The GF ordered off the chalked specials board, a Mediterranean roast vegetable quiche with salad. We ordered a couple of bowls of chips as a side order.

The terrace area was busy, and service was brisk and efficient. The food arrived quickly and I'm pleased to say my Club Sandwich was pretty good. The GF had made the better choice, the quiche was delicious with a nice strong cheese taste and light pastry.

Onto the gripes, albeit minor ones. My vegetable chips were a bit lacklustre, they lacked bite and were a bit tasteless and soft. The Club Sandwich lacked Seasoning. the side orders of chips were OK, a bit soft perhaps- I think crisp frites would work much better and be more in keeping with the Bistro vibe. Also, the green salad could do with a bit more dressing.

As for the menu, I was extremely pleased to see that the Breakfast section, available till 12 is very homegrown- Full English, Porridge, Kippers....but the lunch choices appear to jump all over the Mediterranean.
Personally, In keeping with the sheer timeless British look of the place, I'd like to see the menu emphasis on a more seasonal, good standard British menu. Think Mark Hix but obviously quite a few notches down the scale. But It's early days yet, so perhaps some tweaking will follow.

But for all that, the food was good. The surroundings are about as pleasant as you can get. The terrace is an extremely nice place to sit and eat lunch. I could quite happily while away the hours sitting there, especially if the Sun puts in an appearance.
The refurbishment is cracking, so all credit to the owners for breathing life back into the old building. It's a pity that due to it's location in the conservation area that it's only open till 7pm, It would be lovely place to sit and eat on a summers evening.

Overall - La Petite Petanque is a credit to Southend, I'll certainly be visiting again.

La Petite Petanque
Alexandra Bowling Green Pavilion
Cambridge Road
Southend.