Glorious Game on the Menu at Maggie Jone’s and La Poule au Pot | London
With Britain’s 121-day-long grouse shooting season in full swing, British restaurant Maggie Jones’s and Belgravia-based French restaurant La Poule au Pot have both added the bird to their menu.
Maggie Jones’s, which was named after Princess Margaret who used to regularly book there under the alias Maggie Jones, will soon also be serving partridge (from September 1) and pheasant (October 1) while La Poule au Pot will feature squab pigeon and hare (September 1) on its menu.
The meat from both restaurants comes from the Windsor Estate, which is The Crown Estate. The Windsor Estate covers approximately 6,400 hectares and includes Windsor Great Park, the Home Park of Windsor Castle, extensive forests, residential and commercial properties, golf courses, a racecourse and let farms.
Maggie Jones’s opened in 1964 as Nan’s Kitchen, which was at the time Princess Margaret and Lord Snowden’s favourite restaurant. They would slip in at around 9.30pm, usually sitting in a discreet booth at the back on the ground floor and eat the chicken pie, which was their favourite dish. In the early Seventies the restaurant changed its name to Maggie Jones in honour of its most famous client, who used to book under the alias ‘Maggie Jones’. Over the years, it has actually welcomed most of the Royal family.
La Poule au Pot, sister of British restaurant Maggie Jones’s, has been a Belgravia institution for as long as anyone cares to remember. The alluring interior, with its intimate nooks and festoons of dried flowers and bric-à-brac, has changed very little since the 1960s and offers an authentic re-creation of “paysan” France.
The menu is classic French, too. Classic dishes include escargots (£13.25 for 9), coq au vin (£20.50), guinea fowl with apple and Calvados sauce (£21.50) and tarte tatin (£6).
Game dishes will vary between £35 and £28 – depending on shooting.
