This steak-frites specialist takes its queues—in fact its entire concept—from Le Relais de Venise L’Entrecote, a 50-year-old Parisian restaurant where the wait for steak in a classic “Cafe de Paris” green sauce served with bottomless fries can take more than an hour.

 

Le Boeuf in Bangkok isn’t affiliated with them, but David Perrot (of Crepes & Co.) claims he’s got the original green sauce recipe from the Cafe de Paris in Geneva, which popularized L’Entrecote’s sauce some 20 years before the Parisian restaurant opened. While we can’t test that claim, we can say that whatever sauce Perrot and his kitchen team are serving is pretty delicious, whether authentic or not.

 

What tastes like a potent mix of dijon mustard and garlic laced with an unholy amount of butter makes for a powerful accompaniment to the single main dish spotlighted at Le Boeuf: entrecote steak with a walnut green salad and unlimited fries (B680). (Although unlike other famous L’Entrecote restaurants, you’ll also find lamb [B720] and salmon [B880] for the beef-weary.) Unfortunately for somewhere with such single focus, all three of our steaks (one rare, two medium) are overdone, but that only detracts slightly from what is deliciously tender and flavorsome meat.

 

The unlimited fries come swiftly from the kitchen and only ever in small batches to ensure they’re always crisp and piping hot. There are only four starters on the menu too; all amply portioned variations of spreadable meat, from foie gras terrine (B560) and chicken liver mousse (B315) to pork rillettes (B330). We love all of them. Wines are kept equally compact with an OK house Bordeaux at B190/653/980 (glass/ carafe/bottle) and a further selection of whites and reds that never breaks above B3,000. The dessert menu is more ambitious, with over a dozen classic options veering towards the creamy and chocolatey. The vanilla ice-cream profiteroles in chocolate sauce (B260) are a safe bet. 

 

The restaurant itself is also a nice place to sit. Detached from the serviced apartments in a pill-shaped glass box, it feels like a standalone, decked out in a fitting combination of dark woods, ox blood fabrics, brass and leather. If anything, the richness of the surroundings makes you feel a little too guilty exploiting an all-you-can-eat French fries deal.

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