Caterham, French Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: The French cuisine may not be cutting-edge, but it is both consistent and highly accomplished at this ten-year-old restaurant with rooms in north Surrey. Chef owners Laurent Pacaud and Martin Bradley ran the business as a catering company for ten years before that.

This smart neighbourhood restaurant and bar from Stuart Gillies, for many years Gordon Ramsay’s right-hand man, “never lets you down with quality, value or service – can’t get enough of this place”. The menu offers a mixture of classic British and modern European cuisine, with bottomless brunch on Saturdays and traditional roast on Sundays. There’s now a sibling restaurant on similar lines, Number Eight in Sevenoaks.

2022 Review: ‘A taste of rural France on the Fulham Road’ is the promise at this ‘gourmet traiteur’ in Chelsea: an early 2020 newcomer where dishes (to go or for delivery within 4 miles) are designed for reheating at home and prepared by Chris Hill, who most recently worked as a senior sous chef at The Ritz. It’s owned by Dimitri and Mira Plaquet, of a high-quality Belgian food group called La Villa Lorraine. They must be doing something right, as in mid 2021 they launched a second store in Wimbledon.

“A neighbourhood gem” in a converted Victorian laundry beside Brixton Market – this all-day operation majors in Antipodean-style breakfast and brunch (courtesy of Sydney-born chef Sami Harvey) followed by a more European bistro menu in the evening. “The friendly staff are always happy to recommend a good-value bottle of wine” – and it may well come from Down Under: owner Melanie Brown also founded the New Zealand and Australian Cellars. There’s a large terrace at the front which is “especially lovely when the temperature is warmer and Brixton street theatre is the free show”.

With its array of “silky-smooth croquetas” and other tapas favourites, backed up by “a great choice of sherries”, this popular gastropub-with-rooms in the Surrey ’burbs from Spanish maestro José Pizarro is “one of the best places to eat for miles around” – and, as you’d expect of this much-fêted ambassador of all things Iberian, “makes a decent stab at a Hispanic vibe”.

Bright, modern haunt – complete with big floor-to-ceiling windows and an outside terrace – that’s long anchored Peckham’s emergence as a food scene. Billing itself as ‘Your friendly neighbourhood wine bar’, the vino is the highpoint here, but the grub’s a cut-above and good value.

A “family favourite” that “brings back memories of small French restaurants” – this “reliable” Battersea brasserie has outposts in Putney, Wandsworth Common, South Ken, the City and most recently Clerkenwell, where it opened inside Marrable’s Hotel in late 2024. Harsher reports say they can be a little “underwhelming”, though – one reporter complaining that the “cute dining room was let down by mixed quality of the food and somewhat lax Gallic service (in a bad way)”.

A “family favourite” that “brings back memories of small French restaurants” – this “reliable” Battersea brasserie has outposts in Putney, Wandsworth Common, South Ken, the City and most recently Clerkenwell, where it opened inside Marrable’s Hotel in late 2024. Harsher reports say they can be a little “underwhelming”, though – one reporter complaining that the “cute dining room was let down by mixed quality of the food and somewhat lax Gallic service (in a bad way)”.

2022 Review: This “good breakfast spot” in Walworth morphs into an evening hang-out with DJs, biodynamic and natural wines, cocktails and “top-class” chef residencies to keep the crowd fed and entertained.

A “local treasure” on Battersea Bridge Road for more than 12 years: chef-patron Franck Raymond “successfully delivers French food and ambience”, showcasing the cuisine of his native Evian on the shores of Lake Geneva in a suitably rustic dining room. The restaurant is named after his grand-mère. Top Menu Tips – “very nice Lobster bisque and perfectly cooked Rack of lamb”.

There’s no doubting the “fantastic location” of this link in Raymond Blanc’s Heartwood Inns collection – a nook and cranny-filled boozer on pretty Downside Common with a heated outdoor tent and beer garden for added measure. Its victuals aren’t fancy but are “generally good” by common consensus, and continue to be of note for their moderate price tags (especially now they’ve relaunched their bargainous seasonal set menus).

From a French family who have operated in this corner of Kennington for almost 35 years – this brasserie with an upstairs jazz club on a corner near Elephant & Castle remains “a great neighbourhood choice”. The brothers behind it, Noland & Florent Regent, grew up next door in the Lobster Pot, which their parents ran for 25 years until 2016. The Gallic menu – snails, foie gras, cassoulet and madeleines – is complemented by “great beer”, including Meteor from France and Orbit from less than a mile away.

“People who don’t rate this restaurant are crazy”, according to boosters of the Chelsea HQ of the world’s most famous chef – including American YouTuber ‘UA’ who – as reported in the Daily Mail – flew in from the US just for a meal here at Christmas 2024 and pronounced it ‘absolutely worthy’ of its global renown. Gordon’s disciples extol head chef Kim Ratcharoen’s “extraordinary” modern European cuisine, plus the “lovely” setting of this fairly compact (45 covers) dining room at a picturesque SW3 address, all with a “great team looking after you”. You can eat from an à la carte menu for £180 per head, or the ‘Menu Prestige’ at £210 per person, or you can book The ‘Inspiration Table’ experience for £300 per person. But there’s a problem: over half of diners in our annual poll disagree with UA, nominating the venue as either their “most disappointing” or – more commonly – “most overpriced” meal of the year, slamming “stupid prices”, and a final bill that’s “an embarrassment”. Other long-term bugbears are “OTT service (at times you are surrounded by waiters”); and the “stilted” atmosphere of the room. There’s also the perennial question of whether the “nice” cooking truly deserves its renown? The overall verdict – “Three Michelin stars… really?…”. (“This was nice but ordinary. I wanted my mind to be blown away by food that costs this much. My mind wasn’t blown away. Disappointing”… “The food was very good, but not as innovative as some other top-end UK eateries. The bill was stratospheric and did nothing to improve my opinion of an over-busy, over-priced, over-rated place. Sorry Gordon.”… “It shows the obvious corruption within the Michelin guide that he keeps getting three stars for a style of cuisine that seems barely changed in 25 years”.)

In Old Church Street, Chelsea, the first pub from the Gladwin brothers opened in mid 2024 – the latest addition to their ‘Local & Wild’ stable of restaurants supplied by the family farm in West Sussex (which includes Rabbit just up the King’s Road). The grand late-Victorian tavern on a corner site was lavishly renovated as recently as 2021, when it was known as ‘The Chelsea Pig’.

2022 Review: ‘A taste of rural France on the Fulham Road’ is the promise at this ‘gourmet traiteur’ in Chelsea: an early 2020 newcomer where dishes (to go or for delivery within 4 miles) are designed for reheating at home and prepared by Chris Hill, who most recently worked as a senior sous chef at The Ritz. It’s owned by Dimitri and Mira Plaquet, of a high-quality Belgian food group called La Villa Lorraine. They must be doing something right, as in mid 2021 they launched a second store in Wimbledon.

“Lovely location and setting” – a hi-viz corner of Sloane Square – is the trump card of this well-known and “busy” brasserie from the Wolseley Group: “a lovely place for meeting friends, whose buzzy atmosphere” makes it “great for people watching”. The “traditional French food”, though, “is relatively ordinary given the location” and rather “expensive”, unless you visit for breakfast which wins more enthusiastic recommendations.

“Changing very little over the years (which is one of its strongest points!)” – Didier Garnier’s “Grande Dame”, tucked away in a quiet Chelsea backstreet at the back of the Royal Marsden Hospital, “sails serenely on, in its unapologetically old-fashioned manner”. “It’s a classic French upmarket bistro of the sort you find serving traditional French dishes in prosperous towns and cities all over France”. The food is “perfectly good without being startling – just what the customers expect – and by Chelsea standards, is reasonably priced”; service, in the Gallic style, is “impeccable”; and “it has a good buzz and is busy” with a silver-haired clientele who “love it”. Top Tip – “the wine list has to be one of the best-priced in London… unlike many places fleecing their ‘cash cow’ clientele, Le Colombier is the polar opposite and clearly prices wines to attract those who appreciate their excellent list and strong cellar”.

A “family favourite” that “brings back memories of small French restaurants” – this “reliable” Battersea brasserie has outposts in Putney, Wandsworth Common, South Ken, the City and most recently Clerkenwell, where it opened inside Marrable’s Hotel in late 2024. Harsher reports say they can be a little “underwhelming”, though – one reporter complaining that the “cute dining room was let down by mixed quality of the food and somewhat lax Gallic service (in a bad way)”.