Chelsea, French Restaurant Guide

“The iconic architecture of the Michelin building”, in South Kensington, helps make its first-floor dining room (converted by the late Sir Terence Conran, and opened in 1987) a modern classic, and provides a “stunning” location for a meal (in particular at lunch). Claude Bosi is entering his fourth year at the stoves now, and wins strong praise from most diners for his “first-class-but-rich” French cuisine, which creates some “wow” moments. A minority, though, feel the cooking here “is not up to the very high standard Bosi set when in Ludlow and Mayfair”, and consider prices “exorbitant”: “I thought tiny, overpriced portions of nouvelle cuisine were a thing of the past… until I ate here”.

“Expensive for what it is but very enjoyable” – the unchanging equation over the years at this luxurious seafood café, off the beautiful and atmospheric foyer of the Michelin building. Nowadays part of Claude Bosi’s regime, he has added hot items (fish pie, moules, fish ’n’ chips etc) to an offer that has traditionally focussed on raw seafood and cold platters.

“Are people just deducting points because it has Gordon’s name?” – that’s the suspicion raised by fans of the world-famous TV-chef, who – like Michelin – consider his modern French cuisine “simply unbeatable”, and extol his “early-noughties-time-warp-style” Chelsea HQ (currently presided over by head chef Matt Abé) as “the best in London”. The answer is no! – the problem is the equally sizeable number of diners who feel “safety first is the word here”, and that by the standards of top, world-class culinary genius it “doesn’t really hit the mark”: “OK-ish, but too often run-of-the-mill” or “merely average (except for the price… which is outrageous!)”.

2018 Review: “Excellent” sharing plates of summery Provençal and Niçoise cuisine shine at this two-year-old, a sibling to nearby Margaux. The location is part of the appeal for Chelsea types – “you can’t beat the Hollywood Road scene!”