Mayfair, French Restaurant Guide

“Yes, the food is very, very good” – the tasting menu is “absolutely incredible (every dish a piece of art and served on stunning crockery)” – according to fans of this superstar French chef, who has presided over the main dining room of this most blue-blooded of Mayfair hotels since 2008. Her reign has always been a little controversial here – for example, no-one is wild about the uneventful recent makeover of this fine, period chamber. But since its elevation to three Michelin stars, prices have become “extortionate (and with numerous supplements on the menu!)” and those diners who feel “this all-round exceptional experience is worth every penny” vie with the 2 in 5 who feel “the wallet-destroying prices are beyond extravagant” – “if I have to sell a kidney to eat here, I expect the food to win my heart… I’m not sure it did!”

“Excellent, stylish Gallic fare” sets the tone at this “friendly” bistro, run by a trio of French brothers who named it after their mother, that has notched up a decade in Soho. “I’m already planning my next visit!”. The only real complaint is that “in true Gallic style, the settings can be a bit cramped”.

This ‘Franco-Japanese fusion’ – a two-year-old Mayfair spin-off from TV chef Cyril Lignac’s Paris restaurant St Germain des Prés – excites contradictory responses (and relatively little feedback overall). For fans, “the fusion of Japanese food with French expertise has resulted in an excellent dining experience”. For the odd critic, though, it’s nothing more than a “flash, cramped and noisy Euro place with prices that reflect the name of the celebrity French chef and the fancy crowd”.

A “gorgeous homage to the Côte d’Azur” – this “exciting” operation, just around the corner from Claridges, serves beautiful, fresh-tasting Med-inspired sharing plates to an “urbane and international” crowd, who like its informal, somewhat “cramped” style. But while the prices here have always been eye-catching, its (previously stellar) ratings slumped this year amidst a feeling that you increasingly need “more money than sense” to pay them. (“There is no doubting the cooking skill and the careful sourcing of produce. But the dishes are so simple that it feels eye-watering to pay so much for a lentil salad… that is literally just a lentil salad”).

As Le Comptoir Robuchon (RIP), this Mayfair outpost of the famous French chef’s global empire (which opened after his death) has never been a huge talking point for the fooderati. This was despite it providing a “top gastronomic experience” combining a very elegant interior with traditional Gallic fare that’s “worth the price”. Now, from September 2023, it’s being re-jigged to sit under the group’s international, flagship ‘Atelier’ brand – so creating a successor to the erstwhile Covent Garden site of that name that closed in 2018. Chef Andrea Cofini will be at the stoves, and doubtless aiming to put it on a par with its siblings in Hong Kong, Miami, Taipei, Vegas and Geneva, each of which holds at least one Michelin star (and most two or three).

“A perfect menu that will forever stay in the mind” is how some reporters remember this luxurious Mayfair outpost of France’s most celebrated restaurateur, whose kitchen is run by chef-patron Jean-Philippe Blondet. Often indifferently rated in our survey over the years, it was more regularly acclaimed this year as offering “the very best of French cuisine” to match its Michelin three-star renown, although even those acknowledging the “impeccable food and service” sometimes note that “the room itself is a bit soulless and rather boring”. And there remains an undercurrent in sentiment of the view that the performance is “uninspiring and poor value”. Top Menu Tip – save yourself for the signature dish, which is rum baba, with Chantilly cream and rum.

This “simply stunning” fairytale chamber on the top floor of the well-known Mayfair palazzo won many 5/5 reviews this year, while avoiding the brickbats often thrown at it in former years. “In these curious post-Covid times, where even the most indifferent restaurants are charging hard, this one now seems good value”, despite its notoriously vertiginous prices. Overseen by Gallic über-chef Pierre Gagnaire – Daniel Stucki provides a “divine” selection of intriguing modern French dishes, be it from the £190 tasting menu or £210 three-course à la carte. If this venue continues on its current “outstanding” form, we will have to finally agree that it is “deserving of its three Michelin stars”.

A gorgeous, Grade II Palladian Mansion… glowing pink-hued walls, high ceilings, glam banquettes… incredible artworks from Yinka Shonibare… über-chef Pierre Gagnaire’s menu… what’s not to like about this famous Mayfair venue? The fact that it’s seen as being mightily “overpriced” with forgettable food is the chief fault, which means that few other than fashionistas and first-timers are prepared to make the investment… even to go to the bog in a WC shaped like an egg!