Cribbs Causeway, French Restaurant Guide

Set up in 2019 by Freddy Bird & wife Nessa (the latter in charge of FOH, and also the mastermind behind the restaurant’s crockery and ceramics), this Westbury Park icon continues to turn out “classic French bistro food with authentic Gallic ingredients” that “evokes happy memories” of dining across the Channel. Given Freddy’s starry TV stints alongside Roux Jr and co., and its own local reputation (it’s “hard to get a resa”), it did strike the odd cynic this year as “disappointing because of all the gushing praise” (not helped, by the fact it’s also “expensive”). Reports were, however, très bien in the main.