Kensington, French Restaurant Guide

James Chiavarini, owner of long-established Italian Il Portico a few doors along, keeps relaunching this Kensington-fringe site: it was Pizzicotto, then Pino… now this Basque- inspired bistro, incorporating game and funghi cooked over a wood-fire grill. It’s up for debate as to whether this latest incarnation has cracked it: on the plus side, Charlotte Ivers in The Sunday Times found “a joyful mix” of food and wine; but on the minuses, initial feedback in our annual diners’ poll includes a couple of “poor all round” reports: “nothing to tempt us on the menu”.