A new restaurant in Fitzrovia turns the focus on the cooking of Occitania, with dishes inspired by France’s Mediterranean coast, from the bouillabaisse of Marseilles and the rice of the Carmargue to Pâtes au Pistou from Nice. Maset, on Chiltern Street – which takes its name from vineyard houses in the region – is from Melody […]
The opening of two new neighbourhood French bistros in quick succession confirms the enduring popularity of classic Gallic cuisine in the British capital. Earlier this month, La Bouffe (pictured) launched in Wandsworth Bridge Road, Fulham, from husband-and-wife team Lawrence and Emily Hartley, who own the Provence-inspired Le Petit Citron in Brook Green. They say the […]
A smart French bistro promising a chic and slightly nostalgic taste of Paris opens in Notting Hill next week. Chez Lui, in Kensington Park Road, is the first offering from La Bistrot Collection, a new group from the duo behind the global restaurant brand Bagatelle. In its Instagram previews, Chez Lui is pitched as a […]
Claude and Lucy Bosi are launching a second branch of their hit French restaurant Josephine next week – this time it’s in Marylebone, and takes its cues from Paris instead of Lyons. Set in the former Daylesford Organic site on Blandford Street, the new venue is inspired by the 19th-century brasseries of the French capital, […]
Harry’s, a new restaurant combining fresh local ingredients with “timeless” French cuisine, launches next week at the Gallivant boutique hotel behind Camber Sands, near Rye in East Sussex. Two Harrys are behind the project – hotelier Harry Cragoe and chef Matthew Harris, who spent 28 years at Bibendum in Chelsea and is the brother of Bouchon […]
A new restaurant channeling a retro take on the French Riviera will land at The Berkeley hotel in Knightsbridge this month. La Môme, a spinoff from an original in Cannes (pictured), has taken over the premises occupied for 15 years by chef Marcus Wareing’s high-profile flagship. Twin restaurateurs Ugo and Antoine Lecorche launched the original […]
Chef Isaac McHale (left in photo), co-founder of Shoreditch gastronomic powerhouse the Clove Clove, is to open a more informal offshoot just around the corner called Bar Valette, serving simple dishes inspired by French and Spanish coastal cuisine. Scheduled to open next month in the former premises of Two Lights (also backed by the team […]
A new French deli, bakery and ‘canteen’, Café François, is to open next week in Borough Yards, taking over the two-storey former Paul Smith shop on the edge of Borough Market. It is a spinoff from Maison François in St James’s, founded four years ago by François O’Neill and already established as a West End […]
Chef Simon Bonwick has announced his latest move – a residency at The Oarsman bistro/pub in Marlow, where he will be cooking solo for up to 12 guests seated at a communal table in an upstairs private dining room. Bookings are available on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7.30pm from September 5, plus lunch on […]
A modern French bistro with a focus on affordability opens in the leafy southwest London borough of Richmond this month. Chef John McClements, who ran the local Ma Cuisine group for three decades, has come out of retirement to launch the project. Mignonette is just five minutes’ walk from Richmond station on the Kew Road, […]
