FRENCH RESTAURANTS

Sure you could hop on the Eurostar in the morning and be in Paris eating a jambon beurre by lunchtime, but you don’t actually need to cross the Channel to get a real taste of France because London is full of great French restaurants. Bon appetit.

If you want the classics, the escargots, the sole meuniere, the tarte tatin, head to one of the city’s brasseries. There’s the self-described Soho institution L’Escargot, which has been serving up French brasserie style dishes since 1927, making it the oldest French restaurant in the capital. Casse-Croûte in Bermondsey has those classic bistro vibes down, including checked tablecloths and a menu du jour, in French, chalked up on a blackboard, with its little sister Pique-Nique also serving up rustic French fare.

Patron Cave a Manger, with sites in Kentish Town and Highbury, emphasizes French comfort food – think slow cooked duck confit, countryside terrine and Burgundy snails and oysters. And then there’s Brasserie Zedel; described by three Michelin starred Pierre Koffmann as “the only real French Brasserie in London,” Zédel takes you out of the London smog and into Parisian decadence whilst being very friendly on the wallet.

Of course French food can be extremely fancy so if you’re looking for haute cuisine (and don’t mind splashing the cash to get it), you’re well covered in London too with big name chefs doing fine dining. The two Michelin starred Le Gavroche, run by Michel Roux Jr, serves showstopping dishes like grilled & glazed langoustine with tomato tartare & consomme, and barbecued pigeon supreme with crispy leg, beetroot & fermented blackberry. Then there’s the two star La Dame de Pic, run by Anne-Sophie Pic, where classic French is mixed with more unusual ingredients and Japanese influences, and Claude Bosi, who took over Bibendum in 2017 and has since earned two stars for his smart French food, with dishes like Brittany rabbit with langoustine & tarragon and veal sweetbreads with cardamom & coffee.