Hyde Park Corner, French Restaurant Guide

“Exceptional… Just far far too expensive!!” – that’s often the verdict this year on Gordon Ramsay’s luxurious Belgravia destination, which was famous when he founded it in 1999, and which has gradually sunk into honourable semi-oblivion over the years. Wallet-punishing expense notwithstanding, its performance has been very consistent since the arrival of its most recent chef in 2022: Parisian-born Orson Vergnaud, whose modern French cuisine reflects his Toulouse upbringing. A key feature here has, as the name hints, always been its Bordeaux- heavy wine list, advertised by a circular wine cage which helps break up the bland sumptuousness of the room.

A Japanese accent to the pastries adds exoticism (and expense?) to a trip to this swish perch, in the beating bougie heart of Belgravia. It originally opened in the foyer of the stunning-looking Pantechnicon building next door, which – in summer 2024 – rebranded as ‘19 Motcomb Street’ – leading (we understand from the press) to a relocation of the café to the ‘Halkin Arcade’.

Pitched as the pinnacle of French gastronomy in the capital, this outpost beside Hyde Park from the fêted chef (nowadays a citizen of Monaco) is too often described by our reporters as “highly overrated” (perhaps “the celeb chef should visit more often”) and (with prices that start at £215 for three courses) “not worth the money” – notwithstanding the three stars awarded by the tyre men soon after it opened 19 years ago. Nor is it helped by the “dull room which kills the ambience and lets the food down”. One of M. Ducasse’s 34 restaurants around the world, its kitchen has been run by Nice-born Jean-Philippe Blondet for a decade now and it would be doing him an injustice not to acknowledge that it does have some fans, who say “forget the money” and acclaim its “sumptuously plated” cuisine and “very professional” standards. Tellingly, though, not a single reporter this year in our annual diners’ poll nominated the restaurant as their best of the year.

2022 Review: Following closure of L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon and the death of the man himself, this Picadilly café is now one of two London ventures opened in late 2019 by the group he founded. It’s all very chic and continental, but you don’t come here for culinary adventure – but to buy or snack on everyday staples (lots of tempting patisserie and viennoiserie, lasagna, club sandwich, Caesar salad…).

By the standards of openings in posh London hotels by Gallic über-chefs – Yannick Alleno holds 17 Michelin stars across his global stable of 19 restaurants – this two-year-old operation on the ground floor of a swish Park Lane five-star is a fine effort, and highly rated by diners in our annual poll. The cuisine is luxurious and “very accomplished” but in a deceptively homespun style: dishes such as a millefeuille using wagyu beef (it should be good, it’s £179); ‘Badaboum’ egg with caviar; or Dover Sole filetted at table; plus a selection of elevated pasta dishes. Despite its high-end options, overall pricing is relatively approachable too, starting at dinner with four courses for £85 per person. Top Tip – “Brunch of dreams – a totally luxurious and decadent breakfast spot”.

New occupant of the Belgravia space that was long famous as Marcus Wareing’s former flagship: this January 2025 newcomer is a London outpost for Cannes-based restaurateurs, twins Ugo & Antoine Lecorche, and aims to channel ‘the golden age of the French Riviera’. It inspired no feedback, though, in our annual diners’ poll, and in his May 2025 review, the FT’s Jay Rayner denounced it as being “about as French as Dubai” with some cooking a “feeble mess” and dubbed the interior design that of an “apocalypse tech-bro bunker”.

Open from September 2024 in Belgravia’s Pantechnicon building, a new Provençal destination with terrace, taking over the ground floor from Japanese restaurant Sachi, which moved upstairs. The space is very pretty and elegant nowadays, and early reports are positive on the Modern French cooking too, although it’s perhaps a better bet in the day – with its ‘ladies who lunch’ selection of salads, luxurious sarnies, pastas and simple grills – than the more ‘full on’ evening selection, with few mains (aside from pastas) under £50.