Caterham, French Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: The French cuisine may not be cutting-edge, but it is both consistent and highly accomplished at this ten-year-old restaurant with rooms in north Surrey. Chef owners Laurent Pacaud and Martin Bradley ran the business as a catering company for ten years before that.

2021 Review: This September 2019 yearling in the heart of the town (occupying a former NatWest bank, hence the name) is notable for its owner: Stuart Gillies is the former CEO of Gordon Ramsay's restaurant group, and has launched this venture with the help of wife Cecilia. Previously a chef, Gillies has devised a ‘European small plates’ menu for the two-floor wine bar.

2022 Review: ‘A taste of rural France on the Fulham Road’ is the promise at this ‘gourmet traiteur’ in Chelsea: an early 2020 newcomer where dishes (to go or for delivery within 4 miles) are designed for reheating at home and prepared by Chris Hill, who most recently worked as a senior sous chef at The Ritz. It’s owned by Dimitri and Mira Plaquet, of a high-quality Belgian food group called La Villa Lorraine. They must be doing something right, as in mid 2021 they launched a second store in Wimbledon.

“A great place to have in the neighbourhood” – this “lovely” Antipodean-run fixture is set – with its own sizable outside terrace – in a large and characterful Victorian laundry; and “sitting next to Brixton Market means it always has a lively vibe with some added street theatre”. “Lots of cocktails are enjoyed at the weekends here”, when it’s a favourite destination. But “it works for brunch, lunch or dinner” with an all-day menu incorporating a good selection of modern bistro dishes alongside more breakfast-ish staples.

With its charcuterie, gutsy small plates, cheese and wacky vintages, this venture from Les Caves de Pyrène (est 2011) helped inspire the current vogue for low intervention wine bars in the capital. Feedback is scarce nowadays, but still suggests it’s worth a try if you’re in the vicinity of Battersea Rise.

Food TV staple José Pizarro’s first outfit outside the capital – and first gastroboozer (with rooms) – is set in “a not-completely-obvious location” in the Surrey ‘burbs. Reviews were slightly muted this year: while most praised the “great modern Spanish food” (including “fabulous tapas”), others noted a lack of atmosphere (“wouldn’t be hard to make it feel a bit more intimate”).

This “exceptional local wine room”, one of the prime movers and shakers in the Peckham foodie scene, presents an “interesting list of wines” in a “fun and unpretentious atmosphere”. There’s also a short but well-received menu of modern European nibbles and larger plates. A long-heralded spin-off called ‘Little Cellars’ was due to open in Camberwell in 2023.

This popular small bistro group is “so very French”, especially when eating at the original “buzzy” Battersea branch, which opened in 2007 “at an attractive location near the river”. The other branches – in Putney, Wandsworth Common and the City (plus one inside the Institut Français in South Kensington) – are also applauded as “good value” options, but results can also seem a little “unadventurous”.

This popular small bistro group is “so very French”, especially when eating at the original “buzzy” Battersea branch, which opened in 2007 “at an attractive location near the river”. The other branches – in Putney, Wandsworth Common and the City (plus one inside the Institut Français in South Kensington) – are also applauded as “good value” options, but results can also seem a little “unadventurous”.

2022 Review: This “good breakfast spot” in Walworth morphs into an evening hang-out with DJs, biodynamic and natural wines, cocktails and “top-class” chef residencies to keep the crowd fed and entertained.

“Just the job for a simple, casual supper” – this bistro in an “unlikely spot” just south of Battersea Bridge is inspired by the cuisine of Evian in the French Alps, hometown of patron Franck Raymond, who is “completely invested in making sure you have a great experience”.

Given its attractive setting on Downside Common, this “lovely country pub” (part of Raymond Blanc’s White Brasserie chain) in the heart of plush stockbroker belt would likely be a local destination come what may. But it also goes the extra mile and – though it’s not particularly ‘gastro’ – wins consistently high acclaim for its “cheerful welcoming staff” and high quality of cooking. “It was done up over the winter; and although there is no longer a set menu, the prices are reasonable in the current climate”. Top Menu Tip – “well-prepared steak and very good tartiflette starter”.

This wood-panelled French brasserie with an “excellent fixed-price menu” of Gallic classics is particularly “useful in the location” – close to the Imperial War Museum in Kennington – and provides its own entertainment in the form of its upstairs jazz club.

The Hell’s Kitchen chef’s original Chelsea HQ is increasingly “trading on its reputation”, attracting more criticism than it does praise nowadays. Even fans sometimes acknowledge this “rather beige” room has a “stilted” ambience, and opinions on the service vary widely: from “impeccable” to “overwhelming” or even “robotic”. When it comes to the fairly classical cuisine, there’s also a pick ’n’ mix of views: from “unbeatable” to “overly fussy” or “safe”. What both sides do often agree on is that the experience comes “at the most ridiculous second mortgage prices”, with almost two in five of diners’ voting it their most overpriced meal of the year. A fair middle view is that: “as you should expect from a three Michelin star restaurant, the food is lovely; but it’s a struggle to work out in what way it is better than many other two-star or even one-star restaurants. It’s good, but not that good”.

In Old Church Street, Chelsea, the first pub from the three Gladwin brothers, the latest addition to their ‘Local & Wild’ stable of restaurants supplied by the family farm in West Sussex (which includes Rabbit just up the King’s Road). The grand late-Victorian tavern on a corner site was lavishly renovated as recently as 2021.

2022 Review: ‘A taste of rural France on the Fulham Road’ is the promise at this ‘gourmet traiteur’ in Chelsea: an early 2020 newcomer where dishes (to go or for delivery within 4 miles) are designed for reheating at home and prepared by Chris Hill, who most recently worked as a senior sous chef at The Ritz. It’s owned by Dimitri and Mira Plaquet, of a high-quality Belgian food group called La Villa Lorraine. They must be doing something right, as in mid 2021 they launched a second store in Wimbledon.

“Always a good place to meet people” – this Wolseley Group operation on a corner of Sloane Square feels like “a slice of Paris in London” and its supremely “convenient location” means it “can get very busy”. Somehow standards have never quite gelled here as well as at the group’s better-known sites: the “predictable, ersatz French brasserie fare” is merely “fine”; the service can be “quite patchy”; and the “buzzy atmosphere” can tip into bland anonymity. Harsh criticisms were absent this year, though, and seemingly there’s “been no perceptible drop in quality since C&K’s departure”.

“My refuge when feeling homesick for France” – Didier Garnier’s “long standing favourite” in a quiet Chelsea backstreet is “a typical French restaurant of the kind that you might find in the Dordogne”. “It can get very crowded and there’s not much privacy between the tables. But it has a very loyal following” particularly amongst a well-heeled, silver-haired crowd, for whom it’s a “go-to” destination thanks to its “traditional, buzzy atmosphere”, “dependable French-bistro cuisine” and a “wine list which has some great bargains” (“not your usual SW3 mark up – try the wines priced £30-£60, top value”). Didier himself presides over the “discreet and effortless service” and provides “excellent professional advice on the choice of vintage”. The odd naysayer finds it all “shockingly old-fashioned”… but folks have been saying that for years.