Chef Anthony Demetre is opening a new bistro in the former bar of his Pall Mall restaurant Wild Honey, in the heart of London’s West End.

Billed as the main restaurant’s ‘little sister’, Bistrot at Wild Honey is inspired by the Parisian bistronomy movement, which promises a cheaper and more casual alternative to fine dining. Customers are encouraged to drop in for a drink and a snack, and a key offer at Bistrot is the ‘cinq à sept’ happy hour of a glass of wine with a choice of cheese or ham croquette for £9, from 5–7pm.

Bistrot will open from midday to 10.30pm daily (9.30pm on Sundays), with a menu of snacks and sharing plates that include English and French cheeses, artisanal charcuterie and Maldon rock oysters, and wines available by the glass.

For more substantial meals, starters range from traditional fish soup to crispy Tamworth pig’s head with mashed potato, or terrine of chicken, pork and duck en croute. Main dishes include a plat du jour; steak frites with peppercorn sauce; Cornish skate in brown butter; ricotta dumplings ‘gnudi’; whole young chicken in honey and preserved lemon; and a whole shoulder of lamb from Elwy Valley in Denbighshire, feeding up to six people for £80.

Bistrot at Wild Honey officially launches tomorrow in the Sofitel St James hotel, opposite the Institute of Directors and within a 10-minute walk of a dozen West End theatres.