Top five French bistros

A little pastry, French style

11 September 2012

When you want to add a little je ne sais quoi to your supper, there's nothing like they sumptuous dining in sophisticated surroundings that come hand-in-hand when you visit a French bistro. Fay Maschler finds five of the best...

Le Petit Max
Riverside Plaza, Chatfield Road SW11 (020-7223 0999). Mon-Sun (Sun lunch only) £65 **

The name Max has become synonymous with French bistro cooking in the capital. Chez Max in two locations - Monsieur Max and a previous Petit Max in Hampton Wick - have all been associated at some point with Max Renzland.

With his late twin brother, Marc, he has done sterling work in fleshing out the fantasies many of us have about the food found in simple bistros in France. His latest enterprise - Bienvenue à Battersea says the menu continues the mission.

A plat du jour for £5 at lunchtimes and the menu du jour, served at both lunch and dinner, at £12.50/£16.50 for two/three courses, delivers terrific value and also dishes such as a classic onion soup, braised leg of rabbit and wickedly dark pot au chocolat. Coq au vin a l'ancienne is a revelation if you have only ever had a modern puny version.

South
128 Curtain Road EC2 (020-7729 4452). Mon-Sat £80

Neither the name nor the Shoreditch location prepare you for just how French, specifically southern French, is this attractive, unassuming restaurant.

The 'Winter Warmer' promotion of two-course lunch for £5 has just finished, but the prix fixe of £12.95 for three courses at lunchtime is still extremely good value.

Menus are written daily, but I can describe a meal I ate not long ago which gives the flavour. Boudin noir with apple to start, was followed by confit de canard jus de betteraves served with delicious mashed potatoes, then came cheese and home-made chocolate ice-cream.

Other typical dishes include that quintessentially French hors d'oeuvres of grated carrot, grated beetroot and celeriac remoulade and marinated mushrooms; gratinée Lyonnaise; beef salad with gherkins and capers; roast chicken with salad; mousse au chocolat and fruit tarts made in-house which are displayed on the counter of the big open kitchen.

La Trouvaille
12A Newburgh Street W1 (020-7287 8488). Mon-Sat £84

Two chaps who worked at La Poule au Pot, the romantic French bistro that has probably populated most of Pimlico, have introduced a more playful style at this little 'find' improbably close to Carnaby Street.

Their enthusiasm and joie de vivre is almost parodic, but it is infectious and the cooking inventive and accomplished. When I visited, the menu credited various suppliers and promised that every effort is made to use organic produce such as mature Herdwick wether, a male sheep with enough confidence and experience to taste like mutton.

This might be served with a lavender sauce - not so fanciful when you consider on what a sheep may graze. Unusual ingredients such as fiddlehead ferns and lambs' testicles in a shellfish sauce showed that bistro stalwarts such as boeuf Bourguignon and pot au feu are not the style here, but the lunchtime set-price menu had simple offerings.

Mon Plaisir
21 Monmouth Street WC2 (020-7836 7243). Mon-Sat (Sat dinner only) £86

In the ownership of only two families over a 60-year period, this Covent Garden fixture was providing quick trips to France long before Eurostar pulled out of Waterloo.

The premises have multiplied from one room to four different dining areas without losing the Gallic essence distilled from garlic, Pernod and Edith Piaf.

Chefs get bored with cooking steak-frites and so devise more complex dishes, but I still consider the most satisfactory meal here to be soup or salade de tomates, followed by entrecote steak with pommes allumettes and Béarnaise, then a selection of French cheeses (here kept in good condition) and maybe crème brulée.

Service is sometimes described as sniffy but staff respond favourably to people enjoying themselves. Alain Lhermitte, who has the grace to look the part of bistro proprietor, and/or his son Philippe are usually on hand to supervise.

Chez Lindsay
11 Hill Rise, Richmond, Surrey (020-8948 7473). Mon-Sun £60

The pedant might observe that this is more creperie than bistro, but there are other dishes offered, mostly fish-based, beside the list of buckwheat galettes and sweet whiteflour crepes, and both the cooking and the willing service come with a convincing French accent.

Clams or mussels with plenty of garlic make the ideal first course. To follow, there all kinds of fillings for the galettes, but a lifetime of experimentation has convinced me that it is hard to beat ham, cheese and egg, the yolk still runny enough to make a sort of sauce. But you may prefer cheese, celery and walnuts or scallops and leeks. If a low-carb diet forbids pancakes, there is grilled fish or steak. The French wine list looks to the Loire, but the classic accompaniment to crepes is Breton cider served in clay cups. Luckily, Calvados is traditional, too.

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