70Mogette Bistro

One 30-seat bistro + two chefs = authentic French bistro. Philippe Couerdassier from Alsace and Daniel Muia (who cooked at The Fifth under then-chef Didier Leroy, at Celestin and for Jamie Kennedy) are the chefs and a mogette is a small white bean. Cooking them till they’re just soft enough, with a complex tomato-based sauce, and adding grilled lamb medallions is a marriage made in gastro-heaven. Their French onion soup is rich and strong. They gentle beef cheeks by braising them in Belgian ale with caramelized onions, smoked bacon and mushrooms, and present it — how French — in puff pastry. Rainbow trout, so often overcooked, is perfectly judged and in a happy marriage with gaufrette potatoes (crunchy deep-fried waffle-cut slices), good strong ratatouille, and black olive ravigote.