A hot day and I’d been guiding hard all morning so it was more to slake the thirst than to scoff that I headed to Maison Francois with the old boy in tow. I’d often thought about going to MF but was slightly put off by its hedgy look. James assured me that though the clientèle could be a bit crappy (and admittedly I’m not uncrap myself on occasion) the offer was vaut le voyage from the Chequers opposite.

As ever with matters gastronomic, he was correct.

The room is big and airy with plenty of space between tables for if you want to conduct secret negotiations or assignations. Service was super-attentive, with a charming maitre d’ getting all the things right. we kicked off with a cocktail each (we were, after all, celebrating Pride day) and a Botivo Negroni went down very well while I took a look at the menu.

It’s a zinger, lots of interesting ingredients and frankly I could have eaten anything on there that was un-egged. But we had an evening booking in mind so went minimal on the food front. Cheesy gougeres were deliciously fluffy parcels of liquid cheese deliciousness, while the smoked eel was the best since a memorable evening at The Goring in the company of Alexandra. A smattering of veg around the place to show willing on the healthiness front and a petit chablis each made for very happy Levetts.

MF isn’t cheap but then again everything was faultless – and that’s worth paying for.

9/10

To see where else I’ve been click on the google map below.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=18qCyiPZih_gzhGG8mwfacnNRWD3b0bo&ehbc=2E312F

Food France London