London’s best French restaurants

Bouchon Racine comes with history, baggage and devoted fans, especially of chef Henry Harris. The menu is unashamedly French, with humble roots and an emphasis on hearty food. A ‘bouchon’ is a type of restaurant found in Lyon that historically catered to workers, and remains focused on the idea of relaxed conviviality, which captures Bouchon Racine perfectly. Bouchon Racine’s offerings are written on a blackboard and change often. But there are a number of staples, such as jambon de noir de bigorre, a cured meat from a heritage breed of black pigs near the Pyrénés.

A teasing shot of warm, villagey France in Bermondsey, this infectiously cosy eatery works to a daily blackboard menu of boldly chosen, smartly executed bourgeois classics scrawled up in the native tongue. There are just three choices per course, but prices are sensible and flavours are true (rillettes de saumon followed by herbed lamb, say). You can even come here for plates of cheese and charcuterie. Either way, you’ll leave feeling oh-so-satisfied.

Josephine is a bistro so pitch perfect and so on brand that it could be a movie set – preferably one with Catherine Deneuve flitting about while sweetly sloshing vino. With the storied chef Claude Bosi in charge, here the French flavours are as full-bodied as a ruddy-faced Serge Gainsbourg after a Syrah binge. It self-identifies as a ‘bouchon’ – the name given to French restaurants that serve hearty Lyonnaise cuisine – and dishes span onglet à l’échalote, frogs' legs in garlic butter, cheese soufflé, and an entire section of the menu dedicated to potatoes. Very, very good.  

A loving tribute to la vielle France near Russell Square, Otto Tepasse’s restaurant dishes up fancy food against a charmingly affectionate backdrop of statuettes, vintage lights and velvet banquettes. Pride of place goes to the canard à la presse – a nineteenth-century speciality that involves extracting the juices from the carcass with a special silver press. Alternatively, step back in time for roasted French boudin, frogs legs with snails, or lobster soufflé.    

Located above the French House pub (a die-hard boho Soho watering hole with its own house rules), this teeny dining room is now home to chef Neil Borthwick, who runs the show with considerable brio. Forget artsy flourishes: this is seasonal, gutsy, stripped-back food with proper Gallic overtones – plus brilliant cheeses and desserts.    

Big-ticket dining just off Piccadilly Circus, this homage to the grand Parisian brasserie is a huge art deco set-up that attracts all-comers out for a good time. Affordable French staples are the big draw and the set menu is always a winner: think steak haché with frites. Otherwise, dip into the a la carte for steak tartare, meaty platters of choucroute, tarte au citron, plus a surprisingly wide choice of veggie options. There's live jazz too, and the excellent Bar Américain in this subterranean wonderland. 

Born in Paris back in 1959, this mini chain of no-bookings, no-choice steakhouses knows how to pack ’em in. As always, dinner comprises a dressed green salad with walnut and mustard vinaigrette followed by the signature steak dished up in two whopper servings with divine fries and a secret sauce. Also save room for one of the standout desserts, especially the mindblowing praline ice cream. Cheap house wine is a bonus. 

Given its Mayfair location, it's no surprise that LPM is on the more spenny side of things. But this glorious, twinkling dining room, with its Riviera-worthy cream pillars and gleaming marble, is home to some seriously flawless French-Mediterranean cooking. Snails with garlic butter and parsley are so good they could convince the mollusk-averse to get stuck in, while yellowtail carpaccio with guacamole and citrus dressing might not be terribly trad, but it is sensational. Old school dishes like canard a l'orange are exquisitely cooked and the dauphinois is one of the best in town. 

Henri is a Parisian-style bistro attached to Covent Garden’s Henrietta Hotel. It’s helmed by Jackson Boxer, a darling of the St John school of simplicity and chef behind Vauxhall’s much-loved and much-celebrated Brunswick House. But this isn't trad French cookery, but rather a place reels you in with cocktails named after Gallic culinary legends, then tickles you with something genuinely fun and different like fried pied de cochon (pig’s trotter) served with bier mustard; sour cream filled seaweed canelés topped with trout roe; or bavette steak numbing red szechuan peppercorns.

Brassy, energetic and classily cosmopolitan, this NYC import mixes Gallic joie de vivre with snappy US customer service in a glammed-up Covent Garden setting of red leather banquettes, antique mirrored walls and mosaic floors. Manhattan meets Montmartre on an all-day menu that’s just the ticket for a special night out – we love the onion soup, steak tartare and moules et frites. 

Soif is très jolie – the kind of neighbourhood bistro you’d expect in rural France rather than Battersea Rise. There’s also a subtle whiff of mid-century Parisian cool about the place, while the food is a mix of pure-bred charcuterie, deftly cooked Gallic staples (excellent steak frites) and keenly priced rotisserie chicken and chips on Mondays. Soif’s trump card, however, is its huge list of organic and terroir-led natural wines served in delicate glassware.  

Tom Sellers charcoal-hued, marble-clad venue just off Seven Dials is inspired by the rotisseries and brasseries of Paris. Here you’ll find classics like spit-roasted whole chicken, steak with Bernaise sauce, buttered greens, slabs of seasonal terrine and brown sugar bruleé. Sit at the counter to feel the flush of the wood-fired grills and hear the sizzle of chicken skin crisping, as birds rotate on thick metal skewers.

This Michelin-star Fitzrovia spot has big French bistro energy, but with food that leans more towards the Med than the Seine. Plates here are small but go big on flavour. Think; sweet snacks of mussels on toast with salmon roe, crispy confit spuds, salted beef cheek and tongue. Head chef is Jun Tanaka – who started out at the legendary Le Gavroche – so his French cookery chops are parfait.

Bruce Poole’s tastefully stylish gaff may have a Michelin gong to its name, but it’s still Wandsworth’s favourite neighbourhood restaurant – a place where you can enjoy polished French-inspired food without the fawning service or killer prices of some other lauded establishments. Expect big-boned seasonal flavours along the lines of deep-fried calf’s brains with sauce gribiche, morteau sausage and celeriac, backed by a wonderfully whiffy cheeseboard and a stonking 600-bin wine list.

Yannick Alléno is the second most-awarded Michelin star chef that’s ever donned whites, but despite global renown and decades in the business, Pavyllon is his first ever London restaurant. Unsurprisingly, considering the location and name above the door, his French classics made with the best British ingredients are eye-wateringly expensive. But if you have the cash to splash, then the likes of steamed cheddar soufflé with watercress coulis and bacon butter or king crab in farmhouse cream infused with blackcurrant sage in a kombu broth are unlike anything you've ever tasted before.

Alongside the sturdy likes of the Quo Vadis and L’Escargot, Kettner’s is one of Soho’s grande dames of gastronomy. Dating back to 1867, this French restaurant was opened by the personal chef to Napoleon III (the one who rebuilt all of Paris). After a brief stint as a Pizza Express, it is once again a bistro, serving the creamiest of cheese soufflés, magenta steak tartare with a side of toasted brioche and steak frites with a punchy béarnaise glowing with tarragon.

Mon Plaisir is Covent Garden's ultimate French veteran – as Gallic as Gauloises, Jacques Tati and Edif Piaf. Thespians and theatregoers now crowd the place eager for a taste of its nostalgic food – garlicky cassolette d’escargots, tartiflette, beef tartare, and mousse au chocolat. For a charming, old-school fill-up, it’s a pleasure indeed.

A bona fide London institution with a new fine-dining powerhouse at the helm, Bibendum remains London’s nattiest and most heart-warmingly pleasurable dining room – although two-Michelin-starred über-chef Claude Bosi (of Hibiscus fame) is putting his own dazzlingly creative French stamp on proceedings. Prices are unnervingly high, but dishes such as venison with pickled walnut and hazelnut are overwhelmingly excellent – so go on, blow the budget.

Lyon-born Margaux oversees the natural and organic tipples at this loveable Brixton wine bar, while husband Joe serves up a brief blackboard menu of pure-bred French dishes and eclectic small plates. Expect boudin noir with cured egg yolk, tarragon and crackling, john dory with courgettes and sauce vierge and BBQ pork belly with Korean spices.

From the folks behind Casse-Croûte, this quirky restaurant in a mock-Tudor pavilion on the edge of Tanner Street Park is affably French right down to its blackboard Gallic menu and suave staff. Flavours are gutsy, rustic and traditional to the core. Old-school, yes, but immensely comforting.

Brother Jeff’s special portion of the Galvin siblings’ empire, La Chapelle is an awe-inspiring architectural behemoth with ecclesiastical overtones and a menu of impressively rendered modern French cuisine. Think hay-smoked grouse with mirabelle plum and dark chocolate, or Cumbrian beef with cep and oyster emulsion. If money’s no object, splash out on a bottle of Hermitage La Chapelle. Service is as smooth as the silkiest béarnaise sauce.

Famously the first restaurant in London to serve snails (the original owner used to farm them in the basement of this Georgian townhouse), L’Escargot has been a fixture of old Soho since 1927. A favourite of celebs from Coco Chanel to Mick Jagger, it serves up provincial French cuisine of the old school – not just the titular escargots, but also braised lamb, steak with bearnaise sauce, and tarte au citron.

An ultra-formal, womb-like room enveloped in shades of pearlescent pink and dusky grey, this Belgravia outpost of Gordon Ramsay’s empire is famed for its circular wine store holding vintages of titular Château Pétrus. The food is modern French in style, with luxury ingredients littered across the menu – think confit turbot with smoked Linzer potatoes and buttermilk. Yes, it’s wickedly expensive, but you won’t need to sell a kidney if you come for the set lunch.  

The interior of this solid French bistro is like a French farmhouse by way of a Victorian workhouse: the bare wooden beams and metal pillars are pepped up by nineteenth-century French wine posters and big stoneware flagons saying ‘beaujolais’ or ‘vin blanc’. Expect hearty bourgeois food: soupe de poisson topped with goopy spoonfuls of cheese and garlicky rouille, coq au vin, steak frites, rabbit with mustard sauce – all served by super-attentive staff.

Occupying an old banking chamber deep in upper-crust Marylebone, Les 110 is only slightly more approachable than its starry elder sibling in Paris – so sit up straight, polish your accent and be sure to use your cutlery in the right order. The food is lavish French fine dining at its best (seabass with caviar, celery and buerre blanc, for example), while 110 (yes!) wines by the glass cater to novices and connoisseurs alike.

Serene and elegant, with bucolic views through its arched windows, Orrery achieves the almost impossible – matching its demure grey-toned surroundings with fixed-price menus of exceptional beauty and flavour. Think cured beef with compressed apple and truffle dressing, or seabass fillet with courgette flower. The refined French-inspired food and gorgeous wines are equally seductive for business meets or romantic assignations.

Chiswick’s favourite ‘posh’ neighbourhood restaurant still oozes understated glamour with its starched white tablecloths, gleaming glassware and impeccably polished service. Locals with cash to splash come here for classy Michelin-starred cooking with strong Gallic overtones – how about rolled pork belly with apple and black pudding tarte tatin, followed by warm chocolate croustade? The whiffy cheeseboard and magnificent wine list are real tempters too.