Bibendum Restaurant

As the newly installed resident of South Kensington’s iconic Michelin building, celebrated French chef Claude Bosi launches Claude Bosi at Bibendum with a ground-floor seafood and oyster bar and first-floor restaurant which is ‘unashamedly fine dining’, with the chef's signature contemporary and light-hearted flair.

Claude Bosi at Bibendum

http://www.bibendum.co.uk

Claude Bosi at Bibendum

review of French restaurant Bibendum in London by Andy Hayler in ...

The décor re-emphasises the Michelin connection, with some cabinets of old Michelin France red guides, a Bibendum (Michelin Man) butter dish and salt and pepper set, and with the Bibendum icon even printed on the dessert napkins.

The lengthy wine list featured labels such as Clements-Terms Les Petit Clement 2015 at £27 for a bottle that you can find in the high street for £8, Les Enfants Sauvage Cool Moon 2013 at £65 compared to its retail price of £18, and Ramey Wine Cellars 2012 Chardonnay at £99 for a wine that will set you back £33 in the shops.

An amuse-bouche was foie gras ice cream with mango puree and coca nibs served in a little cornet, the combination of flavours working well and the cornet delicate (16/20).

I was less convinced by this, the pea puree having some whole peas inside and having reasonable flavour, but I not sure whether coconut is a great pairing for peas, even with the gentle hint of curry powder (14/20).

The dessert menu was challenging in places: “asparagus, white chocolate, black olive, coconut” was one example of how the savoury part of modern menus has launched a takeover bid for the dessert menu in all too many restaurants.

Claude Bosi at Bibendum: restaurant review | Jay Rayner | Life and ...

Yes it’s expensive and the wine list is far too long, but the reborn Bibendum is everything a great place should be 81 Fulham Road, Chelsea, London SW3 6RD (020 7581 5817).

On a clear spring day, the vaulting first floor space with its stained-glass window of the Michelin Man in shades of sapphire feels like a room where only good things happen.

Grand restaurants are an encouragement to the grandiose, so let’s try some of that: without Bibendum, many of London’s great restaurants simply wouldn’t exist.

Without Bibendum, there would have been no Wolseley, no Quaglino’s, no Chez Bruce – or countless other London dining rooms.

■ Neil Rankin is to open a second branch of his open-fire meat restaurant, Temper, this time in London’s Angel.