French Kitchen

High Holborn isn’t a pretty thoroughfare, so the alluring French Kitchen stands out like a diamond in the rough. Previously called Villandry Kitchen, its new owners have changed the name but not the aesthetic – aspirational French farmhouse chic straight from the pages of an interiors magazine. Happily, the cooking (also unchanged) is just as attractive: an all-day snack of croque monsieur has a bubbling golden crust, while a moist, pink-tinged burger comes in a dainty brioche bun on a fine wooden board, with skinny fries in a miniature galvanised metal pail. Elsewhere, there are French pastries as well as a roll call of Gallic flag-wavers: French onion soup, moules marinière, charcuterie platters of Bayonne ham & homemade rillettes. ‘French food that’s not pretentious? We’ll have some more of that, please,’ declares one fan.