{"id":951983,"date":"2026-05-11T05:49:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T05:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/951983\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T05:49:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T05:49:20","slug":"the-french-bistro-is-having-a-renaissance-in-london-and-we-are-thrilled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/951983\/","title":{"rendered":"The French bistro is having a renaissance in London, and we are thrilled"},"content":{"rendered":"

The arrival of Buvette, Jody Williams\u2019 Greenwich Village institution, this summer is further evidence of the Great French Takeover. Opening in Covent Garden, it brings a more relaxed, downtown-inflected version of French conviviality with reclaimed brick, timber floors and pressed tin ceilings. Of course there will be comforting stalwarts like Williams\u2019 legendary croque monsieur, but as she tells me over the phone from New York<\/a>, seasonality will be prioritised too. \u2018A lot of vegetables,\u2019 she says. \u2018Beetroot and carrot r\u00e9moulade, artichoke, ratatouille, and asparagus five different ways. I\u2019m not reinventing anything. I\u2019m just celebrating the seasonal produce: uncomplicated, but excellent.\u2019 She wants people to be able to pop by for a quick treat. \u2018There are going to be warm madeleines in the afternoon, so you could dash in and stand up and have a bite.\u2019<\/p>\n

Charles Perez of youthful Parisian restaurant group Nouvelle Garde, which is opening Olivia in Sloane Square this summer, believes London is ready for a younger, more energetic interpretation of the format. \u2018The same thing is happening in London as we saw in Paris a few years ago,\u2019 he says. \u2018We have these small, amazing French bistros, but when you think of Paris\u2019 big brasseries they tend to be old and not good value for money. I often go to Colbert, which is way better than the old brasseries we have in France<\/a>, but it\u2019s not young. We want to take old tradition and bring youth to it. French classics are for everyone.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

French fare at Chez Lui<\/p>\n

Lea Gil\"Image<\/p>\n

Lea Gil<\/p>\n

That phrase \u2013 French classics are for everyone \u2013 captures something important about the moment. This is not a retreat into nostalgia so much as a recalibration of style. At one end of the spectrum, restaurants offer elaborate tasting menus which are intellectually thrilling, perhaps, but they\u2019re also formal, expensive and time-consuming. French-style eating proposes something altogether more seductive: a croque monsieur at 11am, roast chicken salad at lunch, a shellfish plateau to share at dusk, a glass of Champagne at the bar, and the freedom to stay as long \u2013 or as briefly \u2013 as you like.<\/p>\n

In a city where dining out has become increasingly expensive and often over-explained, the French bistro concept also offers a form of democratised luxury: serious cooking, but without ceremony. Restaurants such as Bouchon Racine, Josephine and its newer Marylebone sibling, Camille and Brasserie Constance all embrace some version of this approach. These are menus that reassure rather than challenge, rooms that buzz with energy and chatter, and food that prioritises pleasure over novelty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The arrival of Buvette, Jody Williams\u2019 Greenwich Village institution, this summer is further evidence of the Great French…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":951984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7757],"tags":[265633,748,58720,393,4884,257,121732,265632,16,15],"class_list":["post-951983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-bars-restaurants","tag-britain","tag-eating-drinking","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-london","tag-london-restaurants","tag-restaurants-to-book","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116554378078686987","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=951983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/951984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=951983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=951983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=951983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}