{"id":724120,"date":"2026-08-02T08:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T08:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/724120\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T08:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T08:34:11","slug":"chez-rose-london-w1-one-of-the-dining-highlights-of-2026-restaurant-review-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/724120\/","title":{"rendered":"Chez Rose, London W1: \u2018One of the dining highlights of 2026\u2019 \u2013 restaurant review | Food"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chez Rose has just appeared on Pollen Street, Mayfair, but to the casual passerby, it looks as if it could have been established in 1974. This is, of course, poudre aux yeux; until recently, this was Jason Atherton\u2019s Little Social. Yet, with some strategically placed tables en terrasse, vintage mirrors, thoughtfully scattered doilies and, later, bread baskets, and what you have is France in the eye of the British beholder. Not the full \u2019Allo \u2019Allo-ification, but that elegant, sexy pastiche of everyday French dining that adult Brits gobble up like school kids devouring Milka chocolate. Crepes Suzette, poulet r\u00f4ti with vin jaune and morels, dover sole meuniere with Menton lemon\u2026 Ooh l\u00e0 l\u00e0. If you can\u2019t get into Bouchon Racine<\/a> in Farringdon, go here instead.<\/p>\n

Chez Rose is by Spencer Metzger, whose CV is an embarrassment of edible riches: The Ritz and Row on 5<\/a> were his culinary sandpit, until Chez Rose allowed him to model a whole place in tribute to his late grandmother, Rosemary. There are framed photos of the Metzger family around the room, and some items from her house, if diners would stop stealing them. Rosemary wasn\u2019t French, and neither is Metzger, but within one mouthful of the first snack of red prawn and tomato on a crisp crostini, zinging with a mouthy lemon, which arrived on a pretty doily, it feels churlish to quibble. In fact, if Metzger\u2019s non-Frenchness upsets you, it just leaves more 70% chocolate souffle with vanilla ice-cream for the rest of us.<\/p>\n

The \u2018utterly marvellous\u2019 courgette flower with ricotta and sauce vierge, Chez Rose, London W1. <\/p>\n

The day-to-day cooking is in the hands of head chef Mark Catchpole<\/a>, whose CV takes in Roganic, Attica and The Fat Duck. The menu is a single sheet with a pretty logo, then a list of temptations: wild mushroom persillade<\/a> with preserved truffle; Orkney scallop with Caf\u00e9 de Paris butter; Cornish cod with mussel sauce and samphire; Aylesbury duck breast with black figs; and a T-bone steak for two at \u00a3145.<\/p>\n

Of a Friday lunchtime, and just weeks after opening, Chez Rose is lively. We arrive at midday and begin with a round of snacks: Cantabrian anchovies on a bed of young curd. There are anchovies, and then there are these Cantabrian anchovies: fat, glossy, smooth, salty; totally addictive. The Brits have been scared off anchovies by whiskery, bitter, tinned monstrosities<\/a> hurled over bad salade ni\u00e7oise. Fishy purgatory. Served like this at Chez Rose, though, they feel as sweet and naughty as chocolate profiteroles.<\/p>\n

The longsuffering Charles pops a plate of Vesuvius tomatoes on the order, recklessly suggesting we need vitamin C. It\u2019s a good move. This is a plate of the sweetest, ripest tomatoes we\u2019ve tasted this summer \u2013 vivid red, yellow, purple-black \u2013 then chunks of ripe, sweet peach over a cool layer of stracciatella<\/a>. Like all good French cooking, it is ruthless simplicity that blows your mind and has you pointing at the plate saying: \u201cAren\u2019t tomatoes amazing?\u201d, as if they\u2019re a brand new invention.<\/p>\n

Next up, a stuffed courgette flower; a dish almost every eatery in the south of France serves all summer long, with varying success. Suspend your tiny violins; I\u2019ve eaten so many poor versions. Here at Chez Rose, it\u2019s a whole new dish entirely, and utterly marvellous. How is this courgette flower so crisp and delicious, I marvel, prodding at the rich ricotta innards, and licking up puddles of sauce vierge<\/a>. \u201cA courgette flower is always delicious,\u201d argues Charles, who, being French, is wounded I\u2019d say otherwise. He forgets the various backstreet cafes from Nice to Juan-les-Pins where I\u2019ve eaten the equivalent of old daffodil heads in Castrol GTX.<\/p>\n

The \u2018unmissable\u2019 70% chocolate souffle vanilla ice-cream, at Chez Rose, London W1.<\/p>\n

Glasses of Domaine de la B\u00e9gude Bandol ros\u00e9 2024 arrive in those tiny, cute single-glass jugs. The wine list is weighty, and the sommelier brimming with facts on each listing. Chez Rose offers a sort of hospitality that feels centuries old, but when done well, will never be old hat.<\/p>\n

An entire john dory arrives on the bone, alongside a serving of pommes puree. The potato is, I will attest, half butter, half spud. No longer seriously categorised as a vegetable, it\u2019s more like love\/future coronary problems in a bowl. But with the future of Planet Earth being uncertain, I devour it in its entirety. There are simple podded peas with yet more butter, and one of those zingily dressed mounds of fresh lettuce that, I\u2019ll admit, only French cuisine truly nails.<\/p>\n

The dessert menu offers mousse au chocolat with olive oil and creme caramel, but the 70% chocolate souffle felt unmissable. You have to pre-order it, and it arrives as a showstopper: bold as brass, high and glossy. The souffle is one of the dining highlights of 2026. Ask the kitchen to bake an engagement ring into one \u2013 there\u2019s no way any sane person could refuse you after that. Allez, allez, allez.<\/p>\n

Chez Rose<\/a> <\/a>5 Pollen St, London. W1S 1NE, 020 7870 3730, chezroselondon.com.<\/a> Open all week, lunch: noon\u20132.30pm (3.30pm Sun), dinner: 5.30pm (6.30pm Sun)\u20139.15pm (last seating). About \u00a390 a head a la carte (Sunday lunch \u00a349 for two courses, \u00a359 for three), all plus drinks and service.<\/p>\n