Club Gascon holds rather a contrary juxtaposition, it’s elegant French façade only a couple of doors down from the “Butcher’s Hook and Cleaver” and the meat market at Smithfields. The restaurant is the Michelin starred party in the trio of establishments run and co-owned by the head chef at Club Gascon, Pascal Aussignac, with the cuisine focussing on the South Western region of France.

Club Gascon does have quite a formal feel, although this is the rather tedious norm than the exception for such high end restaurants. Just because Michelin starred restaurants are serious about their food surely shouldn’t mean the mood can’t be lightened and the atmosphere a bit less formal. I suspect this is a (one sided) discussion for another day, though.

The menu is set out rather unusually and the time Miss P and I were there, the food came under five headings – La Route du Sel (not quite sure about this translation, although there is some kind of medieval route in France, where people used to use horses to carry salt. How this applies to the food, I don’t know!), Foie Gras, L’Oceane, Le Potager (veg) and Les Paturages (from the pastures) . The idea, when we asked our Waiter how we were supposed to order, considering it’s not your standard starters & mains scenario, is that you order 5 or 6 dishes in total, tapas style, but served as separate courses. Now, in theory, I like the idea of having more dishes to try and taste, although the off-plan tapas style that Club Gascon promote was a little clunky in practice.

Both of us ordered Foie Gras dishes, fish dishes and meat dishes but despite this fairly straightforward order, it seemed to cause a little confusion. Miss P’s Grilled Foie Gras came at the same as my abalone and razor clam fricassee, with my foie gras coming at the same time as Miss P’s Sturgeon and then my veal arriving some time before the Milk Fed Lamb on the other side of the table. I’m all for trying new ways of eating or being served my food, but this seemed to take the worst of both worlds rather than the positive elements. Tapas is good for grazing several of dishes at the same time and having the dishes come to you as they’re cooked means a constant stream of dishes arriving throughout your meal. Traditional courses are good for a gradual progression of enticing your appetite with light starters before satisfying you with a more substantial main course, still leaving room for dessert, of course.

Saying all this, the saving grace was the food itself. The grilled foie gras had a crisp, caremelised outside with silky smooth inside and my abalone fricassee a subtle and delicate flavour. I have to admit I expected a little more than popcorn served with foie gras for the Foie Gras Popcorn, I had in my mind some kind of exciting coalescence rather than being served separately on a (albeit very stylish) slab of granite. Both the veal and the lamb went down well with both of us, although my general feeling was the taste sensations weren’t that exciting, if very well executed. Having said that, the mackerel amuse bouches and the palate freshener of apple cooked in balsamic vinegar with an apple, mint & lime jelly were exciting and innovative. The sweet & sour combination of the apple, vinegar, mint and lime was quite stunning.

On the dessert side, I went for a Goats Cheese Pie, which perhaps as you’d might expect, was a dish which would have been more at home on the main menu. Perhaps Club Gascon decided it didn’t fit into any of the categories that had that day, and so stuck it on the dessert menu instead?

Overall, I thought both the food and service were both up to Michelin star standard, but the concept has yet to convince me. When each dish starts at the £16 mark upwards, ordering three each, plus wine, the bill escalates pretty quickly. I think I would go back, but only if someone else was paying.