Bouchon Racine

Are high-profile restaurants above pubs becoming a thing in London? On the first floor of the Three Compasses pub in Farringdon, this reworking of Henry Harris’s famed (and much missed) Racine in Knightsbridge revives the chef’s avowed mission to provide resolutely French food and drink after a gap of seven years. Reached via steep stairs, it’s a pleasant, light-filled room, where a lot of effort has gone into creating a mood that is warm and unpretentious. Come here if you want straight-talking Gallic brasserie classics, dishes straight out of Larousse Gastronomique . Escargots à la bourguignonne, perhaps, or Bayonne ham with celeriac rémoulade, then rabbit with mustard sauce or côte de boeuf with sauce béarnaise. All dishes are chosen from a large, densely written blackboard menu, hoisted from table to table – a convincing slice of France if it weren’t for the mainly English accents of the on-the-ball waiting staff. Our meal opened with a gutsy, rich scallop dish (one of the evening specials), served with its coral atop a purée of fennel, lemon and olive oil, ahead of a Racine classic – tête de veau with a punchy sauce ravigote (one of the best-selling items on the menu). To conclude, we enjoyed a hard-to-fault pot de crème aux griottines. The mainly French wine list is a good one, with about 14 by the glass (from £7.50), and bottles from £29.95.

Inspired by the bouchons of Lyon and the bistros of Paris, Bouchon Racine marks the return proper for Henry Harris and his much-loved Racine restaurant that disappeared from Knightsbridge almost a decade ago. In the intervening years Harris went on to do numerous projects, including at a number of pubs, but this time round his focus is firmly on what he does best - gutsy Gallic food that has you coming back for more. Menus at Bouchon Racine are chalked up every day, but stalwarts such as the steak tartare; escargots; and creme caramel with armagnac prune are seldom unavailable. As is true of many a French-leaning establishment, vegetarians are not particularly well catered for, but meat eaters will have a different struggle on their hands, namely whether to choose the grilled veal chop with roquefort butter; the rabbit with mustard sauce; or the confit de canard - a problem that can only be solved by visiting the restaurant en masse. What is most charming about Bouchon Racine is the manner in which it has come about. Harris and business partner Dave Strauss opened the restaurant on a shoestring, without the employment of a PR machine to launch it and with much of the refurb done themselves. The downstairs pub Three Compasses remains just that, a boozer for the after-work crowd, while the upstairs restaurant feels like a secret dining room (albeit a terribly kept secret) that whisks you away from London to the back streets of France. You might never want to leave.