Claude Bosi’s Oyster Bar
South Kensington, London
It’s almost 40 years since the conversion of Michelin House and the building still looks fresh, plying its trade via a gorgeous first-floor dining room (Bibendum) and a ground-floor Oyster Bar, both now run by the chef Claude Bosi. The latter is impressively high-ceilinged with unique mosaic flooring and Edwardian racing scenes on the tiled walls. It offers all-day foyer/forecourt dining, the smart long-standing florist at the front now acting as a curtain for a proper little kitchen where chefs prepare hot dishes alongside seafood. Fans of oysters get to choose from six different types, although the full repertoire takes in native lobsters, Cornish crabs and 'grand plateaux de fruits de mer', as well as fish soup, pâté en croûte, the famed crab quiche, grilled mackerel, even fish and chips. Steak tartare (‘very good’), fillet of beef with rocket and Parmesan (with 'Pierre Koffmann' French fries) and a Bibendum burger look after the meat-eaters. Expect proper Gallic technique from the kitchen: that fish soup delivers a deeply savoury, dark, crab-infused bisque complete with rouille and cheese; skate wing is accompanied by classic brown butter and caper sauce with perfect little butter-fried croûtons adding 'some greatly beneficial crunch’. Ice creams and sundaes dominate the dessert menu, but there’s likely to be a sneaky clafoutis or crème brûlée to please the local Lycée children and their families, the parents of whom will also be happy with the almost exclusively French wine list.
Dining Information:
Separate bar, Counter seating, Outdoor dining, Family friendly, Dog friendly
Michelin House, 81 Fulham Road, South Kensington SW3 6RD
020 7581 5817
