There’s been a fluttering in the foodie dovecotes as one of France’s heaviest hitters opens a restaurant in the Dorchester. The message boards have been all a twitter with often ill-informed discussions and Monsieur D. has certainly not wanted for publicity. When I visited I was struck by how very very French the place was (I know that this should not have come as a shock given the name over the door, but we kind of expect that even incoming superstars will end up doing things our way, the London way).

The dining room is a symphony in muted beige, very soft, very gracious, very tranquil. Service glides about. There is what seems to be a compulsory manifestation of dodgy French taste – large and complicated china vegetables adorn each table. When viewed by a Brit these big, lumpy, items are dull and even vie for unsuitability and ugliness with those fabled animal sculptures made from cutlery at Le Gavroche. There are some elements of French interior design that we will never ever understand.

But we do understand the food. Alain Ducasse has written a menu for his Dorchester outpost that is only a quarter turn away from the old-fashioned, classical French cooking of yore – sauce Vin Jaune; sauce Grand Veneur; sauce Nantua; and sauce Albufera all feature proudly. From a technical point of view the cooking is very good indeed: A soft-cooked organic egg comes with crayfish, wild mushrooms and sauce Nantua – perfectly judged egg and perfectly made sauce – grand contrasts of taste and texture. The simmered duck foie gras with mango and dolce forte sauce comes to table almost quivering with an indulgent melting heart. Pumpkin ravioli come in a rich Parmesan emulsion that delivers a serious whack of umami. Main courses also have a classical feel – a dish of halibut presents firm fish on spinach and Jerusalem artichokes with a lemon and caper sauce. The roast pigeon is a runaway winner, exceedingly tender and with a superb croute pasted with dark meat and liver – for once an accompaniment that is straight out of the English tradition of game cookery. The cheese course offers two British cheeses and two from France, a thoughtful selection, all ripe and in good condition. The puds are also pretty momentous the rum baba comes with real rum and melts in the mouth. The assiette of apple delivers plenty of green astringency.

Mon. Ducasse hasn’t racked up a constellation of stars without being astute and you can tell that he has tempered the full-on, three-star, pukka French experience for his new home in the Dorchester. This place is not quite so fussy, it’s a bit less elaborate and it’s a lot more comfortable (in practice this means that when you choose your rum for the baba you get offered two bottles rather than the three options you would get in Monte Carlo).

This restaurant will never be a cheap option, but then it is not wildly expensive either – especially when you compare it with other players in the fine dining marketplace. The lunch menu offers 3 courses for £35. Lunch à la Carte - 2 courses £55; 3 courses £75 – beware there are some supplements, including a whopping £40 for white truffle dishes. For dinner 3 courses £75; 4 courses £95; and a 7 course tasting menu £115. This is a good place to enjoy a formal meal.

Charles Campion

Alain Ducasse, The Dorchester, Park Lane, W1 (020 7629 8866)

Somewhere along the line they have tidied up the Mexican spelling – Oaxaca – into a more pronounceable Wahaca… and that’s pretty much what they’ve done to the food which is good but not great, keenly priced and swift to arrive. Don’t get me wrong, this restaurant is a great success and a busy place, but I suspect that the trade derives from the restaurant’s efficient systems rather than it’s gastronomy. What we have here is  "Tacamamma” – Wagamamma in a Mexican hat - dishes arrive when they are ready (which can make for dish envy should your table companions get served first while you end up waiting for your meal), nibbles are priced at under £3, and there are plenty of small dishes under £4 while nothing on the menu tops £8.50.

The guacamole is well made with a chunky texture and good flavour, you can have it with “pork scratchings” – puffed pork rind, a good combination. Then there are tacos, tostados, quesadillas and taquitos. The pork pibil tacos are very sound, you might take issue with the menu-speak “melt in the mouth” but it’s hard to criticise a plateful that offers three medium tacos for £3.50. The chef behind Wahaca is Thomasina Miers, who was made famous by that recent Wild Gourmets television series in which she roamed the countryside living off the land like a much more feminine and somewhat more sophisticated  Ray Mears. She has set up the restaurant with an emphasis on carefully sourced British ingredients, but the upshot of this is that you see a board proclaiming Market Fresh Ingredients – and then lines like “Habanero chillies from Devon”. Methinks this is a marriage of convenience sacrificing Mexican authenticity for local sourcing and the result is another Wahaca copy line “Mexican Market Eating”. The Wahaca salad is pleasant enough Little Gem Lettuce, avocado and splendid roast Poblano chillies – well balanced. A burrito filled with char-grilled steak, black beans and shredded cabbage is wholly successful.

This is a busy, happy place where the no booking policy seems to encourage rather than deter. The great virtues of brisk service, low prices and sound enough food are just what’s wanted and Wahaca deserves its success. Who would bet against a Nationwide chain of Wahacas opening soon?

Charles Campion

Wahaca, 66 Chandos Place, WC2 (020 7240 1883)

As someone who is often accused of inventing the term gastropub, (The jury’s out but I certainly used it in an Evening Standard piece mid 1990s) there is a pleasing symmetry in flagging up what may be the first indications of its demise. The term “Gastropub” will rumble on for years, but the original, inspired concept as represented by the trail-blazers like the Eagle and the Peasant is increasingly devalued and diluted. Pub chain managers fire identikit lamb shanks at hapless customers and a certain style of food ticks the boxes on every landlord’s spreadsheet. The founding Fathers of the Gastropub continue to ply their trade but even their businesses are now sidling towards restaurants – for example Great Queen Street. There is always room for something new in the food business and it will be interesting to see just how things develop.

On the Chiswick High road an old Young’s pub called the Crown & Anchor has been taken over and re-invigorated but the new concept takes enormous pains to avoid being labelled a gastropub – “Bar, Café and Restaurant” proclaims the blurb. And then there’s the name “Shackology”… pardon? Inside all is comfy sofas and scattered tables, there’s a commendable emphasis on the provenance of ingredients and even a children’s menu. Reading that menu doesn’t clarify much – “potted shrimps” may be g-pub but “braised pheasant in red wine, prunes and button onions”, “pan-fried haddock fillet, cavolo nero and spicy tomato sauce” nudge towards restaurant dishes. You have to suspect that neighbours Sam’s Brasserie and the High Road Brasserie have shaken up the average Chiswickian’s view of relaxed eating and drinking by providing a very attractive alternative to Gastropubbery, and that their success is what Shackology is trying to emulate.

The Fox & Anchor is a brand spanking-new venture on Charterhouse Street in Smithfield.This one needs watching. It has been opened by the people from the nearby Malmaison and eventually it will have a handful of bedrooms – they are also responsible for the Hotel du Vin empire. What is interesting about the Fox is that the aim was always to open a pub – not a gastropub. Such an ambition makes you think about just what the differences are between the two classes of establishment. Pubs always have good beer and the kind of atmosphere that underpins the serious business of drinking. Food is wholesome, not over-priced and practical rather than fancy. Gastropubs sacrifice the drinker for the diner, prices creep upwards, and the food can be over-fussy on the plate. But then again atop the Fox & Anchor menus the strap line reads HOPS&CHOPS,CUVEES&DUVETS which is hardly pub speak. The food at the Fox is very good, honest, and seasonal: potted beef and piccalilli (£5.95); prawns by the half pint (£4.95); field mushrooms on toast(£4.95);a large ham hock with Colcannon mash and parsley sauce (£10.95) – very good indeed. Steak and oyster pie (£10.95) – fine crust, fine gravy, extra oysters. The goose fat chips are majestic. There is a long bar and the beer is well kept, the staff are friendly. This place manages to be more pub than gastropub. Wouldn’t it be fabulous if we could replace all those tired old gastropubs with genuine, hospitable, “public houses”? 

Charles Campion

Eagle, 159 Farringdon Road, EC1 (020 7837 1418)

Peasant, 240 St John Street, EC1 (020 7336 7726)

Great Queen Street, 32 Great Queen Street, WC2 (020 7242 0622)

Shackology, 374 Chiswick High Road, W4 (020 8995 2607)

Sam’s Brasserie,11 Barley Mow Passage, W4 (020 8987 0555)

High Road Brasserie, 162-166 Chiswick High Road, W4 (020 8742 7474)

Fox & Anchor, 115 Charterhouse Street, EC1 (020 7253 5075)    

Every time I eat a fine partridge I find myself wondering why everyone goes so potty over grouse. The grey partridge is a small bird with tender flesh and a delicate but assertive gaminess.

There was something of an informal gamefest at the Dorchester Grill recently and head chef Aidan Byrne excelled himself. The opening move was a chestnut and pheasant soup with smoked foie gras, this soup was a million miles away from chestnut blandness and had a decent tang to it, making the slices of roast pheasant breast seem sweet and the foie gras melting luxury. Then came a “partridge, pear and truffle salad” – a cold roast partridge breast came sealed beneath a thin layer of Madeira and tarragon jelly. This was a tour de force, presenting the partridge cold brought out its delicate taste and ruled out any potential dryness. Perhaps it is time to bring back all those dishes in aspic? Then there was a dish of mallard with chou croute and a magnificent sweet garlic sauce; and finally loin of hare with chicory, parsnip purée and a small casserole containing an “A-class” hare hotpot. Hold the aspic revival, let’s see more hot pots if they can always be as rich and satisfying as this one.

Partridge also featured on the lunch menu at newly opened Hibiscus. Claude and Claire Bosi have moved their restaurant (and a good many of their loyal staff) from Ludlow to Mayfair. Although you rarely get an accurate picture of true potential it is good fun visiting a restaurant during its early days, not least because you can be sure that you will know plenty of the other diners,(at lunch last week no fewer than four tables were taken up by gentlemen and ladies of the press all eager to see how the new restaurant compared to its previous incarnation). I enjoyed the food when I tried it in Ludlow, although I must confess that the some of the “cutting edge” dishes were a little too sharp for their own good. If anything the food in London is better. Dishes still have some incredible contrasts of flavour and texture but they are not quite so spooky as before. The partridge was magnificent as was a very pink hunk of veal – satisfyingly chewy and with bags of flavour. Having felt obliged to dodge the “savoury ice cream of foie gras, warm emulsion of brioche, balsamic vinegar caramel” combo, the lamb sweetmeats  starter – “croquettes of lamb sweetmeats, tartare of native oysters with sweetcorn and Thai curry, watercress salad” was a belter – subtle flavours and complimentary textures. The chocolate tart was as good at Maddox Streetas it had been in Shropshire– ultra-short pastry and a crusted top to the molten chocolate filling; like a chocolate fondant pudding but very much better. The new Hibiscus is a friendly place with classy food, a decent wine list and fair price tag (£49.50 for three courses).

Charles Campion

The Grill Room, The Dorchester, Park Lane, W1 (020 7629 8888)

Hibiscus, 29 Maddox Street, W1   (020 7629 2999)