La P'tite Folie

This review appears in the The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 – in the shops now or buy online.

Like the best local chains, the two branches of La P'tite Folie seek out and serve quite distinctively different customer bases in their different locations. The West End branch in Randolph Place buzzes with business talk at lunchtime. Its popularity is deserved: food is consistently good and the service is professional and charming. Downstairs (complete with new wine and cheese bar) is airy and chic, while upstairs is cosily clubby with wood-panelled walls. The Frederick Street branch has always had a more naïf bohemian vibe, candle-light flickers in front of handsomely tattered old movie posters above little wooden tables. But though its atmosphere is still rough and ready, the food has grown up: new chef Thomas Bruno trained under three-star Michelin wunderkind Paul Bocuse, and sends out a series of simple but faultless dishes, from smoky rillette of rabbit to warmly spiced monkfish tagine or juicily honeyed Barbary duck with noodles. A whole rib of beautiful Aberdeen Angus beef, for two people, is spectacular on its enormous wooden serving board, accompanied by the fluffiest of frites. Carnivorous couples need look no further. The wine list here runs from refined Chablis to high-kicking Crozes-Hermitage; or try refreshing Breton cider. For dessert, a vanilla cheesecake, dripping with red berries, is so light it seems to have half a mind to take flight. This branch has upped its game a lot in the past year and is now one of the best French restaurants in its price bracket.

• High point: A welcome revolution in the kitchen at Frederick Street…
• Low point: …though the service doesn't yet match Randolph Place