Claude Bosi at Bibendum

A stunning venue, although the downstairs Oyster Bar feels a little chilly and soul-less, in spite of the friendly and efficient staff. The upstairs dining room is beautiful and the food interesting and exquisite. Service absolutely impeccable. Is it worth the money vs single Michelin starred venues? Questionable, but nonetheless a brilliant experience.

CB at Bibendum is by far and alway the best meal I've eaten this year. The restaurant is purely stunning, with tables generously separated. The staff and food were absolutely at a 3star level. How this is not a 3 star restaurant is beyond belief. Having eaten at Core, RGRamsay, Arzak, El Celler de Can Roca, The Fat Duck and Eleven Madison Park, Bibendum is easily hitting their level. 
No other restaurant has used so many luxury ingredients throughout their tasting menu, and certainly not as generously as Bibendum does.

This is truly a special occasion restaurant!

Fabulous food and attentive service in a spectacular dining room. Very classy.

We were received as though we were returning Royalty, our greeting was simply wonderful and we were offered the best table in the house.

The kindness and charm of the staff was completely unexpected, overwhelming and most touching.

In order to steady ourselves we ordered a little champagne, a chariot of champagne duly arrived to enable us to make our selection. The champagne we chose was in fact the one that we drink at home, the only difference being in the price per glass, but so what, this was a once in a lifetime anniversary.

There are two or three set menus.

Previously, never having been to to this establishment, we decided to order from the set lunch menu. We were at once congratulated upon our 'excellent' choice and told that if there was anything on the lunch menu that did not appeal to us they were very 'relaxed' about our finding a substitute dish from one of their other menus.

The whole extraordinarily wonderful experience intensified from there.

We take the view that the only reason to go to the expense of eating in a two or three starred Michelin restaurant is to enable us to experience new and beautiful flavours, this we did in 'spades'.

The only slight concern was that my 'partner' found two of the courses a little salty.   

Please dear readers, just go to Bosi and you will understand what I am on about, the fish course alone was worth the cost of the final biil.

That Michelin has not upgraded this restaurant from two to three stars is more of a reflection upon Michelin than the actual restaurant itself. 

One last utter joy was that each order from the lunch menu includes a half bottle of wine.

We are so privileged to have been granted such a fabulous experience, the food we ate from this ever changing menu was, for us at least, better than the equivalent at Bray.

Thank you Monsieur Bosi! 

We waited an hour for dessert and every time we were told that it would be in 5 minutes.

As a result, they did not bring.

There is so much to like about the whole Bibendum experience that it was a real pity that the enjoyment of dining there for a special occasion on a recent Saturday night gradually – similar to a slow puncture – leaked away as the evening wore on. The analogy is deliberate. For those unaware, ‘Bibendum’ is the name of the jovial Michelin Man, famously comprised of stacked white tyres. Claude Bosi’s London venture (the chef first found fame and gained Michelin stars at Hibiscus in Ludlow, Shropshire) is located at Michelin House on the corner of London’s Fulham Road, the first permanent headquarters of the French tyre company. As a fan of Art Déco, I had always been keen to visit the building and having enjoyed Hibiscus when it opened briefly as a pop-up in London around a decade ago, the stars conveniently aligned for this visit to Bibendum. The building is an absolute marvel, both inside and out; a temple of architectural exuberance which has undoubtedly stood the test of time. Both my comrade and I loved the use of space in the main dining room and particularly the stained-glass windows. Tables are well-spaced, and guests are treated to a wonderful exercise in being made to feel welcome. Service throughout was exemplary, with just the right balance between informal conversation and the provision of necessary information; always polite and never intrusive. So far, so good. Our meal also started ever so promisingly with a glass of fizz to accompany our amuse-bouches. We liked the fact that my vegetarian comrade’s nibbles looked identical to mine, although clearly comprised different ingredients. Indeed, we both noted how thoughtful the chef and his team must have been. Our server then asked if we wished to know what we would be eating across our six-course tasting menu. We declined and he said we would hence be “surprised.” Attentive readers might well have been wondering after all this prior praise where the ‘but’ was going to come. Surprised we were. From my side – as an omnivore – Claude Bosi clearly merits his two Michelin stars. However, it became abundantly clear to us that after the early flourish of the amuse-bouches, Bibendum really does not care about or cater for vegetarians. That’s a big problem if one comprises half of your dining group! After a lovely take on tomato caprese, which we both enjoyed as our first course, things began to take a turn for the worse at dish three. I benefited from a piece of turbot with a small side of coconut, horseradish and pea risotto. My dining comrade felt justified in being disappointed that my side comprised her plate, an indication perhaps of the esteem in which the chef holds vegetarians. We were once infamously told by a front-of-house at a top Parisian restaurant when requesting whether vegetarian options were possible that it would be “boring for the chef” to prepare them. Perhaps this was the case at Bibendum too? Worse was arguably to come. Mashed potato and satay sauce (the fourth dish for my vegetarian comrade) sounds more like a student forage with cupboard ingredients than what one might expect at a top restaurant. It hardly bore comparison to my veal sweetbread with black olive, anchovy and feta. At least the paired wines helped ease some of the disappointment. They were all high-quality and intelligently considered, particularly the Sauvignon Blanc from Alto Adige and a Bordeaux blend from Lebanon. Pricing overall was at the top-end of what one might pay for comparable experiences in London. Needless to say, we won’t be returning.