Cafe des Amis

Brilliantly located right in the heart of London's scintillating Covent Garden, Café des Amis, culinarily revitalised by Executive Chef Fabrice Renou, has also recently been given an update that has put it at the forefront of its kind. Fabrice is from Paris, he trained at La Tour d'Argent and worked with prestigious chefs such as Guy Savoy and Michel Rostand.

Fabrice's French world fusion food, or what you might possibly term French with an exotic twist, as he likes experimenting with new flavours, spices and exotic ingredients, contains enough international influences to ensure it is head and shoulders above the rest, against a background of stylish décor and front of house.

Whilst primarily occupied with an à la carte menu that is both imaginative and good value, they also offer constantly changing lunch/pre/post theatre menus which, at £14 for 2 courses, £16.50 for three, are tempting to the palate and the pocket.

What's likely to be on offer? Nothing like some good French onion soup to start a brasserie meal, served here with toasted gruyere crouton, Cornish crab and avocado salad with pink grapefruit dressing, or assiette of French charcuterie with cornichons and beurre echive.

The inclination towards the fruits of the sea continues into the main courses with a ragoût of shellfish, crab bisque and young spring vegetables, or line-caught fillet of seabass, confited cherry tomatoes and palourde clams vinaigrette.

The love affair with that most attractive fowl of the air, the duck, goes on and on and here it is roasted, with honey and soy sauce, red cabbage fondue with pancetta and apple. Better appreciation of the quality in food means less leather for the appetites of the eating-out infantry, and the beef here is 28-day aged Scottish fillet of beef, served with a watercress purée, girolle mushrooms and some of those still thoroughly naughty but totally irresistible triple cooked chips.

Downstairs in a bar that contrives to be both intimate and welcoming, performers from the surrounding wealth of performing arts, and members of their audiences mingle to share their respective pleasures. A well-tuned wine list more than adequately meets the expectations of those who, when served a good meal look for liquid support of the same quality.

The restaurant is open on Sunday from now until the end of the year from 12noon to 5pm, and on a Saturday night they have a DJ playing ambient, chill out and funky house music in the wine bar.

Their menus are under constant review, always a good sign of an inventive Head Chef, so do click on their Website, an attractive and explicit introduction to this excellent restaurant.