Chez Gerard - Watling Street

A Chez Gerard is a place for the cool cookies, modern, airconditioned, stylish and appealing to all.

Drawing on French influences from all over the globe from Morocco to Montreal, and embraces the Gallic inclination for all day brasserie dining.

Naturellement families and children are welcome at all times, and children have their own menus and a goody pack.

Here in Britain the influences may be French but the ingredients are undeniably local, with Angus and Herefordshire beef, smoked haddock, and grapefruit salads with roast chillies.

An original starter might be dandelion leaves with a poached egg, bacon lardoons and croutons, or you may prefer the well-tried Burgundy snails baked in garlic butter. A classic Niçoise salad with tuna, egg, new potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, red onions, olives and marinated anchovies is a meal in itself.

Chez Gerard, with splendid French insouciance, stops short of actually claiming the burger for its own, but has not hesitated to add its particular touch to the Chez Gerard burger, a 100% pure beef plain grilled 240gm beauty with a wide variety of additions and toppings, of which Moroccan chilli is but one.

Tajines may or may not have an echo of France's imperial past, who cares? From a choice of four the slowly cooked lamb with fresh herbs, cinnamon, ginger and rich spices is quite superb, perhaps supplemented by a Pastilla de legumes, though for me the saffron rice or couscous is all it takes.

Desserts follow much the same pattern, though the staunchly traditional trend is in marked contrast to the very up-front modern ambience. The answer, however, is to be found in the quality of both presentation and ingredients.

A Gallic leaning wine list offers some interesting options in the upper brackets, with very drinkable house wines at £11.95 and plenty of choice by the glass or that very French vessel, the carafe.