The Times
Giles Coren was beguiled by a “sublime new Borough Market restaurant” that he visited in its first 24 hours open to the public – “a hell of a place” from François O’Neill that also incorporates a bakery and a sandwich bar.
He kicked off mock-guiltily with a “Foie gras, bacon and egg muffin à la Joe Beef” – “God, it was good. But don’t order it. It’s plain wrong. That’s what I’m for: to take the moral risk and report back from the blood-spattered front line of Yum.”
Less ethically compromised but “almost equally sinful” were lamb merguez flatbreads; “sleek, brown anchovies, fat as salmon, draped over brioche fingers and a smear of Café de Paris butter as thick as your school geography teacher”; and the “terrific” surf & turf comprising a half lobster, prime rib, frites and béarnaise.
“Have these, by the way, with a Picon bière (£6), which is an ice-cold lager that you spike yourself with a thimble of Picon, the bitter orange aperitif designed for the job.”
Giles Coren - 2024-10-06The Guardian
Grace Dent hailed “a new London landmark” that “could well turn into Borough Market’s most useful rendezvous point”, given the quality of its food, the number of seats (has taken over a “brick behemoth of a building” that was formerly a Paul Smith fashion shop) and its opening hours, from 7am for breakfast through to last orders at 10pm (Monday-Saturday).
From the team behind the more formal Maison François in St James’s, “Café François is her giddier, multi-floored petite fille, who lives in a permanently hectic tourist thoroughfare and serves crisp frogs’ legs, croque monsieur and three types of éclair”.
As an “all-day, rolling canteen” whose “proper” dining options include sharing plates of lobster, roast chicken and prime rib of beef along with gateaux to “drool” over, Grace reckoned that “Café François is far better than it really needs to be, but this team are proud and diligent types, and far too good to allow their new place to be rubbish”.
Grace Dent - 2024-10-13
