The Times
Camilla Long went in search of Parisian “ben oui” at a new bistro from Jason Atherton and Row on 5 chef Spencer Metzger in what she called the “Sotheby’s/Christie’s/Savile Row end of Mayfair”, a difficult zone inhabited by “strays – straight gays”: men who think about paintings and fashion instead instead of eating.
“The menu feels more Club 55 than genuine bistro”, listing fish, oysters, scallops, veal T-bones, lobster and bluefin tuna in a tomato elixir. Camilla suggested that “real French cooking – all the bollocks, potted eyes and arseholes – would frighten the other big diner in this area: the tourists.”
The snacks and starters – little Marie Antoinette piles of prawns and crab, a pristine courgette flower with sauce vierge and a scallop with Café de Paris butter – were “beautiful” and “sublime”. But the mains – veal T-bone and grilled lobster tail – arrived after a 45-minute wait and were “uninspiring”, the cooking “completely different”. “What happened?” Camilla wondered. “Did the chef quit his job half way through?”
Camilla Long - 2026-07-12The Daily Telegraph
William Sitwell awarded Spencer Metzger’s reboot of Jason Atherton’s Little Social a glowing review, hailing its “flawless bistro classics” – the sort of food chefs prefer to complex multi-course tasting menus.
Nibbles of anchovies and red raw prawns were “delectable”, while a starter of tomatoes from Mount Vesuvius and ripe peaches over stracciatella cheese was “achingly good”, the sort of dish normally found only in the Mediterranean.
The high point of his meal was a “revelatory” poulet rôti with morels and a vin jaune sauce which “cannot be bettered anywhere”, and was served simply with a green salad and chips. House wine at £45 was “a miracle” in Mayfair.
William Sitwell - 2026-07-26The Guardian
Grace Dent was thrilled by Spencer Metzger’s “elegant, sexy pastiche of everyday French dining” at the former site of Jason Atherton’s Little Social – the sort of food that “adult Brits gobble up… If you can’t get into Bouchon Racine in Farringdon, go here instead.”
The fat, glossy, salty Cantabrian anchovies were “totally addictive””, and felt “as sweet and naughty as chocolate profiteroles”. A whole john dory arrived with a serving of pommes purée that was “half butter, half spud. No longer seriously categorised as a vegetable, it’s more like love/future coronary problems in a bowl”.
It was followed by “one of the dining highlights of 2026”: a 70% chocolate soufflé that you have to pre-order: “it arrives as a showstopper: bold as brass, high and glossy.”
Grace Dent - 2026-08-02Daily Mail
Tom Parker Bowles was another critic to fall for Chez Rose’s charms, pointing out that despite the “bistro staples: oysters and steak au poivre, roast chicken and ratatouille” on its menu, “the cooking has a decidedly modern feel.”
“From the very first bite – raw red prawns on toast, pure and pristine, with a fragrant jolt of Amalfi lemon – you realise that this is very much a bistro deluxe”, with “a precision, an absolute mastery of both balance and technique” in the kitchen. And while it is not cheap, there’s a two-course set menu for £28, “which is pretty much given away around these parts”.
“Best of all is the roast chicken for two, the skin parchment crisp, the flesh lusciously and ludicrously juicy, studded with fat morel mushrooms and drenched in a creamy, softly sharp vin jaune sauce. It comes with immaculate French fries, and a lovingly dressed green salad. Deceptively simple, but pretty much perfect. Not unlike Chez Rose.”
Tom Parker Bowles - 2026-08-02
