The Times
Jay Rayner was very impressed by a former wine importer’s restaurant now taken over by a chef-proprietor of real “personality” – Gaston Savina, a tall and courtly figure with dangly earrings and a pencil moustache who trained in Burgundy.
His masterpiece – the dish Jay remembers him creating on MasterChef a couple of years ago – is ‘pie escargot’, and it is “as hilariously rich and soothing as ever”. “The snails are cooked down to a ragu, but retain that gentle, bitter, almost metallic edge. The dark, sticky mess is topped with a thick, white lawyer of buttery pommes purée … The snail ragu is the ballast, the potato works as a brilliant condiment. It’s rich, comforting and bloody clever.”
Jay also enjoyed a cooling plate of roasted leeks and white fish crudo, some fried artichoke hearts and a sticky tarte tatin of fennel and tomatoes. He looked forward to trying other dishes on more wintry nights: roast chicken with langoustines and Ravigote bisque sauce, or ox cheek Rossini with pan-fried foie gras and black truffle jus.
Jay Rayner - 2026-08-16The Daily Telegraph
William Sitwell was thrilled by the “masterful” cooking from chef-patron Gaston Savina (a former private chef and 2024 MasterChef: The Professionals finalist) at the “gorgeous little neighbourhood joint” he has taken over.
William’s meal of “Melior Oeuf Mayonnaise” with caviar, the chef’s TV-signature “Pie Escargot”, a “delicate yet earthy stew” of braised snails under fluffy potato espuma, and slow-cooked ox cheek with a rustic-looking tart ratatouille amounted to a “glorious manifestation of French food”.
This, combined with a beautifully lit environment of bare brick, marble table tops, candles, artwork and bookshelves, added up to a restaurant that is “absolutely, wonderfully, friggin’ divine”.
William Sitwell - 2026-10-25
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