French

If you're searching for old school French cuisine, then look no further than this longstanding restaurant. It's a great spot for a long, liquid lunch but even better for a romantic dinner with all that warm brick and candlelight.

Want to be looked after to within an inch of your life? Well, this is the restaurant you come to. Properly old-school French, Otto's has carved out a niche for itself because of a serious bit of kit called the duck press and its fans are legion.

Bleeding Heart is a London institution. Come here for classic French food with a modern touch and a vast amount of wine supplied by their wine cellar. Right now the Tavern is for private events only so it's the bistro you want for the food.

This is the latest restaurant to be called Richoux on this Piccadilly spot and takes the French bistro theme to new heights. Inside, the classic decor has been given a modern touch and the menu is filled with new takes on French classics. All that and it's very well priced for the area.

Cedric Grolet is often described as the best pastry chef in the world and this is his London outpost (the first outside France). Here he's in charge of the main pattisserie at The Berkeley hotel where you can both have his pastries in the cafe or sit at the pattiserie counter for a cake and pastry tasting experience like no other.

Cyril Lignac is A Big Deal in France where he has several restaurants and puts in regular appearances on French TV. This is the London outpost of his Bar des Pres concept which sees sushi made with Label Rouge salmon and his signature crunchy crab with avocado galette. The wine list is suitably French as are many of the clientele.

This Mayfair restaurant is inspired by the legacy of the late and hugely influential chef Joel Robuchon. Le Comptoir Robuchon is designed to both be inspired by and build on the Robuchon legacy - and you can still order the amazingly buttery pommes puree here.

This is one of the smallest fine-dining restaurants in London, run by chef Richard Wilkins (ex-Petrus and Waterside Inn) fitting in just six tables for a maximum of 12 diners at any time. If you manage to grab one of those precious seats, you can expect a modern French menu.

Headed up by chef Michel Roux Jr, this classic London restaurant prides itself on having some of the best service in London. It's not cheap but if you book for lunch, there's one of the best set menu deals in town.

Part of an international group of restaurants, eating here - particularly if you've scored an outside table - should be like eating somewhere very luxe on the Cote d’Azur. The food is light French Mediterranean and Niçoise cuisine. A recent addition has been a new oyster bar.

One of the main restaurants at prestigious London hotel The Connaught, this is run by French Chef Helene Darroze. Expect high-end French dining that has won the restaurant three Michelin stars. After a recenti-ish major refurbishment it now has an impressive new chef's table.

Alain Ducasse is one of France's most celebrated chefs and he's done pretty well over here too. This restaurant at The Dorchester hotel, serving up fine French food, is one of a few restaurants in London to be awarded three Michelin stars.

One of the jewels in the crown of the D&D restaurant empire, The Orrery offers classic French food in a rather opulent first floor dining room. If you're in Marylebone and in need of cosseting, this is the place to go. Just don't forget to order the cheese trolley.

Owners David Gingell and Jeremie Cometto-Lingenheim also run nearby Primeur and Jolene, both also excellent. Here, there's a distinct focus on seafood and the menu changes every day, although if the cuttlefish croquettes with aioli are on there, make sure you order those. In the summertime, you can take a glass of something cold out on the front courtyard and if you're really pushing the boat out, ask for the leather-bound, handwritten, ‘black book’ of fine wines.

The people behind Parisian restaurant Taillevent brought this spin-off Les 110 de Taillevent to London. It focuses on food and wine pairings and is named after the 110 wines available by the glass. Each of the 30 dishes is matched by one of four selected glasses.

Originally launched by Corbin and King, this is a revived Islington grand cafe which now offers a menu that's more of a traditional French brasserie. It's one of the largest restaurants in Angel and there's a very handy bar in here too.

The French House is mainly known as a classic Soho pub - but it also has a dining room upstairs. It's a small affair - it almost feels like a private dining room - but it's hosted some great names. It's now home to ex-Merchants Tavern chef Neil Borthwick who's cooking up French classics.

This classic French institution has been in Soho for more than 100 years, serving up classic French cuisine. And, as you can imagine from the name, it serves the very best snails in London. A wonderful institution that still has great life in it.

Blanchette is from three brothers Maxime, Yannis and Malik Alary who have opened this "French bistro serving simple, classic and inventive French food". It's primarily based around sharing "French tapas" plates.

Alexis Gauthier brings his own take on French cuisine in the marvellous setting of this Georgian townhouse. The menu is now entirely vegan, making this one of the best fine dining vegan spots in town.

Mon Plaisir is billed as London's "oldest French restaurant" - with its current owners keeping it in the family since the 1940s. As you might imagine from such a traditional establishment this does the classic dishes very well.

Keith McNally has been big on the New York restaurant scene for years where Balthazar is a go-to place for both tourists and locals in the Village. This is the London version, just off the Covent Garden piazza, serving brasserie style food in an impressive dining room. It's worth popping into the bakery here if you're just passing.

Launched by the same folk who run the popular Frenchie restaurants in Paris, their London restaurant has a French/British twist to many of the dishes - all with British sourced ingredients. Look out for excellent cocktails too.

This wine bar comes from the same people behind the hugely popular Experimental Cocktail Club and this bar's sister site in Paris. Expect the wines to steer clear of the mainstream and the food to be a mix of seasonal British and French cuisine.

Taking two railway arches in Haggerston, Planque is a wine bar, restaurant, members' club and store, with a key focus on natural and low intervention wines. And most importantly it has Seb Myers (ex P Franco and Chiltern Firehouse) running the kitchen and serving up a modern take on French food.

14 Hills is from the D&D Group and it's quite, quite beautiful. With views over the City across to the Shard and Tower Bridge it's spectacular at night. Inside there are full grown trees, huge pot plants everywhere and every inch of the ceiling is dripping with foliage. As for the food, that's "modern British cooking with a touch of French flair".

Maison Francois comes from a team that's from London restaurant stock (the owner's dad founded Brasserie St. Quentin) and serves a menu that's strong on French brasserie classics. The room looks amazing and the egg in jelly is the must-have item on the menu. Look out for the dessert trolley as well as an impressive basement bar.

Louie is a venture from the Paris Society, which has several big restaurants in Paris and they've brought similar opulence to London. For this restaurant, they've teamed up with American chef Slade Rushing who's brought in a taste of the Deep South.

This is from Corbin and King, the team behind The Wolseley, Bellanger, The Delaunay and more. This time it is an all-day restaurant serving French food with Russian influences.

This is the second restaurant from Leonid Shutov - who brought us the wonderful Bob Bob Ricard. His City restaurant has been a long time in the making, and the £25 mil spent on it really shows. Expect opulence - and the press for Champagne buttons too.