Longstanding Covent Garden restaurant Mon Plaisir has a lot of fans of its authentic French food, not least among them the Guardian's Marina O'Loughlin. But now its Head Chef, Franck Raymond, is upping sticks and heading south of the river to Battersea where he's opening up a bistro called Augustine Kitchen this October.
Raymond's CV is pretty impressive - he worked in Geneva as Head Chef at Le Marignac for three years achieving two Michelin stars. He also worked for Marco Pierre White at the Oak Room and Titanic as Executive Sous Chef and has been Head Chef at Mon Plaisir since 2003.
Augustine Kitchen, named after the chef's grandmother, will be a 60 cover restaurant serving up classic dishes, with a focus on produce from the Evian region where Franck hails from. The bar will serve up French-style tapas.
Menu highlights include: cassolette of snails with garlic and parsley butter which was on the menu at Mon Plaisir and French onion soup glazed with bleu de termignon and Reblochon and green apple fritters. Fans of the Great British Bake Off will be pleased to see coconut floating islands on the dessert menu - here they come with lime and vanilla custard and rice pudding, pink pralines and pistachio.
On the bar's tapas menu will be black pudding and apple tartelette; duck rillettes and Reblochon and bacon gougères.
Augustine Kitchen opens this October at 63 Battersea Bridge Road, Battersea, SW11 3AU. Telephone (0)20 7978 7085. Follow them on Twitter @augustinekichen
