In London, bistro, brasserie and patisserie are three different promises, and the words are used loosely enough that it pays to know which is which. A bistro is small, with a short menu and a blackboard. A brasserie is large, serves all day and pours beer. A patisserie sells pastry and coffee and does not really do lunch.
French food has been part of London's restaurant trade for two centuries, and for most of that time it defined what an expensive meal looked like here. That has changed: the grandest French dining rooms have thinned out, while French bakeries, neighbourhood bistros and fixed-price brasseries have spread. Our guide to bakeries and pastries in London covers croissants and their prices in detail, and our page on cheap eats covers value generally.
This page is about which French word means what on a London street, where the fixed-price menus are, and which parts of the city the French population has actually settled in, because that is where the bread is.
The words, quickly
- Bistro
- Small dining room, short handwritten menu, no more than about 40 seats. Book, because they fill
- Brasserie
- Large, high ceilings, long hours, beer on tap, food served between meal times
- Patisserie
- Pastry shop with a few tables. Cake, tart, coffee, not a meal
- Boulangerie
- Bread first, pastry second. The thing to look for in the suburbs
- Prix fixe
- A fixed price for two or three courses, usually at lunch and early evening. The best value in French London
Bistro, brasserie and the difference that shows up on the bill
The distinction is about scale and hours rather than about quality. A bistro cooks a small number of dishes that change with what was bought that morning, which is why the menu is handwritten and why three of the six main courses may have gone by 21:00. A brasserie runs a long printed menu all day, which means you can eat at 16:30 on a Tuesday, and it also means the kitchen is built for volume.
For a visitor the practical consequences are simple. If you want to eat at an odd hour, or with a group who cannot agree, go to a brasserie. If you want the best cooking for the money and you can commit to a time, book a bistro. Our list of gastropubs where the food is the point covers the British equivalent of the second one, which often does the same job for less.
The fixed-price menu, which is the reason to eat French food in London at all
French restaurants here kept a habit that most others dropped: a menu at a single fixed price for two or three courses, served at lunch and in the early evening. Brasserie Zédel, in the basement of 20 Sherwood Street just off Piccadilly Circus, is the best-known example, an enormous 1930s room with a set menu at one of the lowest prices in central London for a sit-down three courses. The price changes, so read the board by the stairs rather than trusting any figure written down elsewhere, including here.
Two things about it are worth knowing before you go. It seats a great many people and still fills, so book. And the early-evening sitting is the one that suits anyone with a theatre ticket, which is why it appears in our guide to eating before a West End show. The same fixed-price logic applies at the expensive end: a weekday set lunch is how you get into a serious kitchen for a fraction of the evening bill, as our page on starred restaurants explains.
Two courses beats three, and lunch beats dinner. On almost every French fixed-price menu in London the jump from two courses to three costs more than the pudding is worth, and the same menu at 12:30 costs less than at 19:30. A bistro lunch with a glass of wine is the cheapest good French meal in the city.
South Kensington, which is the French quarter
London's French institutions cluster in a few hundred metres around South Kensington station. The Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle sits on Cromwell Road, and the Institut français du Royaume-Uni is on Queensberry Place, with the Ciné Lumière cinema inside it showing French films with subtitles. Between them, Bute Street is the short pedestrianised street where the French shops are: a bookshop, bakeries, a cheese counter, cafés with French newspapers.
The honest assessment is that this is a good place to buy French food and a mediocre place to eat an expensive French dinner. Prices around the station are high because of the museums, as our guide to eating near the Kensington museums sets out, and our South Kensington neighbourhood guide covers the rest of the area. Come here for a baguette, a tart and a coffee, then walk into the park.
Where the French population actually lives
Estimates of the size of London's French community vary and we are not going to invent a number, but the geography is not in doubt: French families are concentrated in South Kensington, Fulham, Chiswick, Shepherd's Bush, Clapham and Blackheath, largely because of where the French schools are. Follow the bakeries and you can trace it.
Boulangerie Jade, a French bakery with branches across west and south-east London, is the clearest marker. Its Askew Road shop in Shepherd's Bush currently holds a top hygiene rating; its other branches are in Chiswick, East Sheen, Blackheath and Woolwich, which is exactly the map described above. Ratings differ sharply between its branches, so check the score in the window before you buy, and note that we do not name any address rated below 3.
The practical value of knowing this is that suburban French bakeries are cheaper than central ones and bake later into the afternoon. Our neighbourhood guides to Shepherd's Bush, Chiswick and Blackheath cover what else is on those high streets.
Maison Bertaux and the surviving Soho patisseries
Maison Bertaux at 28 Greek Street in Soho has been a patisserie since 1871 and still works the way one should: a glass counter, a narrow staircase, small tables upstairs, coffee and a slice of something. It has no kitchen in the modern sense and does not pretend to serve lunch. Go in the afternoon, order an éclair or a slice of tart, and do not expect table service to be brisk.
The wider point is that the patisserie in London is a shop with chairs, not a restaurant. The French tradition of the salon de thé translates badly here, partly because Britain already had its own version and defends it: our guide to afternoon tea in London covers that, and desserts, ice cream and chocolate covers the sweet end of the city more broadly.
Reading a French menu without a dictionary
| On the menu | What arrives |
|---|---|
| Steak frites | Steak and chips, usually a cheaper cut cooked fast. Rare unless you say otherwise |
| Moules marinière | Mussels steamed with white wine, shallot and parsley, with a bowl for the shells |
| Confit de canard | Duck leg salted and cooked slowly in its own fat, then crisped. Rich, and enough on its own |
| Soupe à l'oignon | Onion soup under melted cheese and bread. A meal, not a starter |
| Rillettes | Shredded pork or duck potted under fat, spread on toast |
| Entrecôte, onglet, bavette | Sirloin, hanger, flank. The last two are cheaper and more strongly flavoured |
| Tarte tatin | Upside-down caramelised apple tart, often for two and ordered at the start |
One word causes more confusion than any other: entrée. In France it means the starter. On a London menu written by a British kitchen it sometimes means the main course. If the menu has both "entrées" and "mains", read the prices and you will know which convention is in use.
Mussels and oysters are the two French dishes London does particularly well, because the shellfish comes from British and Irish waters and is good. Our guide to seafood and oysters in London has the detail on grades and seasons.
The old-fashioned dining rooms, and what is left of them
La Poule au Pot at 231 Ebury Street, on the edge of Belgravia and Pimlico, is the survivor of a type: heavy curtains, candles, copper pans, dishes that have not changed in decades, and a wine list that is not trying to surprise anybody. It is not cheap and it is not fashionable, and both of those are the point. Book, and ask for a corner table.
Several of the grand French restaurants that once defined London have closed in the last few years, and register entries and guidebooks lag behind. If you have read about a famous French room somewhere else, check that it is still trading before you build an evening around it. Our Pimlico and Victoria guide covers the surrounding streets, which are quieter than they look on a map.
French food in the City, and one with a view
The City of London is where the French brasserie format works hardest, because it suits an office lunch: fast service, a printed menu, a wine list by the glass. Most of it is closed at weekends, which catches visitors out. Coq d'Argent, on the roof of No. 1 Poultry above Bank station, is the French restaurant with the terrace, and our guide to rooftop bars in London prices it and explains the booking.
For assembling French food rather than ordering it, the cheese counters and charcuterie stalls in the big covered markets do the job, and our page on picnic supplies and self-catering explains what to buy and where to eat it. A baguette, a piece of Comté and a bottle from a supermarket costs less than a starter in Kensington, and the parks are free.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a bistro and a brasserie?
A bistro is small, with a short menu that changes often and a limited number of covers; you book, and dishes run out. A brasserie is large, serves a long printed menu all day including between lunch and dinner, and has beer on tap. Brasseries suit odd hours and groups; bistros usually cook better for the money.
Where is the French area of London?
South Kensington, around the Lycée Français on Cromwell Road, the Institut français on Queensberry Place and the shops on Bute Street. French families also live in numbers in Fulham, Chiswick, Shepherd's Bush, Clapham and Blackheath, which is where the neighbourhood French bakeries are.
Is French food in London expensive?
It has the widest price range of any cuisine here. The same city holds fixed-price three-course brasserie menus at the lower end of central London prices and tasting menus at several times the cost of a theatre ticket. Lunch and the fixed-price menu are how you eat at the good end cheaply.
Do I need to speak French in a French restaurant in London?
No. Staff work in English, and menus are in English or bilingual. Knowing a dozen dish names helps you order well rather than helps you communicate, which is why the glossary above is worth two minutes.
What should I order in a London French bistro?
Whatever is written by hand rather than printed, because that is what was bought that morning. Failing that, steak with a cheaper cut such as onglet or bavette, mussels when they are on, and a shared tarte tatin ordered at the beginning of the meal rather than the end.
Sources
- Food Standards Agency - food hygiene ratings search (checked September 2026)
- Food Standards Agency - establishment register, open data API (checked September 2026)
- Institut français du Royaume-Uni - London site and Ciné Lumière (checked September 2026)
- GOV.UK - tips at work and service charges (checked September 2026)