Café François, London SE1: ‘A new London landmark’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants

This could well turn into Borough Market’s most useful rendezvous point

I booked Café François in London’s Borough Market for a birthday lunch, despite it having been open for only a few days and knowing precisely nothing about its menu, decor or ambience. This says much about my fondness for its predecessor, Maison François over in St James’, which has long been near the top of my “dependably fancy” and “classy but not pompous” lists. If Maison François is a grande dame living on an exclusive street and serving oeuf en gelée and côtelette de porc, then Café François is her giddier, multi-floored petite fille, who lives in a permanently hectic tourist thoroughfare and serves crisp frogs’ legs, croque monsieur and three types of eclair.

If you’ve experienced British secondary school French lessons without coming across the words “croque monsieur” (AKA a melted cheese and ham sandwich), something has gone awry. Café François’ croque mixture, however, oozes from a hot, fresh flatbread, which also come topped with moules marinière or lamb merguez.

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