La Petite Maison

The London offshoot of one of Nice's most feted and famous restaurants, La Petite Maison has breezy, white-painted walls, waiters in striped aprons, and trademark table centrepieces of fresh lemons and tomatoes. It certainly looks the part - as do the customers, with their open-necked shirts, prosperous tans, and conversations revolving around yachts and golf. (The smaller tables along the banquette are a tight squeeze, so expect to leave with a working knowledge of your neighbour's handicap.)

The kitchen offers polished takes on time-honoured Niçois classics, such as pissaladière - artfully reinvented as dainty little rectangles, topped with lusciously buttery onion, a dot of black olive and symmetrical slivers of anchovy. Crab and lobster salad evinced a similar finesse, and served on ice was almost too pretty to eat. Mains were simpler, but no less delicious - though salt-baked sea bass couldn't compete with our honey-marinated chargrilled lamb cutlets paired with silky, smoky aubergine purée.

The downside, alas, is the eye-watering prices (over £30 for many of the mains), with myriad little extras on top: £5.50 for a simple side dish, say, and a 13.5% service charge. Add a seriously expensive wine list, and, rather soberingly, you'll pay the best part of a train fare to Nice for the meal.