Le Cercle

A western partner of the Club and Comptoir Gascons in Smithfield, Le Cercle eschews its confrères' bustle for an atmosphere more suited to a spot just off Sloane Square - smart, multinational, a little brittle and very well heeled. Service is solicitous and the decor mellow, in a high-ceilinged basement with a long bar, clean lines, soft colours and semi-oriental details in wall motifs and flower arrangements. On a mezzanine off the deep staircase is a romantically chic and snug lounge area.

The carte and set dinner menus are suitably luxurious, but there are also more accessible lunch and pre- and post-theatre meals. Shorter menus in places like this often seem offered as a kind of obligation, and leave you wishing you'd splashed out on the carte, but there's none of that here. Exquisitely served vanilla salmon mousse had a fabulously expansive, complex flavour, and, to follow, vegetarian ravioli of two cheeses with braised chicory was magnificent, in a sumptuous truffle sauce (the kitchen clearly has a way with truffles: fittingly, given the group's Gascon roots). Overall, this was a gourmet experience disguised as a light lunch. The wine list is long, classy and predominantly French, with a select range by the glass.