Villandry

Villandry was bought by Le Pain Quotidien founder Philippe Le Roux in mid 2011, but there were no significant changes to the formula by autumn. The charcuterie area is still packing them in at lunchtimes, with a menu that includes salads and sandwiches as well as meat, cheese and vegetarian platters.

The menus in the bar area and airy restaurant at the back have changed little, and feature fine ingredients from the British Isles such as Loch Duart salmon and 28-day dry-aged Galloway beef, along with classic European favourites such as moules frites. We tried a summer special of seared salmon with new potatoes, asparagus and peas in herb mayonnaise, while sitting at a linen-cloth covered table in the restaurant. The fish and asparagus were cooked to perfection, but some of the potatoes tasted like they'd been reheated. A strawberry tart to follow was excellent, and chocolate truffle petits fours substantial enough to have been pudding in their own right.

At the front, the foodstore continues its decline, with everything breathtakingly expensive; however, items from the on-site bakery are very reasonable, with pain au chocolat at £1.60 and chocolate torte at £2.10. The incongruous baby shop has gone, but the takeaway area is still going strong, selling stir-fries and falafal wraps to order (a bit dry on our last try). Service throughout this Great Portland Street monolith remains personal and friendly even when busy, so in all, there's no sign of it crumbling yet.