Bouchon Racine

Find this heavenly hideaway on the top floor of a 300-year-old pub in the heart of Farringdon. Ask for a seat on the semi-private indoor balcony area strewn with fairy lights which overlooks the busy Turnmill Street below. Tables are candlelit, the dreamy vibe is '1930s nanna's house' and Henry Harris’s hearty French food is made for seduction; with lashings of cheese, steak and red wine.

London isn’t lacking in French restaurants but we’re confident that Bouchon Racine is the absolute crème de la crème. Everything at this seductive bistro in Farringdon feels like it’s made to be dunked or glugged. A chip into your bavette’s sauce Saint-Marcellin, a tear of baguette into celeriac remoulade, a glass of cognac after the final spoon of sumptuous crème caramel.

And you’re certainly going to need it if you want to dine at Henry Harris’s second iteration of his first beloved restaurant, Racine, because securing a pew will take some time. Though in the words of Nigella Lawson, who’s crowned it “old-school, cosy, comme il faut – but with a spring in its step at the same time”, it’s certainly worth it. Located above The Three Compasses pub in Farringdon, its charming, generously proportioned blackboard menu has become known for searingly good French classics – from pâté de campagne, escargots and tête de veau to showstopping sharing haunches of côte de boeuf and turbot in an array of sublime, lick-the-plate sauces – which will require you to loosen your belt, and feel smug in doing so.

Getting a table here remains an extreme sport, but if you do somehow manage to bag one, your efforts will be spectacularly rewarded. Although the setting is quite different (Farringdon versus Knightsbridge), Bouchon Racine feels like a spiritual continuation on the part of chef-owner Henry Harris, whose original Racine was one of London’s most beloved French restaurants before it closed in 2015. The lengthy blackboard menu reads like poetry: jambon noir de Bigorre; fromage de tête; scallop Provençal… The rabbit that was such a hit at the original Racine is present and correct, as is the saffron mousse with mussels.

The move to this style of cooking, epitomised for me by Fergus Henderson at St John, Henry Harris until recently at Racine, Bruce Poole at Chez Bruce and Jonathon Jones at The Anchor & Hope, is perhaps the final example of how significantly eating out in London has changed for the better. And in many ways this is by far and away the most important change because it signals the emergence not just of a whole cadre of British chefs but also ones who have the confidence and ability to ally their style of cooking with many of the top quality food producers who are simultaneously emerging around the UK.

Chef Henry Harris’s original Racine on Brompton Road was widely adored by London foodies for its loving, uncompromising take on classic French cooking. This chalkboard second act, in a wood-panelled space above the Three Compasses pub in Farringdon, follows happily where the original left off: a greatest hits of garlicky Escargots à la Bourguignonne, grilled rabbit leg or a wobbly creme caramel with Armagnac prunes alongside that tête de veau calf’s head in a broth and herby sauce ravigote. Address: Bouchon Racine, Upstairs, 66 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6BPWebsite:bouchonracine.com

Inspired by the ‘bouchons’ (a hearty, family-run restaurant) of Lyon and the bistros of Paris, Bouchon Racine serves classic bistro fare in a warm, lively setting above the Three Compasses pub in the heart of Farringdon. Chef Henry Harris, renowned for his culinary prowess on the London food scene, has crafted a menu that is both an homage to the classics and a testament to his sense of the zeitgeist (nose-to-tale eating really is back). The chalkboard menu is full of an unending rotation of seasonal food, best enjoyed on a bracing winter's evening with a glass of robust red wine.

Tucked above The Three Compasses pub, Bouchon Racine is a warmly intimate French bistro that channels the spirit of classic Lyonnaise dining. Chef Henry Harris and restaurateur Dave Strauss have transformed a former pub function room into a candlelit sanctuary of vintage charm, complete with blackboard menus, soft lighting, and a stunning glass-roofed veranda that glows both day and night. The rotating menu honours traditional French favourites like rabbit in mustard sauce, escargots, and steak tartare, all crafted with bold flavours and classical technique.

If you liked Henry Harris’ Racine, one of the all-time best French restaurants in London (though sadly now closed), then you’ll probably like Bouchon Racine too. It is Racine reincarnated after all, only styled as a bouchon (a typical Lyonnais restaurant) tucked away on the second floor of a 250 year-old pub in Farringdon. Here, Harris doles out the veritable who’s-who of classic French dishes – côte de boeuf for two with bearnaise sauce, duck confit, crème caramel – alongside a wine list that’s equal in its devotion to France.

What: Henry Harris’ restaurant Racine was sadly-missed when it departed Knightsbridge some years ago, but when it returned in the evolved form of Bouchon Racine, it returned just as good, perhaps even better. This is the place for no-frills, gutsy French cooking, and old favourites like Harris’ calves brains in black butter, steak au poivre, rabbit and mustard, and the famous creme caramel are still alive and well.Where: 66 Cowcross Street, EC1M 6BPBook now: Bouchon Racine

Racine was one of the hottest tickets of noughties dining, the mention of which tends to make middle-aged foodies go all misty-eyed about the perfect renditions of marmite Dieppoise and Mont Blanc knocked out on Knightsbridge by chef-patron Henry Harris. This resurrection of sorts above the Three Compasses pub in Farringdon was the hardest-to-book table of 2023, and still remains something of a difficult get. Don’t worry about the hype — it is entirely justified.

Get whisked away to the bouchons and bistros of France and dig into apéritifs and digéstifs at Bouchon Racine, a classic bistro that serves masterfully created French cuisine. Classic pot-au-feu, boudin blanc, white asparagus Périgord truffle, brill steak with wild garlic and green peppercorn sauce, grilled veal chops…these are just a few of the delights we spotted on the seasonal menu. Get whisked away to the bouchons and bistros of France.

The Eurostar can get you from London to Paris in a hair over two hours, yet the last few years have seen an explosion of elegant bistros on this side of the English Channel. Among them, chef Henry Harris’s Bouchon Racine stands out from the crowd. A reopening of the much-beloved restaurant he ran from 2002–2015, Racine is a gutsy love letter to Lyonnaise cuisine on the second floor of a 300-year-old pub.

: Start with the cheese soufflé before moving on to classic Lyon dishes like the pike quenelle. The wine list is a French treasure trove. Claude Bosi's nouveau-bouchon in Chelsea offers a grand French brasserie experience with dishes like Saint-Félicien cheese soufflé and classic Lyonnaise fare like pike mousse and andouillette

Henry Harris ushered in a new age for traditional French food in London when he revived beloved restaurant Racine, and somehow it seems even more essential now than it was first time around. Perhaps also home to London’s best dessert in the iconic Racine creme caramel.