One-Minute Restaurant / Studio Gauthier, Fitzrovia
Is this the best new (vegan) restaurant in London? You can bet your bottom it is!
So, where are we?
That once-café at the BFI building on Stephen Street, a three-minute walk from Tottenham Court Road Tube if you’ve got your trot on.
And where we’re eating...?
Studio Gauthier, the latest in the growing mini-empire helmed by vegan chef Alexis Gauthier, who has put one hell of an oomph in 100% plant-based cuisine (‘food’, if you’re in a more prosaic mood) in London with his rather wonderful Gauthier Soho, his more approachable fast-foody 123V inside v-fancy department store Fenwick over on New Bond Street, and his in-house development kitchen that’s constantly conjuring up wondrous cruelty-free, planet-friendly food stuffs.
What’s the style?
A joy of colour and comfort, with a playful mix of café-style tables and lush, green, velvety come-up-and-enjoy-me booths that, on our night, were rammed with delighted punters. Very delighted indeed. There’s a plant-filled terrace out the back, a wine list MC’d by a very lovely sommelier from Virginia, the 123V Bakery just by the entrance if you only have time to swing by for your vegan treats, and staff that are nothing shy of wonderful.
And the food?
We refer you to our tagline up there. Probably – definitely – the best meal we’ve had in a long, long time. Vegan or otherwise. We kicked off with the dainty Brioche Feuilletée with Piperade – slightly heartier than an amuse-bouche, more showbiz than a bread roll – coming with side of sweet red peppers, and were this close to having a Tom Cruise-on-Oprah’s-sofa turn. Quite how they get the bun so buttery is a thing of wonder. Next up the Black Kelp Gauthier Caviar with blinis and sour cream (quite how they get the caviar so, well, caviar-y, ditto), the Sushi Tacos with shredded Hoison soy duck [insert more superlatives here] and then the Pithivier D’Été, a puff-pastry pie laden with summer mushrooms with a deep and fruity side-salad for good measure. Pudding was strawberries, meringue and cream. Because of course it was! And for our drinking pleasure it was the light and red and biologique Les Trois Fontaines, which we’ve since bulk-ordered from a reputable wine cellar near you.
Is there a story?
We could plant-based-wax lyrical about the seen-the-light vision of Alexis Gauthier, who turned his Michelin-starred and very meaty Gauthier Soho on Romilly Street 100% vegan back in 2021. ‘Choosing plant-based is the most direct and powerful action you can take to directly affect the world more positively,’ says Monsieur Gauthier, for which we doff our cap to him. And the fact that’s he’s French makes it even more remarkable (our chums over the Channel ain’t that au fait with the vegan thing, though it’s creepingly getting better).
So, to sum up...
Seriously big flavours, seriously big fun, seriously good karma. Pop a halo on that man’s head!
