The French House

Nowhere in the vicinity of Dean Street has as many stories as The French House. Not even Foyles. Open since 1891, London’s most famous pub and dining room is an interactive historical attraction where everyone wants a drop of the Soho institution’s mythology. Or better still, to make some of their own.

The stories inside this place are always changing, but what makes The French special are the things that stay the same. Crispy half-pints of Meteor, peerless steak frites, and London’s finest location for the longest of lunches. 

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

First opened in 1891, The French House traded hands with a German and a Belgian before its legendary landlord, Gaston, took over in the late ‘80s. Nowadays, it’s run by a woman called Lesley and the crowd isn’t exactly Sylvia Plath and Lucien Freud. You’ll get bankers, beret-wearing thesps, drunks, and dithering tourists. Even so, squeezing into The French’s rickety wooden bar and ordering a half remains one of London’s great joys.

Up The French’s creaking staircase is where you’ll find the petit dining room. It’s a discrete space suited to illicit romances or plotting of a diabolical nature. The menu changes daily, but it’s always hearty, tasty food that you’ll daydream about eating in the Dordogne countryside, like rillettes with dinky cornichons, and chocolate and rum mousse. A spoon of this rich, freakishly airy creation will have you calling for a celebratory glass of sauternes in no time.

photo credit: Giulia Verdinelli

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

photo credit: Giulia Verdinelli

Steak frites Thursdays at The French House are a must—because eating impeccable rib-eye and crispy fries looking out onto Dean Street is as cool as it gets. Yes, dinner in this low-lit cave is romantic, but in Soho, the long lunch reigns supreme and boudoirs like this one are the reason why.

Some people want to become a character in The French’s legend. To have their own seat at the bar. To drink champagne and eat madeleines with the chefs after service. That would be nice, but no one likes a try-hard. Just go and become a part of the story—and eat seriously good steak frites while you’re at it.

Food Rundown

A Note On The Menu

The French House’s menu changes daily. Things like rillette, confit garlic, and goat’s curd on toast, or a variation on a mousse tend to be regulars, but fish and meat mains come and go.

photo credit: Giulia Verdinelli

A Rillette

A good rillette is a foolproof starter and The French’s is a fine example. Rich, forkable meat that’s waiting to be dolloped onto toast with a cornichon on top. A classic.

photo credit: Jake Missing

Steak Frites

Every Thursday, The French serves steak frites. Picture it: beef rump cap sitting in a shimmering puddle of garlic and bone marrow gravy. Pink meat and brown sauce. It’s perfect. The French House’s fries are serious too. For some, fries aren’t as good as chips. But these ones are crisp-like in their crunch and well, chip-like in their fluff.

Aligot

Although this cheese-laced mash could be even cheesier, it’s another fine example of The French turning something fairly basic into a word you might shout from a balcony at someone you’ve never met but are sure you love.

photo credit: Giulia Verdinelli

A Chocolate Mousse

Simultaneously rich, light, and almost always laced with booze, The French House’s chocolate mousse is one of London’s standout desserts. The chocolate and alcohol changes—sometimes it’s rum, sometimes it’s whisky—but what’s guaranteed is one of the most decadent and luscious spoonfuls in town.

A Paris-Brest

In the pantheon of classic French desserts, a paris-brest is very much up there. This has delicate, crisp pastry, is filled with chocolate cream, and is ready to be draped in a rich chocolate sauce.