Club Gascon

Pascal Aussignac's Club Gascon cooks the food of Gascony, the south-west corner of France that runs from Bordeaux down to Bayonne and Toulouse. Aussignac grew up in Toulouse, trained under Gérard Vié, Alain Dutournier and Guy Savoy, and opened the restaurant on West Smithfield with his business partner Vincent Labeyrie in 1998. It has held a Michelin star since 2002. Duck, foie gras, Armagnac and the wines of the south-west run through a menu that lets a table choose three to five plates in any order.

The dining room sits inside a former Lyons tea house, opposite the old meat market. Walls of veined marble survive along one side, set against walnut panelling, velvet banquettes and chairs in mustard and teal. Tall barred windows look out onto West Smithfield.

The whole restaurant takes up to 50 seated for a lunch, dinner, engagement or wedding reception, and the kitchen writes a menu for each event, with wine pairings and a Champagne reception to open. A semi-private room seats ten, and the banquettes along one wall hold a group of up to twenty. Le Bar, the wine bar next door, can be taken with the restaurant for drinks before or after dinner.