Brasserie Gustave: restaurant review | Jay Rayner

With its superb serving of gastronomic classics, Brasserie Gustave is a corner of France. Just a shame its so pricey

4 Sydney Street, London SW3 (020 7352 1712). Meal for two, with drinks and service: £140

Gosh but coming up with ideas for a new restaurant must be exhausting: all that hunting around for cracks in the zeitgeist; all that salami slicing of trends until you have found a plot of gastronomic real estate you can call your own. Spend too long circling the plughole of the internet looking at the endless promotional drivel for each new venture and you begin to understand how a group of otherwise sensible people might commit to their Franco-Peruvian, Korean-sauced steamed-bun-sharing plate, family-style, no reservation, Cantina-tavern concept which is reinventing the dining experience by doing away with chairs to turn dinner into a socially ground-breaking promenade performance.

And all you wanted was dinner.