P M 24

A dramatic space with soaring concrete walls, glamorous red banquettes and evocative laneway windows, P M 24 provides an urbane canvas for Philippe Mouchel's assured bistro menu. For an indulgent beginning, plump mussels and gorgeous heirloom tomatoes huddle in a spiced, golden veloute, heady with saffron. Lighter is a pretty tumble of salmon gravlax with delicate, colourful carrot crisps and noodles, a quintessentially Mouchel Franco-Nippon success. From the impressive red rotisserie comes the justly famous roast chicken with crunchy potatoes or a blushing pink lamb rack with smoky eggplant. Herb-flecked, sauteed Parisienne gnocchi with crisp, seasonal vegetables or an ever-changing seafood special - maybe poached king salmon with a yuzu aioli - confirm that P M 24 is about more than meat. A quenelle of snowy rosemary sorbet melting atop steaming apricot clafoutis is pure P M 24. classic and modern, casual and refined - and very, very good.