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Critic rating
Reader rating
Description: Soren Jessen's "sophisticated but friendly" Belle Epoque-style yearling has been "a happy addition to the Chelsea scene"; it offers "competent" Gallic fare, plus an "overwhelming" (and, perhaps, "overpriced") wine list.
Food: 
Service: 
Ambience:
Phone: 020 7225 2555
Website: http://www.papillonchelsea.co.uk
Open: Open for lunch from 12:00 to 15:00 Monday to Friday, and 12:00 to 16:00 on Saturday and Sunday. Open for dinner from 18:00 to 24:00 Monday to Friday, and 18:00 to 22:00 on Sunday.
Dress code: Smart Casual
Good for: Romantic meals, Good food, Ambience.
Payment options: All major cards accepted
A grumpy man wrote to me recently: I had objected to the middle-aged-snogging, boozy-bellowing, smoke-spewing and altogether oafish punters in his establishment.
Can you, he asked waspishly, review customers? Well, of course you can.
We review restaurants and restaurants are about so much more than food. Which is why, despite a menu that didn't knock us senseless with innovation or outrè ingredients, we are giving Papillon four stars.
This is a belter. Take the customers (OK, Mr Grumpy?). Anyone shallow enough to thrill to the glossies' party pages couldn't help but be entranced.
Exotic creature after exotic creature wafted through the doors - from brittle, glittery posh totty to Kissingerish oldies - the whole bunch dusted with a scintillating veneer of Eurotrashiness. Rubbernecker heaven.
Then there's the interior by Russell Sage, better known as a fashion designer.
He has created something that looks like a venerable Parisian bistro crossed with the atelier of a histrionic, luxury-loving and slightly camp couturier.
Dozens of softly glowing glass lampshades illuminate rich fabrics, polished wood and allround gorgeousness.
Long French windows are thrown open to covetable street tables. OK, I'm gushing - but, as Papillon's denizens would likely drawl, I am loving it.
I think I ate chef David Duverger's cooking at Beauberry House in Dulwich (recently made-over yet again) and was less than kind.
Either he wasn't in the kitchen that day or his ability has come on in leaps and bounds.
Quenelles of trout (poached dumplings) came as one surprisingly large, pneumatic brute in a pool of foamed Sauce Nantua (creamy crayfish).
Then its twin arrived in another dish - a piece of eccentric generosity. They were subtle and springy.
My circle of foie gras torchon in a cut-out brioche was like a millionaire's Gala Pie: luxurious comfort food.
In fact, the menu bears a legend in French that translates as 'That which is most difficult to make is usually the easiest to eat', which made me think of old rich people with troublesome teeth.
A suspicion borne out by a gloriously trembly cheese soufflè 'en croute' crowned with an equally wobbly poached egg and some immaculately dressed leaves with apple and walnut.
More foaminess in a main of braised Dover sole: the small fish, though a shade overcooked, came with the light touch of a frothed petit pois sauce.
Papillon is owned by Soren Jessen, no stranger to a gilded, moneyed crowd.
He also owns 1 Lombard Street in the City and Kilo Kitchen And Bar (plus the distinctly odd Graze in Maida Vale).
This, his most attractive restaurant, comes without fanfare. Normally, Jessen's openings are accompanied by an avalanche of press releases - but this one has slunk on to the scene with an apologetic air.
Perhaps he has been burned by previous critical savagings (Graze...) and is lying low. Or we could believe what we're told - that it's trying to be 'a great local restaurant'.
Well, it has failed. Sorry guys, but this has destination written all over it.
I liked the surroundings, the menu, the wine (a Gr¸ner Veltliner from an astonishing list of more than 700 bottles, all with reasonable mark-ups). It's open for breakfast and has vegetarian choices (try getting that in Paris).
I liked the service, especially the delightful ma"tre d', Phillippe Messy, and the buzz from the attractive customers. And old Grumpy Chops can stick that in his pipe and smoke it.
Meal for two with wine, water and service costs about £110.
Papillon, 96 Draycott Avenue SW3. Tel: 020 7225 2555.
Tube: Sloane Square
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
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