Le Café du Marché: A Smithfield French Bistro Turning 40

Le Café du Marché is the kind of french bistro near me answer that people in the City pass on in person rather than online. It sits down a cobbled lane at 22 Charterhouse Mews, Charterhouse Square, Smithfield, London EC1M 6DX, in a converted warehouse with bare brick walls and heavy timber beams. There is no à la carte: dinner is a set menu, two courses for £48 or three for £57, with sharing frites served alongside every main course. In 2026 the restaurant is celebrating its 40th year.

Charlie Graham-Wood founded the restaurant in 1986, and it is still run by his family. His daughter Sophie joined the business in 2011 and now carries it forward. The building has an unusual past of its own. It stands on the foundations of the old Charterhouse coach houses, and before it fed anyone it was used as storage, first by a Clerkenwell bookbinder and later by St Bartholomew's Hospital, whose buildings are a few minutes' walk away.

The restaurant has never tried to be fashionable, which is a large part of its appeal. The menu changes every five to six weeks with the season, the room still looks like the warehouse it was, and the format of a fixed-price menu has stayed the same for decades. The banner on its website simply announces that the restaurant turns 40 this year, which in a part of London where restaurants come and go with every new office block is an achievement in itself.

Finding the door is part of the ritual. Charterhouse Mews is a short, cobbled lane off Charterhouse Square, away from the traffic of Charterhouse Street, so it is worth checking the map before you set off on a dark evening. Inside, the ground floor dining room keeps the brick and beams of the old warehouse on show. The Guardian line quoted on the restaurant's homepage sums it up: bare brick walls and wooden warehouse beams, tucked down a cobbled mews.

Every dinner follows the same structure. Choose two courses for £48 or three for £57; the price covers your starter, main and pudding, and frites arrive for the table with the mains. A few dishes carry supplements. The côte de bœuf for two and the rack of lamb for two each cost £20 extra, and the cheese course costs £6 extra. Extras such as steamed broccoli or spinach are £6.50, and a plate of chocolate truffles with coffee is £6.00.

The October 2026 menu is a good example of the kitchen's style. Starters include soupe de poisson with rouille, the classic fish soup served with garlicky saffron mayonnaise, and a tartiflette maison made with potatoes, bacon and melted cheese. Game appears as soon as the season allows, with roast pheasant or partridge served on choucroute. A glass of NV Renard Barnier Blanc de Noir Champagne costs £14.50 for 12.5cl, a sensible way to start a celebration.

From 7.30pm every evening a pianist plays in the main room, and it sets the pace of the evening: dinner here is meant to be unhurried, with the set menu taking the decisions out of the way so the table can talk. Ask for a table on the ground floor if you want the piano close by, or nearer the door if you prefer a quieter corner.

A spiral staircase leads up to Le Grenier, the loft room on the first floor. It has its own kitchen and bar and takes groups of 15 to 50 seated, or 60 standing, which makes it popular for Christmas parties and leaving dinners. Smaller groups of up to 18 can use the Rendezvous bar area instead. The whole building can be hired for larger events, with the restaurant quoting up to around 100 guests.

Le Café du Marché opens for lunch Tuesday to Friday from 12pm to 2.30pm, and for dinner Tuesday to Saturday from 6pm to 9.30pm, with the restaurant closing at 11pm. It is closed on Sunday and Monday, and there is no Saturday lunch. Tables are booked through SevenRooms on the official website, and it pays to book well ahead for Friday and Saturday evenings or for December.

A discretionary service charge of 12.5% is added to the bill. Budget about £64 per person for three courses before drinks once service is included, more if you order the côte de bœuf supplement. For a business lunch, the same set format applies, so the bill is easy to predict before anyone sits down.

Walk to the end of the mews and you reach Charterhouse Square and The Charterhouse, a Carthusian monastery founded in 1371 that became Thomas Sutton's almshouse in 1611. Its small museum is free and tells the story of the brothers who still live there. On a summer evening the square's plane trees and Georgian fronts make a calm place to wait before your booking.

A five-minute walk south brings you to St Bartholomew the Great on Cloth Fair, founded in 1123 by Prior Rahere and one of the oldest churches in London. Beyond it lie the Victorian market halls of Smithfield, whose ironwork and painted dragons are worth a look even if you never shop there. Barbican station is just around the corner when you are ready to head home.

Address: 22 Charterhouse Mews, Charterhouse Square, Smithfield, London EC1M 6DX. Stations: Barbican and the Elizabeth line at Farringdon are about two minutes away on foot, Farringdon's Underground platforms about five, and Chancery Lane about 12. Set menu: £48 for two courses or £57 for three. Service: 12.5% discretionary. Piano: nightly from 7.30pm. Closed Sunday and Monday.

For a first visit, book a Tuesday or Wednesday dinner at 7.30pm so you arrive as the piano starts, order the fish soup to begin, and share the côte de bœuf with someone who is happy to pay the supplement. Finish with the truffles and coffee, then walk out across the cobbles towards Charterhouse Square.