Wikipedia tells us that in 1896 a M. Georges Gaud...

Wikipedia tells us that in 1896 a M. Georges Gaudin established a restaurant at the bottom end of Greek Street called Le Bienvenue. He became famous for his snails and was the first restaurant in England to serve the great delicacy. When in 1927 he moved to larger premises at 48 Greek Street, his customers implored him to rename his restaurant L Escargot after his most popular dish.



One could be forgiven for expecting the service in a typically French restaurant, particularly one named L Escargot to be a little sluggish. But not a bit of it; the (mostly) French waiters were both friendly and efficient - perhaps if a French waiter is not surly enough to be employed at a restaurant in Paris, he gets sent to work in London as sort of penance. All the better for us if that is the case.

One facet of the restaurant that did stand out, and in a good way, was that all the diners seemed to be really enjoying themselves, in a well-mannered though mildly Rabelaisian way that one could imagine Monsieur Gaudin s Edwardian customers doing behind closed doors.