db Eats: Chez Vous

While the capital may be heaving with French fine dining restaurants, it’s not the only part of the UK where you can enjoy perfectly cooked coq au vin.

Enter Chez Vous in Warlingham, Surrey, which opened a year ago. Housed in a quaint, flint-fronted, eight-room B&B formed from a converted cottage, the 78-cover space is the first fine dining restaurant from the Surrey-based catering company of the same name.

Managed by Chez Vous Events’ founder, Martin Bradley, who has worked stints at both The Savoy and The Hilton Park Lane, the group’s maiden restaurant is headed up by French chef and co-owner Laurent Pacaud, whom Bradley plucked from popular local restaurant La Barbe in Reigate, where he was at the helm for 27 years.

Jean-Paul Deville Carte Noir Brut

The sleek dining space is dotted with aubergine banquettes and lime green corduroy chairs, while the white walls are brightened by bold abstract paintings by Dutch contemporary artist Bettina Stuurman. The seasonally-focused menu, tweaked every two weeks, combines traditional French and modern British cuisine served in a relaxed atmosphere – service is warm and welcoming, with not a starched collar in sight.

Visiting on a chilly autumn evening, proceedings begin in the lounge bar with a bottle of grower Champagne, Carte Noire Brut from Verzy, from rising star Jean-Paul Deville. Made from 70% Pinot Noir from grand cru vineyards, the fizz had impressive power but remained attractively elegant, with notes of buttered toast, biscuit and brioche enlivened by a refreshing mineral core.

Settling into one of the cosy banquettes, I opt to start with honey roasted pigeon with French beans and hazelnuts (£8.50). Prettily presented with Miró-like etchings fashioned from the accompanying sweet balsamic sauce, the boldly flavoured, honey-laced pigeon was perfectly pink, while the beans added freshness and crunch, along with a poppy seed-flecked, shard-shaped crisp.

Slow roast pork belly and pork fillet

For the main event, I couldn’t resist the lure of slow roast pork belly and pork fillet served with caramelised onion mash and a tarragon-mustard sauce (£15.95). With its crispy crackling outer shell, the rich, fatty belly triumphed over the mild mannered, pillow-soft fillet. Served with an umami-rich Parmesan tuile, the intensely oniony mash was both curious and delicious, as was a decadent side of creamy Comté cauliflower cheese – an inspired union.

On the wine front, while it may not have been the best match for the pork, I was drawn to a 2008 Coonawarra Cabernet from Berton Vineyards. The nose displayed the signature notes of blackcurrant, fresh mint and eucalyptus the Southern Australian region’s Cabernet’s are famous for. The dense, opulent palate meanwhile, boasted notes of violet, mint and tobacco leaf wrapped around velvety tannins.

Sticking to the Gallic script for dessert, an amaretto crème brûlée (£7.50) didn’t disappoint. Smooth, creamy, and flecked with vanilla seeds, the addition of almond was astutely judged, enhancing rather than overpowering the pud.

Attracting diners from Oxted to Croyden, Chez Vous is well worth the detour, offering London-standard dishes without the steep city price tags. The diverse, fairly marked up wine list is evenly weighted between the Old and New World, and if you’re seduced by the primary coloured canvases on the walls you can walk away with one, as each of Stuurman’s paintings are for sale.

Chez Vous, 432 Limpsfield Road, Warlingham, Surrey, CR6 9LA, +44 (0)1883 620 451.