Elena's L'Etoile (Restaurant)

Does he have a beard? Does he wear glasses? Does he look like someone you'd be alarmed to see hanging around outside a primary school? All these questions will be familiar to anyone who has ever played the board game Guess Who - or indeed anyone who has ever eaten at Fitzrovia's Elena's L'Etoile, its restaurant equivalent.

Maybe that's not true, but I just can't imagine someone visiting this French bistro with walls festooned with cheaply-framed pictures of their celebrity customers, without feeling the urge for a game. The rules are simple. Select one of the photos from the wall then give your companion clues from which to guess the identity of said celeb. 'They're an Oscar winning actress' say, or 'a soap star more recently seen encouraging you to consolidate your debts into one easy monthly payment.'

You see, Elena's is big on equal opportunities for the famous. The likes of Dame Judi Dench and Sean Connery sit contently alongside an entire wall of EastEnders actors past and present. Precious wall space is even made for Alan Fletcher who plays Dr Karl Kennedy in Neighbours, plus his fictional wife Susan and another character from the soap which even I couldn't identify, even though that was totally my era. It's a veritable 'who's who' with a fair few 'who's he?' thrown in for good measure. I was half tempted to tell them that I played a nurse on Holby City to see if they'd stick my face up there, gurning out between Cliff Richard and Pauline Quirke.

Silliness aside, Elena's is actually a very grown up restaurant. Apart from the photos, the decor is, depending on your outlook, reminiscent of a charming bygone era, or just plain shabby. The walls are nicotine yellow, there are exposed power sockets, and clunky air-con units. My nan would say that the art deco lamps and huge bevelled glass mirrors could do with a good going over with a damp cloth. Yet somehow this very 'meh', very French style of interior design, once combined with the red velvet chairs, starched table clothes and gleaming silverware feels enchanted with an old school glamour.

Anyway, Elena's has earned the right to look a bit tatty round the edges. Open for over 100 years, it's a legend of London restaurant scene and with all the shiny-shiny new joints that must have come and gone around it on Charlotte Street over the years, is it any wonder that Elena's has jealously guarded the cosy faded lustre that has contributed to it's staying power? But of course a few art deco lamps and the eyes of hundreds of actors bearing down on you is not enough to make a restaurant so well-loved.

Amongst London foodies the eponymous maitre d' Elena Salvoni is as famous as the stars that she's plastered her walls with. More so. Despite turning 90 this month she still works in the dining room, after an epic career in Soho eateries stretching back to the 1940s. Everyone (Stephen Fry, EastEnders' Pat Beale-Wicks-Butcher-Evans, and now me...) knows Elena's name is the mark of true quality.

The food here is French cuisine at it's very best, at once classic with modern and well-executed twists. My starter of three blini had uncommonly thick-cut smoked salmon and was exceptional in it's simplicity. My guest's honey and pepper roasted duck was proclaimed rich and soft, and the apple tart with calvados, was 'the best I've ever tasted'.

The service was excellent, and noticing that I looked like someone who'd very recently edged closer to 30, the kitchen piped 'happy birthday' around my thick chocolate truffle tart in yet more chocolate. Let me tell you, I felt special, like, say, Twiggy. Or Eamonn Holmes.

It's not cheap with most of the main courses nudging £20, but even if you haven't got the earning power of Melvyn Bragg or that Mavis woman from Corrie in the 90s, you should still go along and treat yourself. I guarantee, it will be a treat.

It's just like I always say. If it's OK by Alan Fletcher who plays Dr Karl Kennedy in Neighbours, then it's OK by me....read more