Hot Dinners were guests of Sara Galvin's last night at Galvin La Chapelle and we think the food here certainly matches the surroundings. As per reports, this really is a beautiful space - a former girl's grammar school - which has been turned into a very inviting place to eat. We had a guided tour which included the 'private' dining space overlooking the restaurant (takes around 12 guests - good for a special event), and the adjoining Cafe de Luxe where the counter dining set-up made us plot a return visit.

We started with the salad of red leg partridge with pomegranate and maple dressing (complete with shot) and a lasagne of Dorset Crab, chanterelles and chervil. The salad was our kind of salad - heavy on the meat, light on the green stuff, while the lasagne was creamy and frothy, but could have been more a bit more crabby (you know what we mean!).

There were plenty of things we could have chosen from the main courses, but gluttony won out with an order for roast Côte de boeuf, truffle macaroni and Hermitage jus. If this is on the menu when you go - have it, it comes with soft cloves of roast garlic and little slivers of marrow. The beef was flavoursome and tender and the macaroni was a comfort food of wintry delight.

Gavin then had the blueberry souffle with coulis and milk ice-cream to follow, while I took a tour of the cheese platter where a white truffle cheese was the star of the show. We left the wine choice to Andrea the sommelier (formerly of Bentleys and Corrigan's of Mayfair) who picked out an interesting 2006 “La Guerrerie” Clos du Tue-Boeuf, Touraine as well as a couple of glasses of white to accompany the cheese course.

Our overall impression? A new star in the east.

I had been following the opening of the Galvin brothers first venture into the City of London ever since I had a fantastic lunch at their Windows restaurant earlier this year.

I didn’t think that that experience could have been beaten, what with the fantastic views and fabulous food. However, I was pleasantly surprised.

La Chapelle is the fine dining option of two restaurants, the other being Café de Luxe, both being joined together by a super cool bar.

The first impression is one of ‘wow’! The dining room has been expertly converted, retaining the wooden beams in the ceiling as well as exposed woodwork. A mezzanine area makes good use of the space and the overall feeling is one of luxury and style. At last, a true destination restaurant in the hyper trendy Shoreditch area of London.

Although this was only their second day of opening, the whole operation was slick. Whilst there were understandably not many diners, all staff were attentive and helpful.

Chris Galvin himself even came out of the kitchen and spoke passionately and enthusiastically about his career and how both he and his brother Jeff had ended up in East London. All of this showed the personal touch and a real wanting to understand what his customers liked through hands-on feedback.

The menu is typically French Bistro style, along the lines of the Galvins’ other extremely successful restaurants – why change a winning formula? The marinated scallop and Noirmoutier potato starter was a perfect combination and very easy on the eye. The Lasagne of Dorset Crab was equally well presented and was extremely light, a great combination of both textures and flavours.

We opted for the Roast Cote de Boeuf for our main course. Again, the theme continued as the meat was perfectly cooked to medium rare and the truffle macaroni an excellent accompaniment. The Hermitage Jus was so deep and flavoursome that we had to ask for more!

For desserts, the Pear Tart Tatin was amazing, nicely caramalised, and the Chilled Chocolate Fondant excellent, with and great liquidy centre. Being greedy, we also shared a plate of cheese, with our informative host recommending a number of different types, depending on our tastes.

For each course, we asked the sommelier to recommend glasses of wine to compliment the food. Needless to say, each one was spot on and at prices to suit our budget.

The overall experience was an excellent one, all the more impressive as this was only the second day of opening. This restaurant looks like a winner and I am sure will become extremely popular with both the city suits and local residents like ourselves.

We will be back…! Thanks for a great evening M&M