Brasserie Olivia is French institution Nouvelle Gardeโ€™s first foray out of their home country. Landing just off of Sloane Square with more white tablecloths, atmospheric candles, and mosaic-tiled floors than you can shake a stick at, theyโ€™ve really excelled at making Chelsea feel like the Boulevard Saint-Germain.

The menu takes the theme and runs with it, offering French classics like lโ€™escargot (or snails, to any non-French speakers reading this), onion soup and steak tartare, alongside some classics for the less adventurous palate.ย 

If youโ€™re only going to try one thing outside of your English comfort zone though, weโ€™d recommend the snails. Coming drenched in parsley butter and perfectly cooked, we could have eaten twice as many without pausing for breath. Youโ€™ll absolutely want some bread to mop up the sauce, too. The duck hearts are likewise less intimidating than they sound, coming delicately speared on skewers with a yoghurt and harissa sauce. Heart is easy to overcook, but thereโ€™s no shoe-leather consistency on offer here, with the dish being barbecued to perfection.

Main courses trend towards the traditional, with classics like sausage and mash elevated by a reliance on seasonal, high-quality ingredients. We opt for the beef fillet, which comes with a very generous helping of fiery peppercorn sauce, along with a decent portion of fries to soak it all up. The beef itself is cooked perfectly, melting in the mouth but still seared on the outside for that charcoal flavour.ย 

The lobster is just as expertly cooked and served, coming with a couple of lemon-scented wipes as a silent plea to get stuck in with your fingers once youโ€™ve stripped all the meat you can with your cutlery. Itโ€™s an expensive dish – it is lobster, after all – but with a bavette steak and chips for just over ยฃ20 and sausage and mash coming in a fiver less than that, thereโ€™s plenty of options which donโ€™t break the bank.ย 

For dessert thereโ€™s really only one option, with Nouvelle Gardeโ€™s famous Paris-Brest making it across the channel. Choux pastry teetering on top of an absolute mound of praline cream studded with roasted hazelnuts, itโ€™s absolutely incredible, if a little messy to actually eat.

From its picture-perfect interior to its subtle twists on classic French dining, plus some of the friendliest staff weโ€™ve encountered in a while, Brasserie Olivia is the perfect date night spot. As an added bonus, it really doesnโ€™t have to be as expensive as you might expect from its Chelsea location and sumptuous decor. Make the pilgrimage to Sloane Square and find out for yourself. You wonโ€™t regret it.

For more information on Brasserie Olivia, see here

1 Sloane Square, London SW1W 8EE