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The name's a joke, but Chez Bruce upholds the sizzling standards of its predecessor, Harvey's, says Emily Green
How to recommend a south London restaurant named Chez Bruce? It sounds like a suburban horror. Almost as ill-conceived are the decorations. As an architect friend studied the unlikely use of bars over a dungeon- effect ceiling recess and next to the kitchen door, he remarked, "This place looks like a Mexican prison." To this I would only add that it would be one where Claudia Cardinale could send out for bubble bath.
As design flaws go, this one is so amateurish as to be endearing. Its absurdity is highlighted because the rest of the fittings - simple bistro stuff - could have been pinched from the set of Allo, Allo. And, as if these cross-cultural references were not quite enough, the loopy rope- effect brass doorhandles date from yet another era, the late Eighties, when the restaurant was called Harvey's, and at the back of the fairy- tale-pretty dining-room, Marco Pierre White famously ran the hottest kitchen in catering.
Although Mr White has been gone from Wandsworth for two years, up until two weeks ago the place was still called Harvey's and there are still certain popular...