Cepages

Cepages opened, or technically reopened, in May 2026. It is now run by Gaston Savina, a “MasterChef: The Professionals” finalist. The bistro was originally opened in 2014 by two French brothers, who closed the place at the end of 2025 and left to look after their vineyard in France. Gaston Savina had worked there as a young chef and took it over. It now serves a French version of tapas, and continues to have an emphasis on wine. The name, incidentally, means the grape variety or type of a wine. 

The wine list is not in electronic form, but sample labels were Famille Heraud Mellarium Melon Blanc Muscadet 2021 at £48 for a bottle that you can find in the high street for £45, Chateau La Tour de l’Eveque 2025  Mas de Libian Cotes du Rhone Cave Vinum 2025 at £62 compared to its retail price of £22, and Chateau la Fleur Haut Carras 2016 at £91 for a wine that will set you back £61 in the high street. For those with the means there was Mas de Daumas Gassac 2021 at £135 compared to its retail price of £49, and the very enjoyable Thomas Morey Chassagne Montrachet 2023 at £155 for a wine whose current market value is £61. The 92-bottle wine list started at £48 and went up to £236, with most bottles well under £100.  

Italian artichokes gribiche (£13) were very good. The artichokes were precisely cooked, having good flavour and excellent texture. The gribiche sauce, with its eggs and capers, worked very well with the earthy flavour of the artichokes (14/20). British line caught tuna (£20) was lightly cooked and served with cooked aubergine, in a form that resembled baba ganoush. The aubergine was fine but for me the combination with tuna was a little odd, while tuna is an ingredient that I would always prefer raw to cooked (12/20). Fennel tarte tatin (£19) was lovely. The pastry was delicate and the fennel was very tender. Some additional vegetables including tomatoes and leaves completed a classy dish (15/20).

Foie gras creme brûlée (£15) worked well enough, but the distinctive liver flavour was rather muted (13/20). A small Dover sole (£19) was accurately cooked and came with a tomato, basil and peppercorn beurre blanc. The dish was cooked on the bone, adding umami flavour, and the sauce was well made (14/20). Ox cheek (£61 for two) used meat from the high-quality butcher Lidgates in Holland Park. The meat was slow cooked for twelve hours and flavoured with black truffle.  This Spanish truffle was a true black truffle (tuber melanosporum) but had been preserved. The meat was meltingly tender and nicely lifted by the aromatic truffle, and was accompanied by a lovely deep flavoured jus, which we eagerly mopped up with some bread. The bitter leaves that accompanied the oxtail were a smart move, providing some relief from the richness (15/20).

For dessert, chocolate mousse (£9) used Valrhona Manjuri Madagascay chocolate and had a pumpkin seed praline. The chocolate itself was fine but the pumpkin seeds added a rather odd, grainy texture which I didn’t enjoy. For me this would have been much better as just a plain mousse (12/20).

Service was friendly. The bill came to £247 each but that was mostly wine. If you shared a modest bottle between two and had some water and coffee then a more typical cost per person would have been around £85.