Sometimes, almost everything about a restaurant works. Josephine is that restaurant – so pitch perfect and so on brand that it could be a movie set – preferably one with Catherine Deneuve flitting about while sweetly sloshing vino. Josephine is pretty and cute, but maintains an edge of robust Gallic urgency; all is in its right place, from the starched white tablecloths to the burgundy leather banquettes, elegant taper candles and walls plastered with far too many Toulouse Lautrec-esque prints. If Disneyland were to craft a ‘wine-sodden French bistro’ this would be the blueprint. If we could change anything? We’d simply get it the hell out of Fulham. We’re only a few months into 2024, but Josephine’s owner and founder Claude Bosi is already having quite the year. Brooklands, the storied chef’s very pricey and peculiarly Concorde-themed restaurant at the equally pricey Peninsula hotel – was just awarded two Michelin stars, despite only opening at the end of 2023. Josephine then, is his second new restaurant in six months, and you’ll find it 15-minutes walk away from Bibendum, his other two-star Michelin restaurant. There’s also the lavish Socca which he opened a year ago in Mayfair. When, we ask, does the man sit down? Flavours are as full-bodied as a ruddy-faced Serge Gainsbourg after a Syrah binge In comparison to the others, Bossi’s latest opening is low key. It’s a small – perhaps too small, going by the way I have to shift our tightly packed two-top table and almost wipe
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