Jeff Galvin is a highly respected British chef, renowned for his classical French culinary training and his successful partnership with his brother, Chris Galvin. Together, they have built the acclaimed Galvin...
Galvin Bistrot & Bar, formerly known as Galvin Bistrot de Luxe, is a French and Mediterranean bistrot located in Spitalfields, London. It is part of the family-run Galvin Restaurants group, founded by brothers Chris and Jeff Galvin. The venue offers vibrant dining and fine wines in a relaxed setting, known for its intimate atmosphere and terrace.
Customer perception is mixed but generally positive. Many praise the spectacular food, intimate service, and beautiful ambiance, highlighting dishes like the burger, beef tartare, and lamb croquettes. The Sunday roast is noted as good value. However, some reviews mention issues with service (forgetfulness, defensive staff), small portions for the price, and inconsistent food quality (tepid mains, overcooked pasta, bland dishes, or poor quality oysters).
Additional Details
Galvin Bistrot de Luxe was considered the spiritual home of Chris and Jeff Galvin's restaurant group. The current iteration at the given location is Galvin Bistrot & Bar. They host events such as terrace launches, featuring specific wine pairings.
The restaurant is suitable for lunch and dinner. Sundays are popular for their competitive Sunday roast. The terrace is ideal during warmer months.
Awards & Recognition
Best Restaurant Terraces in London
Very Reliable and Enjoyable Old-Style Bistrot (Hardens)
3
Slightly mixed experience. The waitress was very nice and friendly but a bit forgetful and there was an error with the bill which was corrected quickly. They weren’t terribly busy so not really sure why. The £1 happy hour oysters were tiny and actually looked rotten and didn’t taste very good- avoid. The lobster pasta was tasty but the pasta itself was overcooked. Beef tartare and lamb croquettes were 😘👌🏼
No wine list to see by the glass so you didn’t know prices you just had to order from them and they all smelled highly sulfurous which was bizarre…..
We attended the launch of the Galvin Bistro and Bar Terrace launch with Sainte Marguerite Rose wine.
This was the opening night if the season and thanks to all the Gavin Bistro and BBC ar team it was a great event.
A big thank you to Nick and the team who looked after us in great style with bottomless Sainte Marguerite Rosé and unlimited Canapes.
We shall certainly be back to enjoy the terrace and fantastic service.
Well done to all the team at Galvin Bistro and Bar Spitalfield.
Came here to eat with my friend, the food was spectacular, the waiters as well as the chefs came to the table asking how the food was. The service felt very intimate and homely. Will come back again. Thank you for the lovely meal. The food was honest and spot on.
We had a great meal here and left quite full. The burger was amazing but I'd recommend anything on the menu. They have a Sunday roast two courses for £33 which is very price competitive for the area. The restaurant is intimate and beautiful. Also the house wine was tasty.
Mixed experience. Might have scored higher if it weren't for the fact that it was quite pricey for tiny portions, and the bad attitude of the servers when we reported problems, mostly of an organizational nature, with the mains.
My starter of cured sea bream from the raw section of the menu was excellent. Sauce of ponzo diluted with cold tomato consomme was perfectly balanced. I loved the unidentified green leaves that dressed fish. They had a flavour that complimented seafood beautifully. Portion was very modest. My companion was happy with his two little items from the bites section of the menu. Sardine pincho was very fresh and vegetale, and he liked the mushroom and truffle arancini. I tried a bite of both and personally found the arancini stodgy.
There was some confusion because my companion originally wanted a pizzetta as main, despite the waitress warning him that the portion was small. He became wary after seeing the very dainty portion sizes of the starters. An order of vegetarian pasta was added to his order before arrival of the pizzetta, which apparently confused the kitchen regarding delivery sequence for the remaining food.
The pizzetta with taleggio and prosciutto was indeed tiny and served cold. In that respect my companion was happy he had augmented his order with warm pasta. The pizzetta bite I tried tasted mostly of parma ham, so serving cold made sense, but calling it a pizzetta instead of cold ham on toast was misleading.
My main order of the signature burger and creamed spinach both arrived tepid. The spinach was seriously under seasoned and bland. Burger was tasty despite being lukewarm at best. My companion's pumpkin and and Vacherin pasta was the worst dish of the night. Cold, overcooked and sickly sweet. I think the flavour profile would have been vastly improved by a sprinkle of fried capers to add a pop of contrast to the sweetness. I sampled a bite and could discern cheesiness but not Vacherin in particular.
When asked about our food we short listed some of our problems with tepid food as well as with the pumpkin pasta. We were surprised that serving staff, instead agreeing to report the problems to the kitchen, got defensive. Our waitress explained that there were lights to keep the dishes warm. We had seen the salamanders positioned way too high on the pass to be effective, given how long our orders waited there. A manager came to explain that pumpkin is indeed sweet so we shouldn't be surprised by sweetness of the vegetarian pasta.
We won't be back. The cheapest bottle of red was incidentally £42. It's an elegant room.