When I was but a young buck and knew very little about either fine dining or the London restaurant scene, I was amazed when I first visited Club Gascon around the time of its opening in the late 1990s. At the time, it was considered one of the coolest places to eat in town. Owing both to where I work and live, I had, however, not revisited until last week (thanks to Square Meal) and have to confess that despite things having moved on a lot in the world of London food, Club Gascon still impressed highly. Although I was told that the place will be getting a refurb this summer (hence the scaffolding outside, as the neighbouring bar and restaurant are merged), I still like the heavy curtain through which one enters, the muted colours and the fact that Club Gascon exudes an air of refinement. The name gives a hint - but just a hint - of what to expect in terms of the food. Think Gascony and we are in South West France, hearty dishes and a lot of foie gras. That said, the chefs here have garnered a deserved reputation for playful inventiveness, and the traditional at Club Gascon is taken and modernised, then presented beautifully. My comrade and I went for the five-course tasting menu at lunch and loved all the dishes on offer. We were also delighted that contrary to many French establishments, my comrade's vegetarian requirements were not considered an after-thought and her dishes equally pleased. Asparagus to start was pitch-perfect and an olive-flavoured ice cream to end also marked a fitting finale. Foie gras also only made one appearance on my menu. We enjoyed our meal with a lovely bottle of wine from St Veran in the Maconnais and noted that the list contained a lot of very competitively priced wines, particularly from less well-known regions. If there were a quibble, then it would perhaps be that the service was somewhat slow, but this can easily be remedied. Hopefully the refurb will see Club Gascon only go from strength-to-strength.