Menuwatch: Restaurant Richard Wilkins

Chef Richard Wilkins is championing classic French cuisine in the suburbs of Essex, reports Neil Gerrard

The main shopping parade, Buckhurst Hill in Essex, on the tail end of the Central Line, has so many Range Rovers parked along it that it looks like one extended luxury car dealership.

You can see why Richard Wilkins, director and chef of his eponymous restaurant, thought it might be a good place to set up shop. Opening late last year with the help of three shareholders, he has invested £100,000 to convert what was once a clothes shop to a miniature upscale eaterie with 26 seats and an ambition to turn the local population on to the delights of fine dining, making few concessions to the current trend towards more casual dining environments.