If you're wandering along Turnham Green Terrace looking for Charlotte’s Bistro, do not blink — you’ll miss it. A cliché for sure, but one that applies to this classy eaterie’s tiny frontage.

The Venue
Tardis-like, Charlotte’s Bistro opens up miraculously once you are inside and past the narrow bar area. Stairs lead up to a spacious, elegant restaurant, with a vaulted glazed roof that floods the room with natural light. Simple décor — one wall is finished with white basket-weave tiles — adds to the airy feel, as do the ceiling fans wafting lazily overhead.

The Atmosphere
This is Chiswick, so Charlotte’s is bustling with all sorts of people enjoying cocktails, tapas, fine food and good wine and happily surfing the free wifi. There is a laid-back atmosphere and it would be hard for anyone to feel out of place in such a cosmopolitan setting.

The Food
Charlotte’s Bistro applies a £1 cover charge, which includes good bread and butter — served on a covetable wooden platter — and unlimited still or sparkling water. Which, given the price of bottled water these days, is a pretty good deal. While you nibble on the bread, take your time to peruse the menu, which changes with the seasons. So you may find a tingling fresh salad of goat's cheese and mixed 'heritage' tomatoes, dusted with smoked paprika, served on a generous slice of watermelon and accompanied by sesame crackers (£8). Orange, yellow and blood-red tomatoes are beguilingly sweet, while the juicy melon adds a different dimension of crunch, with both combining to offset the smooth cheese.

Smooth doesn’t come close to describing the Scottish langoustine bisque (£8), which is poured into its bowl at the table in front of you, ensuring it keeps its heat. You may, at first, be disappointed by the apparently small serving, but you’d probably struggle to eat more. The rich, silky bisque is the perfect foil to a chunk of smoked eel, with soft fennel, crunchy green apple and a gossamer-light avocado mousse.

Apple appears — unusually — with lamb, as a main course, in the guise of a log of mint-flecked jelly, whose delicate flavour complements the sweet lamb (£17). Three generous slices of rump sit atop chunky pieces of potato and the dish is further adorned with sweetbreads - delicious little morsels that should feature on far more menus. An accompanying garlic puree is emphatic but doesn’t overpower (although you may find yourself dining alone on subsequent evenings), bright green feve (or broad) beans add colour and a nicely reduced jus is served alongside in its own little jug.

There is little to fault the slow-cooked pork belly (£16), which is served with celeriac puree. Its crackling crackles and its belly is meltingly soft, and it comes with port-wine salsify, a root vegetable that appears rarely these days. Sides of tiny new potatoes, butter slicking their thin skins and speckled with chopped mint, and green beans go nicely with both main courses.

You may think you can’t possibly eat a pudding, but sneak a peek at the dessert menu anyway. Then you might succumb to the irresistible lure of churros, those wicked little doughnut fingers that beg to be dipped into praline, toffee and hot chocolate (£6). You can always wear a swimsuit instead of a bikini… A dense bitter chocolate marquise (£6), with Earl Grey ice cream and praline, isn’t going to help the diet either, but tell yourself you’ll skip lunch tomorrow.

The Drink
A fair amount of vegetation appears in Charlotte’s cocktails, too. An intriguing Herbal Heritage includes basil with Grey Goose vodka, not perhaps an obvious pairing, but it makes for a refreshing — and deceptively healthy-tasting — long drink. A Cucumber Vespa — presumably named for the Bond girl, not the moped — combines the aromatic Hendricks gin with cucumber. With the zip from the former and the zing of the latter, it is as cool and elegant as any Bond heroine. Cocktails range from £6.50 to £9.50, or £4 for the 'abstinent' versions.

Charlotte’s Bistro offers several wines by the 125ml glass. It divides its wines by the bottle by crisp and fresh, aromatic/herbaceous and full and round for the whites, and the reds as light, medium and full. Prices start at £18 a bottle, and the comprehensive list includes wines from Australia, America, Italy, Spain and South Africa. A Chenin Blanc, from is vibrant, fresh and very easy drinking (£18). A cocktail or glass of wine is included in Charlotte’s Bistro’s exceptional early diner deal, which offers three courses from a selection on the main menu for £26 if you arrive between 6-7pm and order within 10 minutes.

The Last Word
Relaxed atmosphere, delightful cocktails and beautiful food — allow yourself to be enticed into Charlotte’s web.

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