Les Chats eatery has been restored to its former glory but with a fresh culinary twist. MARION SAUVEBOIS meets the team and owners behind a dining dream

WHEN Bistro Les Chats called time on five years of French savoir-faire in Swindon, rattled foodies cursed a collective ‘Zut alors!’ Cue deep unrest: the Resistance mobilised, took up arms - the cellular kind - and waged a covert war of attrition on owners Phil Saunter and Shareen Campbell (call it relentless pestering) demanding the immediate restitution of the cordon bleu eatery.

Fast forward seven weeks and counting, and they have claimed ‘Victoire’. Last week, Les Chats was restored to its former glory – albeit with a new pan-European fare.

“We were inundated with entreaties to reopen it as soon as possible,” said Shareen. “People emailed, phoned, got in touch on Twitter saying they wanted it back, that they missed it.

“The message we received loud and clear was Swindon needs Bistro Les Chats.”

The decision to fold was not one Shareen and Phil took lightly. But staff shortages eventually forced their hand and in September they announced Les Chats would close for good, allowing them to focus on their other venture, the booming Los Gatos tapas bar on Devizes Road.

“Our chef Simon Barsby, who had been with us almost five years, left in August, then our French chef Lea Sartori got another job and our head waitress got a job at the Bath Priory,” explained Shareen.

“Christmas was looming and we couldn’t find someone fast enough. We had to make a decision: we either muddled through or we closed.

“We didn’t want to stop – this was our French baby. It was a labour of love. But we thought maybe it had come to its natural conclusion. So we decided to focus on Los Gatos.”

Thankfully, a 'Resistant' pulled rank and marched in with a Michelin star-trained chef in tow, ready to take over the kitchen with immediate effect.

Shareen and Phil were certainly tempted. Two weeks later, following a jaunt to France, they recruited Italian-born Alessandro Gianati, his partner of 11 years Valentina Vergari, an experienced front of house waitress and manager, and reassembled the Les Chats team, including former chef Peter Matysek, who had been working at Los Gatos.

“One of our regulars introduced us to this young couple who were looking for a restaurant to work in,” she adds. “We took a short holiday to relax and think about it from a distance.

“While in Spain, we missed Los Gatos and in when in France, we were reminded why we’d opened Les Chats five years ago, and missed it even more.

“We kept thinking about the restaurant and we thought, ‘we’re going to have to open it again’. I had kept some tables set in the window. I think emotionally we never let go of it.

“We decided to open a week later. It was easier this time, more comfortable. We knew what we were doing. It was a question of waking up Sleeping Beauty.”

A departure from Les Chats of old, the bistro is no longer dedicated to traditional French cuisine.

Borrowing from Italian, Iberian, British and French staples, the menu is a composite of the best the continent and our small island have to offer.

“I’m Italian. That’s my background and there is an Italian feel to the menu but it’s not an Italian restaurant,” said 28-year-old Alessandro, who rose through the ranks in his native Bergamo before cutting his teeth in a Michelin star kitchen under chef Paolo Frosio for three years.

“It’s a fusion. That’s what I do. I don’t like putting a label on things.”

Starters and plats de resistance range from saddle of Wiltshire venison and onglet steak – an enduring Les Chats signature dish - to Cornish lobster and pumpkin cappuccino.

Desserts promise intriguing flavour blends with a coconut crème brûlée slathered in passion fruit sauce and hazelnut meringue.

The leap to a more versatile and inventive menu was a long time coming, according to Shareen, and the restaurant had already taken tentative steps away from strictly traditional French food before its untimely closure.

“We wanted to play to Alessandro’s strengths,” she says. “And even before we closed one of the things we’d begun to find restricting is that we had set ourselves that boundary of being a traditional French restaurant. We had already started to broaden the menu and knock down the walls. This is the next step.”

Determined to push the boundaries, Alessandro, who moved to Swindon with his school sweetheart Valentina a year ago, has injected Michelin star flair to the gourmet offering, with three four-course tasting menus: land, sea and garden.

“It wanted something refined,” adds Alessandro. “It’s a step up from the bistro’s old rustic style,” agrees his right-hand man Peter, who joined Les Chats a year and half ago. “But it’s still good humble ingredients presented in a contemporary way.

“Lea and I had already started taking the restaurant the modern European route before. When Les Chats closed I thought that was it. Now we’re back; it’s exciting.” Bistro Les Chats on Wood Street offers express and fixed-price lunch deals as well as a la carte and tasting dinner menus.

It is open for lunch and dinner from Wednesday to Saturday.

To find out more or book a table visit www.leschats.co.uk or call 01793 527082.