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Bites

A Classic London Restaurant Gets a Makeover and a New Mission

Prawn with vegetable dumplings in a pesto consommé. Claude Bosi brings thoughtful and precise dishes full of color and flavor to Bibendum.

The rubbery corporate mascot we know as the Michelin Man actually has a name: Bibendum, drawn from a Latin phrase once used in the tire company’s advertising: “nunc est bibendum,” best translated as “time for a drink” — odd advice, perhaps, for drivers, but good news for diners.

Bibendum is also the name of the restaurant that the designer and tastemaker Terence Conran and the publisher Paul Hamlyn opened in 1987 in Michelin House at the edge of London’s Chelsea neighborhood. Michelin built this ornate headquarters-cum-service-station in 1911, incorporating exuberant tire and motoring imagery into its design, including the big Bibendum-themed stained glass windows that account for much of the airy second-floor dining room’s whimsical charm (there’s informal dining on the ground floor).

This year saw a total renovation and reopening under a prominent new chef and partner: The room looks more open, with sleek gray leather banquettes on either side of the large front window and the elimination of a tall serving console that used to dominate the space. Happily, the stained glass remains, along with plenty of Michelin Man knickknacks. And the sign over the door now reads “Claude Bosi at Bibendum.”

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Bibendum dining room.

Thirty years ago, the menu listed uncommonly well-prepared French classics with a light English accent. Today the kitchen, glassed in and visible to diners, produces the kind of elegant food for which Mr. Bosi gained high regard at his previous restaurant, Hibiscus (which garnered two Michelin stars): modern dishes (and a few traditional favorites) that have been meticulously considered and cooked — but that, for all the thought and precision, remain bright and full of flavor.

Take the turbot Grenobloise. During a late spring visit, the firm fish had been coaxed into an even oval shape and set on a foundation of crushed potatoes and brown butter enlivened by lemon and capers and lent texture by crisped bread fragments. With a frothy sauce based on the same ingredients, the dish neatly combined high style with irresistible deliciousness.

There was sweetness in many dishes and pre-dinner snacks, but always as part of a coherent package of flavors. A springtime starter of white asparagus, for instance: The plump spears were topped with crunchy shards of candied almond and accompanied by a fruity hibiscus cream, but the cream was tart and the asparagus — slowly cooked and slightly smoky from a burnt-hay butter — uncannily savory, creating a satisfying balance.

No less well balanced and satisfying were the desserts. One luscious and harmonious example was a spiky sea-urchin-like ball of crisp meringue filled with tiny, aromatic wild strawberries surrounded by wild strawberry and whisky creams.

“I wanted this place to represent where I come from,” Mr. Bosi said, “whilst also being mindful of the history already here.” In this he has succeeded: While brand-new in fundamental ways, today’s Bibendum feels comfortably familiar.

Claude Bosi at Bibendum, 81 Fulham Road; 44-20-7581-5817; bibendum.co.uk. Prix fixe dinner for two, without drinks or tip, is £170 ($224); lunch menu, from £30 per person.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section TR, Page 7 of the New York edition with the headline: A New Mission at Michelin House. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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