“It’s hard to know what Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec would have made of Elephant & Castle. Even those of us who hail from south of the river don’t challenge the view that the two roundabouts at its core are the armpit of London. So you’d think an artist as flamboyant as that master of fin de siecle Paris would struggle to find inspiration amid these dreary tower blocks. Perhaps it was their very greyness that prompted Herve Regent to install a brasserie named after the painter here ? next to The Lobster Pot, a 20-year-old fish restaurant he owns next door ? and make it a family business by employing his eldest son front of house, and two others in the kitchen.”