Bridge Street Bistro

You'll walk past this unassuming shopfront a dozen times before realising it's home to some of the most honest French cooking in Hertfordshire. The dining room feels like someone's converted their front room – mismatched chairs, paintings that look like they came from a car boot sale, and tables so close you'll end up chatting to your neighbours about their coq au vin. The menu reads like a love letter to provincial France, executed by someone who actually knows what they're doing. The duck confit falls off the bone, the onion soup arrives properly gratinéed, and they do things with seasonal vegetables that'll make you forget you ever ordered chips. Book ahead though – word's well and truly out among the locals.