Patron Max Renzland, outside his restaurant in Wanstead. He's standing up to campaigners trying to get him to take foie gras of the menu.

A controversial foie gras restaurant has been recognised as one of the best new local restaurants in London according to Time Out magazine.

Provender bistro, Wanstead High Street, Wanstead, which opened at the end of February, was nominated along with three other restaurants in Time Out’s Eating and Drinking Awards 2012.

Despite just missing out on the top spot, the owner and Michelin star chef, Max Renzland, said it was a “great privilege to be nominated by the most well respected guide for eating out in London.”

It has been a successful year for the French bistro who has also been awarded a Bib Gourmand Award, which recognises restaurants offering good food at a moderate price.

Mr Renzland, who has worked with celebrity chef Marco Pierre White, said: “My customers tell me that in east London good restaurants are few and far between, and they are often not run professionally.

“I try to keep my menu fresh and consistently cooked. It is important that a local restaurant has friendly staff and delivers decent food which is good value for money.”

Mr Renzland, who lives in Essex, added: “I want the restaurant to be like an extension of my living room; informal with great simple food.”

The restaurant came under fire earlier this year when the Waltham Forest and Redbridge Green Party campaigned to see foie gras taken off the menu.

The food, regarded as a delicacy, is a duck or goose liver product made by force-feeding birds to fatten the liver.

Mr Renzland said: “It is no more barbaric then killing any other animal for meat, we just don’t have a food culture in England where it is eaten regularly. However a huge proportion of our customers eat foie gras.

“Most people who criticise have never been to a foie gras farm and condemn it from a far. It is an easy target, After the articles came out, we got 500 more customers. I love it which is why I serve it.”