Crossword Genius

Restaurant smothers recipe with gravy (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

bistro

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'restaurant' is the definition.
(I know that bistro is a type of restaurant)

'smothers recipe with gravy' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'recipe' could be 'r' (abbreviation in medical prescriptions) and 'r' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'bisto' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for bistro that I've seen before include "Small bar-cum-restaurant" , "A small informal restaurant from France" , "Small French bar and restaurant" , "somewhere to eat" , "Cafe bar" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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