Cassis Bistro

Cassis offers a very pretty setting just minutes from the V&A and Harrods. It is a true bijou with genuine pieces of modern art and a surprisingly unstuffy and well thought-out menu loosly based around the idea of modern Provençal cooking. The food is really good, as long as you do not expect a Nice or St. Tropez mini-break. Cassis is of a US-owned stable of restaurants and thus the cuisine feels a bit like a Provence to New York and then London “re-import”. Which is not bad per se, one simply needs to be mindful. On weekends there is a fun brunch menu. My only concern is the wine list which I feel lacks a few classic choices from the region the restaurant seeks to represent. However, this is an enrichement to the Brompton Road area.

The reviews were spot on about this very swanky venue just round the corner from the Kings Road. Two of us went on a Saturday night in January so it wasn't especially busy but that didn't spoil the experience. A lot of money has clearly been spent on the decor which is bright and vibrant and even the stairs down to the bathrooms didn't get overlooked. The staff were very attentive and nothing was too much trouble. Davido the sommelier recomended a couple of fantastic wines that were very reasonably priced and he was more than willing to chat about the extensive wine list.
The food was excellent, tune carpacio seared very lightly with a little dab of sweet and sour almost chutney, duck with a heavenly sauce and the best rainbow trout I've ever had. Thoroughly recomend this place for a date or a group dinner. Will be returning very soon!

Really enjoyed the vibe in here. Had a lovely time with two old friends who are real foodie's, they went very quiet while eating a sign of something tasting great! You would go for the atmosphere and the food is spot on. Loved the Rib-eye, cooked to perfection.

This is indeed a high-spec bistro, beatifully decked out in terms of designer fixtures and fittings. The washed-out oak floors and bar-side banquettes give a feeling of modernity while warm lighting and Farrow and Ball walls add warmth – all very Smallbone of Devizes and a far cry from the much loved Oratory. Food is no afterthought on what I tasted – delicious pumpkin soup with chestnut and goats' chees, unctuous seabream carpaccio and flavoursome paté (a house speciality) and while not cheap, it's not expensive either. Wines, not the bargain they were under Brinkley, are nonetheless far from extortionate.

CASSIS: A worthy successor to THE ORATORY?

For many years John Brinkley’s THE ORATORY restaurant in Old Brompton Road provided the backdrop for an eclectic crowd. From academics, fashion-models, priests, expensive hookers, faded aristocracy, at least one murderer; an assassin’s target, tourists and a whole swathe of spooks. It was an earthy; buzzy, vibrant place serving good scoff and the least expensive champagne in town. Then, in what seemed to the regulars like greedy, insensitive vandalism, the property-owner raised the rent to a ridiculous level and Brinkley was forced to quit.

Now a new restaurant has taken its place CASSIS, from Marlon Abela Michelin-starred stable (The Greenhouse, UMU) and is due to open next week.

I’ve just had dinner there as they’ve ‘bedded-in’ in a pre-opening trial period.

The place is so welcoming. Subdued warm lighting. A flickering gas-faire; bright, bushy-tailed, knowledgeable and eager wait-staff.

My whitebait were superb. My companion had a succulent Monkfish ‘ossobuco’, St Marzano tomatoes and basil. And my main – Roast Landes duck breast, chickpea galette and cassis sauce was crispy perfection on the outside and pink fleshed. Simply delicious. For our pudding we shared a positively huge Grand Marnier and orange soufflé in a hat-box sized bowl. A couple of Poire William as a digestif and I was a very happy bunny!

Only criticism was the size of the portions. Vast. Far too much for ‘ladies who lunch’. Even a chap mulled over the idea of a doggy-bag.

I think it could, indeed, be a worthy successor to THE ORATORY.