“It’s not just two English guys saying ‘We want to do another French bistro,’” says Mark Gurney, co-founder of Cassette, a modern French bistro which has just opened in a lofty restored Victorian workshop in Covent Garden’s Maiden Lane. “It’s very personal. We’re doing it because we love it, and it’s the kind of food we want to eat.”
Certainly, Gurney and co-founder Matt Bushnell’s decision to open a Parisian-inspired restaurant amid London’s Francophile craze can hardly be called opportunistic: Cassette draws on almost a decade spent eating and drinking around Paris and beyond, in the bistros, neighbourhood restaurants, bars à vin and rural auberges that inform the new restaurant.
For the past eight years, the pair has been running Peckham neighbourhood restaurant Levan, which is inspired by the bistronomy movement (venues that blend haute cuisine technique with the relaxed atmosphere of a neighbourhood bistro). Its collaborative French Connection events, where chefs from across France are invited to come and cook, have led to friendships, wine trips and time spent eating together across Paris and France more widely.
Along with legendary Parisian restaurants like Le Verre Vole and Bistrot des Tournelles, Gurney cites cult favourite Auberge de Chassignolles in the Auvergne region as an inspiration, with its dedication to seasonality, local ingredients and low-intervention wine.
While it might be a far cry from the dramatic landscape of the Auvergne, Cassette does boast a sun-dappled terrace on a pedestrianised stretch of Maiden Lane. It’s a rare luxury for central London that, along with the building’s 19th century gothic heritage, drew the pair to the double height space, for which they have a 15-year lease.
At Cassette, flavours are unashamedly bold, rich and deftly balanced. The menu champions French technique and lesser-represented dishes, melding both specialist French ingredients with exceptional British and European produce. Dishes like the pigeon choux farci: a plate of blushing pigeon breast encased in pork and liver sausage, wrapped in cabbage, baked on a bed of crispy mirepoix, is something Gurney is particularly proud of. It’s also worth checking the specials board for the coq au vin jaune pie for two; it’s made with French black-foot chicken and crowned with deep-golden puff pastry, and only a limited number are made each day.
Heading up the kitchen is chef Essa Fakhry (formerly of Planque and Note in Dublin), who has an interest in “old fashioned sauces and garnishes”, as witnessed by the pork chop with “sauce talleyrand” – a deep, dark sauce which he makes with pig’s tongue and truffle. The grilled mackerel on a bed of coco beans in lobster bisque reportedly made one patron cry, in a good way.
Vegetarians are treated to a quiche of cauliflower and comte, and a towering vol-au-vent encasing hen of the woods mushrooms cooked in armagnac and cloaked in sauce Parisienne. Snacks and starters pack a serious punch: pickled mussels on crisp, aioli-topped-panisse are strewn with chervil; a slab of fromage de tête is delicate whilst being profoundly meaty; endive salad is showered with shaved Bleu D’Auvergne cheese. For dessert, opt for the black fig clafoutis (Gurney’s favourite) which is baked to order for two to share and served with vanilla ice-cream. Being deep in the West End, there’s also a pre-theatre set menu which starts at £27 for two courses, and £31 for three.
A gentian- and cognac-laced Negroni and calvados cocktails kick off the 16-page drinks list, but the wine is the main draw here. The Achillee Pepin Orange skin contact wine comes by the glass; order a carafe of the lively, amber-hued Alsatian blend, which tastes of orange blossom and roasted apricot.
“The list is quite friendly to a more populist crowd who are comfortable with Bordeaux and Burgundy, but it’s underpinned by excellent winemaking: all with a low-intervention approach, so it’s kind of like a sneaky organic, biodynamic wine list, but very accessible,” Gurney says.
The 46-cover dining room was designed by Levan collaborator Gundry and Ducker (Forza Soho and National Theatre, Toum Mayfair), with retro ceramics and paintings sourced personally by Gurney and Bushnell from Kempton Market. Downstairs, there’s a further 10 intimate covers where guests are served by the chefs from the semi-open kitchen. In the main room, dark stained floorboards and bentwood chairs contrast with the warm white painted brickwork, and smooth sapele wood forms the tabletops and banquettes. Floor-to-ceiling windows flood the space with natural light, and there’s a striking octagonal stainless steel service counter and rare, circular hanging ’70s Grundig Audiorama 8000 speakers, which, according to Gurney, “bathe the room in music, but don’t drown out the atmosphere of the restaurant”.
Acoustics are a big deal for Gurney, who also owns a record label and worked in music before launching his hospitality career with Angela Hartnett at Cafe Murano in St James’s. Bushnell, too, cut his hospitality chops just a few streets away at Opera Tavern, and there’s a sense that, with Cassette, things are coming full circle. “Central is a fun place to work,” Gurney says. “We wanted to push ourselves and try something new, but also bring some of the things we’ve done well in Peckham, that sense of community and intimacy that can sometimes be lacking here, into central London.”
Cassette
42 Maiden Lane, WC2E 7LJ
Hours:
Mon to Sat midday–10pm
