CASSE-CROUTE, 109 BERMONDSEY STREET

Casse-Croute, a small little French bistro recently opened by Hervé Durochat, on Bermondsey Street.

Ditching my ballet and jazz shoes on another beautiful Monday morning, I was eager to check out what this new place had to offer. 

 

It was pretty early when I arrived - skipped breakfast so that I could save space in my tummy...
(bashfully acknowledges the disapproving frowns that breakfast is the most important meal of the day...). Oh wait, I had two Oreos...I'm sure that counts?
 I popped my head into the empty restaurant and double-checked that they were open before seating myself at the little corner by the window. It was too hot to sit outside, but at least I could still people-watch from where I was; watching curious passerby's peering through the windows every now and then. 

 

I ordered a glass of Sauvignon Blanc whilst I perused the menu du jour on the wall; with some French radio channel playing in the background. 

 

The lovely lady (forgot to ask her name!) kindly talked me through the menu and explained each dish - my poor French has unfortunately deteriorated over the years!

 

Considering that it was a hot summers day, I went for the Seabass marine as my starter - well marinated and very light and refreshing.

 

 Braised lamb belly with aubergine caviar. Not very summer-y and possibly not the ideal dish to have on such a hot day...but it's just something about lamb dishes that makes me salivate and go tingly inside... I think I may have caught the lamb addiction bug from Lili.

I did double-check beforehand if it would be very 'fatty' (trying to 'watch the figure' and all that...NOT), but fortunately it wasn't. The meat was really tender and in the middle was a luscious blend of pureed herbs. The sauce was rich and creamy and I was even given a basket of bread to 'clean-up' the plate after - because it was that amazing! 

After all, good food should not go to waste...

 

For dessert - Pêche rôtie, sable Breton, crème fraîche. I was told that it was very French, basically consisted of a classic French cookie, a roasted peach and some soured cream. Not too sweet and quite tasty.

And had a shot of espresso after.

I'd spotted a familiar face in between whilst other diners were streaming in, before I realized that it was Wilkes (aka Wilkes888) - the photo snapping of food was probably the giveaway sign!
So I stayed on to nibble on some cheese and had a nice glass of Pression draught beer.

Here's a few more photos...

 

 

Spanking new slicer

With only 20 covers, it's one of the smallest restaurants in London -  a charming little addition to the extremely busy Bermondsey Street. And located just opposite José, you will now definitely be even more spoilt for choice.
Just don't forget to make a reservation in advance to avoid unnecessary disappointment, especially during peak hours (overheard someone already making a booking for August!). 

The Cheekster, signing off x

THE HAPPENSTANCE

 

The latest site launched by Drake & Morgan in the newly developed No1 St Paul's Churchyard.
Stepping through the main doors, I knew that this was my kind of place, with it's warm, welcoming ambiance, and lovely chic decor.
First impressions always count after all.

 

 

 

We were led through to the back of the building to the main dining area which had an open plan kitchen.

 

 

 

As you can see, the dining area is rather huge!

Now moving on to the food...

 

 

Cappuccino & Flat White

Having spent my entire morning at the Apple Store with the hope of them bringing my poor iPhone 4 "back to life" (unfortunately un-salvageable resulting in my inevitable upgrade to the iPhone 5), I definitely was in need of a coffee...

 

The Courgette shoestring fries sounded interesting and were quite tasty with the dip.

So many vegetable variations these days!

 

Aromatic shredded crispy duck with pancakes and hoisin sauce. Duck was quite dry and hard as opposed to crispy...

 

The salmon ceviche with orange, coriander and chilli wasn't quite what I was expecting. 

I think in my mind I had an image of something similar to the one I had at Ceviche in Soho in the past. 

Lili and I both found it a bit too fishy - more so for Lili that I ate most of her share of the dish...

 

The roasted english lamb rump with pumpkin mash was probably my favourite dish of the lot. Succulent pieces of medium rare lamb and smooth creamy mash. 

The waiter was nice enough to keep it aside in the oven whilst we finished our other dishes so that it didn't go cold.

 

We ordered a couple of cocktails - Lili had the Fairground Millionaire, whilst I ordered the Princess Sparkler.
They have quite an extensive wine list, alongside premium spirits, beers and cocktails.

Feeling rather 'princess-ey'...

And there's just something about pretty toilets that I like...

 

A pink bicycle!

Centrally located close to St Paul's Cathedral and open all-day 7 days a week, it's a great place to pop in for city-goers.

There's even an onsite deli and florist if you decide to surprise a special someone...

WHYTE & BROWN, KINGLY COURT PART II

Second visit, this time with the big brother!

We sat indoors, on the upper floor - much cooler and calmer.

 

 

 

Was undecided as to which cocktail to order, so the nice waitress offered me a little taster of the Sloe & Sour that she recommended.

After much deliberation, I decided to go for the Sloe & Sour, whilst my brother went for the Hefty Japanese Mac. 

I was about to order the Crispy chicken shards for my brother to try, but was unfortunately informed by the waiter that they weren't serving it that day (Nooo...!)

 

We settled for the Bangkok-Scotch Egg on Pickled Cucumber Salad. The outer layer coated in breadcrumbs consisted of minced chicken thigh meat mixed with lime leaf, coriander, mint, lemon grass, chilli and ginger, and wrapped around a nice soft-boiled egg in the centre.

I've haven't eaten many Scotch eggs in the past, but this was tasty and flavourful with a nice hint of heat from the chillis.

 

Harissa Hot Wings - the one dish that I wanted to try since my last visit. 

Baked chilli chicken wings served with caramelised orange wedges, coriander and minty yoghurt dressing. 

I really love spicy food and get rather disappointed when the dishes that are claimed to be 'spicy' fall below my personal standards...
Thankfully, this dish just about hit the right level of spiciness, and the meat was nice and tender and well-marinated.

 

I remember being recommended this dish from my last visit, so I decided to give it a go. 

Supreme Pancetta and Clams - pan-fried chicken breast in natural jus with pebble potatoes, peas, artichoke hearts, summer lettuce, crispy pancetta and clams.

After reading the description which sounded really tempting, I was a bit let down by the dish itself. Going for chicken breast is always a bit of a gamble as it can sometimes turn out quite dry, which was how I felt about this dish. The chicken breast could also have done with a bit more flavour/marinating as it didn't quite penetrate the inside.

The jus itself was quite tasty, just maybe a bit borderline on saltiness.

 

My brother ordered the Light Chicken & Langoustine Pie - butter puff pastry atop chunky roasted chicken, langoustine, samphire, celery and fennel in light béchamel.
His dish looked more interesting than mine, I was tempted to swap mine with his... - He didn't obviously (meanie), but did let me have a few mouthfuls (brotherly duties and all that...)

The pastry was light and crispy, sitting atop the deliciously creamy mix beneath.

He did comment that it was a bit salty, I think we've had this issue with some other dishes...

Otherwise, it was a pretty good dish, and the presentation fun and quirky.

 

 

For dessert, we ordered Today's Brownie & Ice Cream, and the Aromatic Passionfruit Tart.

Sweet and simple, but not quite as good as the last dessert I had before which was the Tipsy Trifle.

May be down to personal tastes, but worth popping by for a casual meal to find out for yourselves.
I'd definitely recommend the Harissa Hot Hotwings.

For my previous post, click HERE.