Earlier this month, the bloke and I visited Kaspar's Seafood Bar & Grill. The restaurant is located in The Savoy hotel on the Strand in London. I've been wanting to step inside the hotel for awhile, so when I managed to find vouchers and see that the restaurant was recommended, I took the opportunity to do so. We visited during a week night, but I soon wished that I'd visited during daylight in order to take advantage of the views along the Thames.
The interior of the restaurant is inspired by the 1920s-1930s Art Deco style. This is also evident on the menu, pictured above, with the use of the font and border. Mirros, bold floor and wall patterns, and beautiful light fittings complete the look. I loved the lighting around the bar area, which reminded me of ice and icicles. Before we entered Kaspar's, however, we had to walk through the hotel and a pleasant well-lit room with a domed ceiling. The centre-piece was a timber-framed area with a multi-tiered vase of pink flowers.
The Savoy has several claims to fame. It was the first hotel in Britain to have electric lights and lifts. Many famous people stayed here, naturally. Among them were various royals, Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, and Marilyn Monroe.
I love reading about London history, so I asked after the cat. Our waiter told me where to find it, and I got a photograph on the way out. I was expecting a real taxidermied cat (as I'd forgotten the complete story), but it is a sculpture. For those who do not know the story, it started in 1898 when a dining party of fourteen had dinner at the Savoy. One person pulled out, so the other guests talked about the unlucky number and some of the superstitious members were afraid to be the first to leave the table in case disaster struck. Disaster did strike the first member to leave the table as he was shot a few weeks later back in his home town of Johannesburg, South Africa. The Savoy then added an extra guest for bookings of thirteen. At first, the guest was another person until the solution was solved by carving a cat out of a single block of wood. The cat was named Kaspar and has a napkin tied around his neck and is served all courses of a meal with cutlery and glasses. The plaque in front of the statue in the image above tells his story.
Back to the meal, and we were seated by the friendly staff and had our orders taken.
We were first served a compliementary glass of champagne to have with out meal. Bread was also provided. After having this, our starters arrived. I ordered the French onion soup, and this came with Gruyère cheese crouton, which fit the top of the soup. This was very tasty but also very filling, so I could not eat all of it. The bloke had the Cornish crab and wild salmon cake, which was served with sweet mustard dressing.
We decided to order a half-bottle of Champagne for our main courses.
The bloke had the Dover sole with brown butter caper sauce, which costed 15.00 surcharge. The dish normally costs 38.00 in total. I had marinated spicy spatchcocked chicken. We did order sides as the meat just comes on its own. We ordered seasonal vegetables and whipped potatoes, both of which were very tasty. There were other sides that also looked tasty.
Our desserts soon followed, and the bloke ordered the 'caramel crémeux, which consisted of milk chocolate mousse and carmelised pecans. I ordered the Kaspar's Peach Melba, which is the signature dessert of the restaurant. This was absolutely delicious.
The Kaspar's Peach Melba (pictured below), consisted of poached peach and raspberry crumble with vanilla parfait. (Essentially, the parfait was ice cream and it was a nice vanilla bean flavour that worked perfectly with the crumble coating.)
When the bill arrived, we received two chocolate truffles.
The food was delicious, and I would visit this restaurant again. The food is on the expensive end. There was not much to the chicken dish, so I would recommend that you stick with one of the other dishes; I'd say that the fish dishes are the speciality. There's also a wine menu and an intriguing cocktail menu which I have only just taken note of. The voucher offered good value for money considering the lowest-price starter was 9.00 for the soup, but the average price is probably around 13.00. Except for the chicken, which is also the cheapest main/grill option, all other mains are above 20.00. Desserts are 9.00 each. Champagne is probably at least 15.00 a glass in this venue. So, a voucher is a good option if you are on a budget.
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