Reviews Casse-croute

Nice cosy french restaurant ... fair value ... the dishes seem like local authentic french food in Perignon or Middle part of France. Love the ambience overall... very busy restaurant if you go before 830pm.

A tiny neighbourhood restaurant, oozing with the nearest thing you will get to a true Gallic atmosphere, this side of the channel. The food is uncompromisingly French and if you are vegetarian, don't bother. I enjoyed an excellent Creme DuBarry - a cauliflower soup, accompanied by some proper French bread. Following that I had veal medallions on a bed of parsley risotto - an enormous comfort-food dish which I almost couldn't finish. The service is French and uncompromising but not without humour. 
It's essential to book as there are only a few covers. Great value for the money and a fantastic neighbourhood restaurant. I'm not sure I'd cross London for it but if I was near the area it would be a regular.

Cute cozy restaurant. It really reminded me of being in little local brasseries while on holiday in France.  I like the gold fleur de lis wallpaper and checkered tablecloths.

I had the magret de canard with truffle mash and sauteed haricot verts. Decent dish.  Duck breast was nice and pink but skin (which had not been scored) was flaccid rather than crisp.  Slightly sweetened sauce made from the deglazed pan was well executed.  Haricots were really lovely, having been cooked in copious amounts of butter.  Truffle mash was pleasant but could have had a sturdier texture for my taste.

My companion's fish soup with rouille had plenty to recommend it.  Good garlicky homemade rouille and some decent gruyere.  Bone dry croutons made by toasting thin rounds of baguette.  Everything redolent of saffron.  We were expecting something a little hearty and substantial,  verging towards bouillabaisse.  Surprisingly, this soup, though made with fish stock, didn't actually contain a single shard of fish.  A couple of tables down there was a couple with two orders of the fish soup.  We could overhear one of the diners saying "...but I found some fish in my bowl."

A charming, classic and authentic french meal, but the standard of cooking was not extraordinary.  More like a kind of vacation experience when you walk into an arbitrary brasserie in some French town.

You can't add service to a card payment here, so bring some cash if you want to reward the good service.

Few new openings excite me these days, but then few places are like Casse-Croûte. Opened just a little less than a month ago is this petit Gallic bistro in Bermondsey. Own and run by the general manager of the Tapas bar, José just across the road. Sitting only about 20-covers, this charming bistro serves authentic, classic French dishes alongside with an all-French wine list.  Much thoughts have been placed in the interior as once stepped through the doors, you can't help but feels like you have been transported to a typical rustic French restaurant. The intimate red leather banquette seatings, the red and white gingham tablecloths, pastiche posters and hanging copper pans. Even the chalk scribbled menu board that changes daily and the charcuterie board are in French as were the background music playlist (French radio station no less). The odd let slips of french phrases from the waiting staff and of course, the owner himself, further contributed to this gallic fantasy. Oh là là !  Ju

This Bermondsey bistro, which opened in July 2013, has Sylvain Soulard in charge of its kitchen. Mr Soulard was previously head chef at Morgan M, that most French of London restaurants. It is therefore not surprising that Casse Croute is as Gallic as they come. The place is tiny, with a row of tables opposite the bar, which has a few stools where people can also eat. A rather nice welcoming touch was that the name of the diner booking had been written on each paper tablecloth. The hard floor and packed tables means that noise levels were quite high. Assorted framed photographs adorn the walls, with a model of Bibendum, the Michelin man, over the bar.
The short menu, written on a blackboard, offered with just three choices at each stage of the lunch, plus charcuterie. Starters were priced from £8 to £8.50, main courses £13.50 to £14.50, desserts £4.50, so Casse Croute could not be accused of having excessively high prices.
The all-French wine list had less than two dozen offerings, ra

This is not my place. The strange thing is that I don't think it's got anything to do with my late youth. I don't think I would have liked it even if I had been twenty years younger. Dear old Claudio at Harry's Bar. I can't imagine him serving an Espresso Martini or keeping thirsty clients waiting for fifteen minutes as he shakes his way through a Cucumber Mary. Still, I feel rather at home in Bermondsey, with its narrow cobbled streets, and Hogarthian vibe. It's a bit like being in a Leon Garfield novel. Bill Sykes's manor. It has the feel of an English country town- with The Shard standing in for a church spire.

During our time in London we were meeting friends that work in Bermondsey. On our last day we decided to meet them for lunch and when I was researching where to go in the area I came across a little French restaurant called Casse-Croûte. It immediately interested me because they don’t have a menu as such – they just update a blackboard with that days offerings and there’s only three starters, three mains and three desserts to choose from. Fresh & seasonal, I like. Sometimes no menu puts me off because I like to get a feel for a place before going, but Casse-Croûte update their Twitter with the days menu every morning so I could pour through past days food. How I wish that restaurants would use their twitter more to display daily specials. Anyway, I mentioned Casse-Croûte to our London locals and they said that it’s a great choice and near their work. The last lunch had been decided!

Casse-Croûte is very small and booking is highly recommended. In that traditional French way the tables are close together and there are no low fat labels in the kitchen. It reminded me of the cute places in Paris. The menu is in French and our waitress was French but she kindly translated everything for us without asking.
We tried everything on the menu between us but I could have enjoyed any single dish that they were serving.

There was a classic tomato soup – blitzed so you get no pesky bits and with a slight acidity.

A starter of smoked haddock with leek and a soft egg was another demonstration from the chef of classic cooking done well. What I would do right now to be sitting there eating this dish again!

The third starter on the menu was cheese soufflé. For some reason I am always suspicious of soufflé. Puffed egg with a side flavour, I’m not too sure about this. And what if I get bored of egg halfway through and have to leave it. I tried a bite of someone else’s and clearly I’d misjudged this soufflé. I can’t speak for other soufflés because I never choose them but this particular one definitely made me rethink my self imposed soufflé ban. It was light with a crunchy outside and had just the right cheese level.

By now I was feeling smug with myself that I’d spent so long researching London blogs & found Casse-Croûte. For my main I chose the baked ham with potato purée and mustard sauce. Next time I am choked with the cold this is what I will be dreaming about. Comfort food of the highest order.

A simple dish of sole in a buttery and caper sauce arrived with a couple of steamed potatoes but lacked any other vegetables. It still got the thumbs up from the two gents at the table.

The creamy veal stew was served with rice & was another wintery dish with great flavouring.

Ordinarily we would not have eaten dessert but because this was the last London meal (and the last time we’d eat in a long time!) we had to try them. I had the Pavé De Faubourg, which was a slice of chocolate cake with mandarins in the middle & a drizzle of mandarin & black pepper sauce. I liked the idea of the dessert and the mandarin element was tasty but the cake itself was lacking in moisture for me.

The tarte tatin on the other hand, was simply terrific. The apples were not hard nor sloppy and the pastry was not too thick. The sweetness level was perfect and the dollop of cream was just enough.

The final dessert was visually one of my favourite things that I had been served in a long time and it also delivered on taste. The Saint Honoré started with thin pastry then there was a sturdy crème pâtissière (crème chiboust I presume) and a choux ball filled with cream and dipped in caramelised sugar on the side.

Casse-Croûte was the perfect way to end our London gastronomy trip for my 30th birthday. It has a buzzy atmosphere and fine solid cooking that took me back to my Paris trip. The presentation was of a high standard and I like the personalised plates. The service was superb and speedy for those going back to work. I love the vibe that I got from the place – it was such a strong ‘this is what we are, like us or not’ with the menu and such. There were a couple of niggly negatives but the whole experience made up for them and I will certainly be back here.

Love love love loved our meal here! From tentatively sitting at the bar, to boozily rolling our way out 3 hours later, the night just crescendoed to epic memory status. The food is just incredible - white asparagus in a chantilly hollandaise with crispy bacon bits - every mouthful a perfect combination, roasted sweetbreads in a bechamel sauce in a puff pastry - rich and perhaps too stodgy but delicious. Soft and tender saddle of rabbit with the sweetest mash and spinach, and a meltingly rare bavette on potatoes au gratin with a delicious onion relish. I'm drooling just remembering that steak, it, brought me back to the first steak I ever had in Paris, and the awesomeness of being 14 and not knowing it would be 14 years before you found that same experience again...in a lil totally perfect postage stamp sized restaurant in a small street in London - wooooot! Chocolate soufflé and a light as air and subtle mille feuille to finish with cognac. Red and white wine through the meal excellently recommended by our super knowledgeable and friendly waiter. This place is just wonderful, an incredible food experience - classic French, and impeccable. Now if only it wasn't so hard to get a table...sighhhh

This Bermondsey bistro, which opened in July 2013, has Sylvain Soulard in charge of its kitchen. Mr Soulard was previously head chef at Morgan M, that most French of London restaurants. It is therefore not surprising that Casse Croute is as Gallic as they come. The place is tiny, with a row of tables opposite the bar, which has a few stools where people can also eat. A rather nice welcoming touch was that the name of the diner booking had been written on each paper tablecloth. The hard floor and packed tables means that noise levels were quite high. Assorted framed photographs adorn the walls, with a model of Bibendum, the Michelin man, over the bar.

The short menu, written on a blackboard, offered with just three choices at each stage of the lunch, plus charcuterie. Starters were priced from £8 to £8.50, main courses £13.50 to £14.50, desserts £4.50, so Casse Croute could not be accused of having excessively high prices.

The all-French wine list had less than two dozen offerings, ranging in price from £18 to £39. Selections included Château Marjolet Côte du Rhône 2012 at £24 for a wine that you can find in the high street for just a fiver, Andre Kintzler Gewurtztraminer 2011 at £33 for a wine that you can find in a shop for £19, and Chateau de Boursault NV at £39 for champagne that retails at around £18.

A salad with a tart of mushrooms and bone marrow on toast was very pleasant, the leaves fresh and properly dressed (13/20). A savoury Comte soufflé had risen well enough, but lacked enough cheese flavour, and also sufficient seasoning (13/20). Sardines with carrots and more salad leaves were good, the dressing balancing the natural oiliness of the fish (14/20).

Duck Parmentier had a layer of mash covering minced duck; the mash was reasonably rich, the duck rather under-seasoned to my taste (12/20). I preferred carefully pan-fried bream with crisp skin and a good tapenade that was reasonably restrained (14/20). Best of all was chicken, black-footed chicken from Landes that had very good flavour and was accurately cooked; most chicken in England has virtually no taste, but this good quality bird had proper flavour (15/20).

For dessert, choux cream was quite rich but enjoyable (13/20). Apple tart had decent pastry but the apple lacked acidity. This is one case where English apples have an advantage over French ones, in my view (12/20). Best was a caramel dessert, with a good caramel tuile (14/20). To follow, coffee was excellent, from a small southeast London supplier called Volcano Coffee Works.

Service was charming, the waitress very friendly, dishes arriving at a steady pace. The bill, with a little wine, came to £38 a head before tip. Overall I really liked Casse Croute – it is the sort of romantic ideal of a Parisian bistro that sadly so rarely appears in reality, even in Paris. It was packed out for a weekday lunch and so clearly has a successful formula.

Great food, lovely staff, nice atmosphere, well priced. Very relaxed & informal. Don't expect an extensive menu - the menu changes even during the evening. French classics & good french wine.

It was my very top wish list to visit London. They change the menu daily, and if you are lucky, you can taste their best beef, wellington. I visited many fancy places for Beef Wellington, but it was the best among others—the thick sauce with a ground mushroom on top riches the taste. Even the meat was so fresh to be cooked, nearly rare. Bean sprouts are cooked generously. The tomato soup was delicious. I assume it was not that great, but it is imposing. You will not regret having a starter even though the main is a too significant portion to finish. Best restaurant near London to Tower Bridge. Bordeaux’s wine was well-matched with the main.

Great food! Menu changes everyday and it’s delicious, plenty of classics available. Service was fantastic - Thanks to Marion we had the best time. The environment is very relax and welcoming, small room lovely deco.

Pure perfection and still gushing about the experience to everyone willing to listen. The service is excellent the food is pure perfection and the atmosphere is relaxed and happy. Everything is nice and fresh as the menu changes daily.

We were lucky enough to get a table on a Friday evening. Our waiter was very helpful, going through the menu and offering suggestions. We ordered the duck and lamb and both were incredible. The wine choices were lovely also. Hope to come back soon!