Savoy taps in on casual dining with Kaspar’s Seafood Bar and Grill
The 114-cover restaurant will offer all-day dining from a ‘simple and approachable’ menu, with a Twenties-style setting and panoramic views of the River Thames. A separate private dining room will seat an additional 12.
It is named after a three-foot high cat sculpture, designed in 1926 by Basil Ionides, to stave off bad luck at the hotel following the death of the South African diamond magnate Woolf Joel in 1898.
According to hotel legend, Joel held a dinner for 14 guests and one cancelled at the last minute. The dinner continued, but one superstitious guest said death would come to the first person to get up from the table. Joel took the risk and was shot in Johannesburg a few weeks later.
On the menu
A spokesperson for the Savoy said: “Not only in its name does Kaspar’s keep alive the wonderful history that this four-legged friend brought to the hotel almost 100 years ago, but as an informal, yet chic brasserie style restaurant it will also meet the demands of today's regular diners.”
Karspar’s Seafood Bar and Grill’s head chef James Pare has created the menu, with starters, selections from the cured and smoked fish bar, main courses, grill, salads and desserts. Children will also be catered for with a ‘mini-menu’.
Starters include smoked brown shrimp & eel cocktail (£14), celery and Pecorino soup (£7) and roasted ox tail consommé (£9). Signature mains will be smoked salmon sausage, apple sauerkraut and horseradish sauce (£18), Dover sole with brown butter caper sauce (£34) and lobster club sandwich with chips (£25).
‘Classic’ desserts on offer will be vanilla rice pudding (£8), apple tarte tatin (£8) and Peach Melba (£8) - the latter has featured on the menu since Auguste Escoffier invented it for Australian soprano Nellie Melba at The Savoy over 120 years ago.
Element of theatre
The art deco-inspired restaurant features a 'timeless, stylish and comfortable' interior, designed by Robert Angell Design Studio. Brass railings, art deco mirrors and a silver leafed ceiling evoke a Twenties and Thirties feel, in-keeping with The Savoy's history.
The fish bar at Karspar’s Seafood Bar and Grill will add an element of theatre to the room with its oyster shell bar, two Murano glass columns and bespoke pendant light feature.
Kaspar’s replaces the River Restaurant,which opened after a £220m restoration of the hotel that was completed in October 2010following a three-year closure. The new Bar and Grill will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, seven days week.
