Cassette sees the Levan team turning to France for their new Covent Garden restaurant

Levan has been a Peckham mainstay since 2018, with Bar Levan joining it next door in 2023. But if you haven't made it into the Peckham restaurant yet, the team behind it, Mark Gurney and Matt Bushnall, are about to open a restaurant in the middle of town.

Cassette is opening in Covent Garden (taking over the Maiden Lane space from Grind). While its sibling restaurant in Peckham has a wider European menu, Cassette will be centred around French food, with a particular Parisian bistro influence. They've brought Essa Fakhry as head chef (previously Planque, most recently Note in Dublin), and dishes planned for the menu here include coq-au-vin jaune pie, grilled monkfish served au poivre and a terrine of fromage de tête and tarragon.

Levan was named after NYC DJ Larry Levan and the team has always had a music influence, and you can expect that to continue at Cassette (as the name hits). 

Of the opening, Merk Gurney says: "I’ve grown up travelling to France every year for family holidays, and over the last ten years both Matt and I have built lasting friendships with so many people in its hospitality scene. Cassette is, in many ways, a homage to that journey and those people." One of the inspirations for the restaurant is Bistrot des Tournelles, which we loved, so that all sounds very promising. 

Expect more news closer to the opening.