Test Driving Beef & Bass, a new Chelsea spot delivering exactly what it promises

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Chef Ezio at the pass at Beef & Bass

What do we need to know about Beef & Bass?

This is a new(ish) restaurant on the King's Road in Chelsea that debuted at the end of last year. Behind it are Alessandro Verdenelli, who led the restaurant at Chelsea members' club KX and Daniele Pampagnin, the former head chef at Soho House, Cecconi’s who also launched Tozi. The pair, who've known each other for more than 20 years now, describe the restaurant as a modern charcoal grill spot, "where land and sea come together over fire".

In essence, the clue is in the name, with a menu focusing solely on aged beef and wild seabass. One side of it covers 'Land' with a range of dry-aged beef cuts with the meat sourced from specialist producers who follow strict standards of quality and traceability. The other is all about seabass in taco and tiradito form along with various cuts - whole or fillet. The restaurant works with trusted fishing boats that focus on responsibly sourced line-caught fish and traditional net fishing methods.  So they're walking the walk when it comes to finding the very best produce. 

Where exactly is it?

You'll find it down the World's End part of the King's Road, just past Bluebird and on the same stretch as Mestizo. The nearest tube would be Sloane Square (and it's a short bus ride from there).

This cosy spot is what you're looking for.

Where's a good place to meet for a drink first?

You are very close to Calloh Callay's Chelsea branch here, which is obviously a good shout, and we personally had a quick drink in Anna Haugh's The Wee Sister wine bar which we'd always recommend.

But handily, Beef & Bass also has its own 'speakeasy' style bar and they pride themselves on their cocktails. It's a nice place to start the evening here, so we kicked things off with a couple of bar snacks and their two signature cocktails.

The speakeasy-style bar 

Left to right: The Land - a smoky whisky cocktail served in a decanter with extra piped smoke and a slice of fig, and The Sea - made with Tequila, St Germain and Grapefruit. Both £14 and both very good.

Smoked beef bao with a black truffle sauce (£7) and Wild seabass taco with crispy corn (£7).

At this point, we moved into the dining room with the open kitchen at one end. It looked like being a particularly good place to go with a group, with several larger tables evidently ignoring Dry January.

The main dining room

And here's what we had:

Tiradito (£18) - wild seabass with tomato pulp, extra virgin olive oil and Amalfi lemon. If there was a dish to transport you from a wintry Chelsea to the south of Italy in a heartbeat, it would be this.

Carpaccio with girolles and mustard dressing (£18) - an absolutely stellar carpaccio

For the mains there's a choice of beef cuts - ribeye and rib of beef, along with either a fillet of seabass or a whole fish. All are cooked over the charcoal grill, which you can see at the back of the restaurant.

Small fillet of seabass (£6 per 100g) - served simply, as it deserves, but beautifully cooked on that grill.

500g of beautifully charred ribeye (£75). Both this and the seabass came with two sauces - salsa verde and a truffle Hollandaise we ladled onto everything.

Room for dessert?

There are just two options at this point, so it depends whether you want something fruity or more indulgent.

Charcoal pineapple grilled before being served with coconut faleks (£10), which was good, but not as good as the next dish.

Hot double chocolate cookie (£11) - a dairy-free dessert which is served with pistachio ice cream and was devoured by our table.

What about the wine list?

The wine list reflects the fish and meat offering with a decent selection that roams all over the world for influence. It's Chelsea prices, so the entry level is £45, which is where we went in and we have to say our South African pinotage was a smoky beast perfect for both the seabass and steak. But you can go up as far as £286 for a 2018 Margaux from Château Cantenac-Brown.

Anything else we should know? 

Yes, if you're looking for somewhere for a special occasion, or a place to hold a business meeting, the restaurant also has a rather nice private dining room downstairs. It seats 18 and includes a mirror TV screen for presentations or sports and film screenings. And if you want to offer your guests something special, they also have an option to serve up a more personalised menu. 

The downstairs private dining room at Beef & Bass.

Overall thoughts:

If decisions aren't your strong suit and you prefer a straightforward menu offering that delivers, then Beef & Bass is your kind of place. It was a popular place on a Saturday night and we can see why. Of course, when a restaurant focuses on just two key ingredients, they have to be both good and treated with respect in the kitchen, and we can testify they succeeded on both counts. An easy, fun recommendation in Chelsea that we thought was very reasonably priced for the area.