A modern French brasserie launches next week on Sloane Square in Chelsea after finding its feet with an extended soft opening. Brasserie Olivia has taken over the corner premises formerly occupied by the David Mellor cutlery shop, lavishly converted with retro-modern interiors incorporating a seafood bar, lobster tank and semi-open kitchen.
Downstairs in the basement are a private dining room and the venue’s most unusual feature – a large, up-to-the-minute audiophiles’ hangout called Bar Venus (pictured), stocked with vinyl records catering for all tastes, from Edith Piaf and Yves Duteil to Alfred Brendel or Metallica.
Brasserie Olivia is the first international venture from La Nouvelle Garde, a Paris-based company set up to bring new life and energy to the classic Gallic brasserie by combining traditional craftsmanship with modernity. Founders Charles Perez and Victor Dubillot launched the project with Brasserie Bellanger, close to the Gare du Nord, in 2019. They now have half a dozen brasseries in and around the French capital and others in Lille, Marseilles, Lyons and Marseilles.
Charles says: “We established La Nouvelle Garde for one reason, to preserve the French art de vivre and bring a new golden age to the traditional brasseries everyone is used to.”
Brasserie Olivia is open all day from breakfast and offers a menu of familiar classics – with everything, including the croissants, freshly cooked on the premises using locally sourced ingredients. There’s a strong emphasis on fun, warm service and fair prices in what is a competitive corner of London, with the Wolseley Group’s long-running brasserie Colbert directly opposite and this year’s Italian-American hit Martino’s is just two minutes’ walk away.