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Wine List Confidential: The Aubrey

27 August 2024 By Douglas Blyde

Douglas Blyde dives into the “wet-led omakase experience” at The Aubrey in Knightsbridge and discovers why head of beverages Maxim Kassir is a “big supporter” of sakes which are lighter in alcohol.

At The Aubrey, which “has taken as its theme the Japanese influence on Aubrey Beardsley’s art during his regrettably short life (1872-98) and late 19th-century Japonisme generally,” wrote Fay Maschler in Tatler, the staff are, said James Lawrence in Calibre, “clearly adept at dealing with the entire spectrum of patrons, from easy-going to infuriatingly unreasonable.”

Design

Beyond a bamboo-shaped door handle, a long bar counter, its periphery textured like the magnified grooves edging a coin, leads to a series of dining salons, including a library with a booth favoured by regular, Ariana Grande. Adorned by no fewer than 250 pieces of art, including a portrait of Beardsley, these lavish spaces unfurl like a “labyrinth of velvet, marble and wood”, noted Jenna Campbell in Mix Interiors. Our favourite vantage, away from the DJ decks, is concealed behind a secret door: an appointment-only cocktail bar called The Ukiyo Room which provides a bespoke, wet-led omakase experience.

Drinks

Drinks are overseen by the dapper Moldova-born polyglot, Maxim Kassir, a maths and economics graduate whose early career saw him gain fame as a stage and TV presenter, actor, and international news reporter. Kassir went on to work as a WSET-accredited educator across The Doyle Collection of boutique hotels under the mentorship of Anne McHale MW, whom he credits with “building his foundation and understanding of the wine trade.” He continued as the head of beverage at Pantechnicon (RIP), where he learnt about sake, citing sage, Natsuki Kikaya as his inspiration and teacher.

While The Aubrey’s counterpart in Hong Kong has, says Kassir, “a stellar cocktail programme which propelled them from 17th to 10th best bar in Asia’s 50 Best Bars this year”, London focuses more closely on wine and sake, with around 50 options from Junmai to ultra-premium Junmai Daiginjo. The 20 examples by the glass range from the venue’s own label edition, (£21/100ml), to Richard Geoffroy’s IWA 5 – Assemblage 4 at £45, via Daishichi Minowamon Junmai Daiginjo 32 from Fukushima (£32). The most premium choice by the bottle is Niizawa – Zankyo Super 7 Junmai Daiginjo from Miyahi at £1,777, its price perhaps nodding to the Seven Gods of Luck. Kassir is also an ambassador of the kaleidoscopic of category, shochu, having completed a 1,500 mile pilgrimage to meet producers in Japan’s south with former bar director of The Aubrey turned bar and brand beverage consultant, Pietro Rizzo.

Organised in a neat corridor beside the bar, Kassir’s 500-bin wine selection focuses on grower Champagnes, while still wines feature classics from Burgundy, Bordeaux, and California. Wines by the Schott Zwiesel Crystal Belfesta glass range from Gallina de Piel Ikigall, made by David Seijas, former head sommelier at El Bulli, poured by magnum (£12/125ml) to Pichon Baron 2012 by Coravin (£82), via Othello 2016 at £35.

Producer libraries include Billecart Salmon, whose “Le Clos Saint Hilaire” Blanc de Noirs 2006 is yours for around double retail at £760, Biondi-Santi, including “La Storica” Release 1983 (£2,283), Domaine George Roumier, with Bonnes Mares Grand Cru 2012 at £4,950, and Coche-Dury, with Meursault 1er Cru Genevrieres 2008 at £7,800. Although the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche Grand Cru 2005 is the most expensive bottle on the list at £12,500, it is not the most extravagant price we have encountered for a wine of this calibre in London.

Such hallowed wine brands stand in stark contrast to one of the cheapest bottles on the list, being the tender Dr. H Thanisch Riesling Feinherb 2022 at £50. For interloper guests on a budget who are feeling mischievous and determined to get the most bang for their buck on a budget which allows just one bottle, they could consider the 750ml of Taylor’s Port Fine Ruby for five pounds less (£45).

For indecisive guests who prefer to order by grape variety, the Sommelier Selection of “Voyaging Grapes” includes Ray Nadeson’s Lethbridge Pinot Noir from Geelong, priced at £130 for the 2021.

Drawn from the beautifully illustrated, “The Yellow Book”, cocktails include “La Mort D’Arthur”, a “take on the Last Word”, starring shochu, Yellow Chartreuse, clarified coconut and pineapple.

Dishes

The kitchen brigade of this so-called “izakaya”, which, meaning an informal joint to grab a drink and a bite, often after work, is rather misleading given the sumptuous setting and calibration, is led by the UK’s only female sushi master, Miho Sato. Born to hotelier parents in Ninohe, northern Japan, in 1997, Sato went on to become one of a handful of women to achieve a Japan National Professional Cooking Sushi Certificate. At teppanyaki restaurant, JFC Daitokai, Cologne, she cooked for the President of Kikkoman during one of her first services. In London, she worked at Matsuri (RIP), Sushi Hana on Hampstead’s Flask Walk, and up the Shard at Oblix, followed by Annabel’s Club.

Dinner opened with the lithe, dry, Original Barratt Giant Foam Bananas scented sparkling Masumi Origarami. Kassir is a “big supporter” of sakes which are lighter in alcohol and therefore bereft of “a spirit finish”. Aside from being “dangerously delicious”, such approachable options offer guests of The Aubrey, “60%” of whom are “new to sake” said Kassir, a gateway into the category, which can come across as “a big iceberg.”

This pétillant pour dovetailed with an edible viola-decorated Irish oyster, with salmon roe and white ponzu. Although delicious, we did wonder why oysters, arguably so perfect when served naked, are so often elevated with such garnishes, hence we asked a Good Food Guide inspector who responded, “because they have to justify how much the bloody things now cost!” Next, a one-bite “vertical maki” of raw wagyu, kimchi, and caviar was as sapid as it was attractive.

With elegantly formed hamachi yellowtail nigiri, imaginatively and effectively seasoned with citrussy, farmed ants, then an impeccable and memorably textured Kagoshima wagyu crust-free brioche sando, Kassir chose the also light (12%) dewy Nagano Masumi Shiro Junmai Ginjo. “Received today”, the “session sake” as one stockist puts it, was elevated in covetable Kimura Ultra Light Cup Edo glasses not normally found on our shores.

Bolder in profile, from Ginjo to Junmai, the 13% Tsuchida Aubrey Sake was allowed to expand in a Burgundy glass while the temperature of this vinous choice built. A co-production between Kikaya, Kassir, and the Tsuchida brewery, beyond the stretched label depicting in a manner evocative of yin yang, a Bonsai, from roots to leaves, it bravely featured barely polished, brown rice from an area of Japan famed for its bear sashimi, revealing aromas of kefir, with miso, and even yoghurt appearing on the luxurious palate. Its enzymes dovetailed with the protein of a fetching miso black cod. More challenging on account of its richness was the deluxe of portion fried rice comprising wagyu oxtail and, scooped and blended at the table, bone marrow.

The evening culminated with what behaved like the lovechild of amaretto and baijiu – Daruma shochu. Beyond a label showing a brewery worker in apparel evocative of a ladybird’s shell, the liquid is drawn from a solera started in the 1960s, said Kassir. With silage notes, the expression felt jolie laide.

Last word

The Aubrey delivers a fun experience infused with Japanese art and, thanks to Kassir, pleasantly provocative sake, shochu, and grower Champagnes. The thoughtfully designed interiors mark a significant improvement from its predecessor, Bar Boulud, where imposing pillars once described as “the size of Bentleys” by Daniel Boulud are now skillfully integrated. We eagerly anticipate returning for one of the roster of drinks producer events.