Striking all the right chords

It is with a heavy heart that I report the demise of Brasserie Les Sans-Culottes, an authentic brasserie which, true to the original sense of the word, means a cheap restaurant that also brews its own beer. The combination of continental-style beers and rustic French cuisine was a hit with many critics but, sadly, largely ignored by customers. I put the latter down to its location, almost cloaked behind a highly missable doorway on one of Covent Garden's least impressive thoroughfares.

On a higher note, the Octave bar and restaurant has swiftly moved into these premises, with the promise of providing live jazz music in a lounge bar environment that specialises in Caipirinhas and Mojitos. So far so good, then, as I can't remember the last time I went into a style bar and heard decent live jazz music. Think Vonda Shepard bashing out a few numbers in the TV show Ally McBeal and you're not a hundred miles away.

Except that I stupidly chose to go on a Wednesday night when the music is pre-recorded - the current programme of 'turns' covers Thursday to Saturday evenings only - and there was an absence of good-looking lawyers getting off their faces and enjoying osculatory encounters with each other.

In transition from brasserie to jazz bar, little needed changing in the name of vanity, save for the odd cosmetic touch here and there. This is a modern bar, smartly accoutred, subtly lit, and with highly polished woodwork and several zoned areas of seating, including a lounge area with cosy booths and brown leather sofas. A formal restaurant arrangement of tables of chairs dominates the back of the room.

Although few other customers were present on my first visit during its very early days of operation, I took the opportunity to kick back in relative peace and plough through the drinks list. Here, as in many other bars where scant regard is paid to the major sales tool of the place (the menu had howling typos, and inadequate cocktail descriptions which often failed to mention the base spirit of the drink), I spent too much time translating to my mates.

This is a shame, as without my encouragement they might never have sampled a seriously good Caipirinha (made with cachaca sugar cane spirit, limes and sugar), Caipirosca (as above but with vodka), or a cracking Mojito (rum, limes, mint, sugar). And the above drinks are also prepared flavoured, so a melon, passion fruit, peach or kiwi fruit make for very good alternatives to the classic preparation.

I returned again on a Friday night to check out the live jazz and found some gal belting out a few numbers to an appreciative, almost full house. Many were dining, and the food - New York Strip steak (£18.50), Cajun catfish (£14.95) and a four-cheese gnocchi (£11.50) - is marginally overpriced for what is glorified bar grub.

But I'll be back again, and I look forward to it. Octave strikes all the right chords and is set to become one of London's most significant destination venues for music, food and drink lovers. All it needs to achieve this is a few minor tweaks and some fairly aggressive marketing. I hope it works - I don't want to go back in another couple of years and report on yet another change of ownership.

Octave
27-29 Endell Street, WC2