HUMO

The trend for open-fire cooking has been making waves across the capital for some time now, but HUMO has branded its own unique stamp on the concept with a dining experience that extends far beyond the food.

We’re seated at the counter opposite its four-metre-long grill, while executive chef Miller Prada and his team tango around the roaring fire as they artfully char, smoke and cinder various items on the open grate. There is no gas or electricity here – just glowing hot coals, burning wood and plumes of smoke, all of which are utilised to achieve varying degrees of smoky flavour.

The a la carte menu is separated into four distinct sections – ignite, smoke, flame and embers - or you can do what we did and let the chefs take the lead with a six-course taster. Each dish is considered, nuanced and totally unique, from seabream with balsamic vinegar and a tomato and sake granita, to buckwheat-crusted aubergine. Our favourite was a dainty dish of sweet lobster with burnt courgette and sweet apple. Even dessert, a fruity twist on a crème brulee with underlying notes of passionfruit, somehow came together. We also like that the menu sprinkles vegetable dishes amongst fish and seafood, as if to prove that cooking over fire isn’t purely for carnivores.

If you get the chance to enjoy the wine flight, do take it. Our wonderful sommelier paired an intuitive selection of sake and wines with every course, although he’s also on hand to offer knowledgeable recommendations if you’d rather select a bottle instead. The wine list is smartly arranged by variety (Grenache, Sauvignon Riesling and the like) rather than region, to encourage diners to try something new.

That just about sums up HUMO actually, the dicovery of something totally new and unexpected. As far as dining experiences go, this one set our hearts on fire.

Creative Restaurant Group (the team behind slick sushi spot SUMI in Notting Hill and Michelin-starred omakase sensation Endo at the Rotunda) are back in town with four more letters. HUMO is a Mayfair restaurant that combines Japanese and Colombian influences, with food cooked entirely over wood fire and smoke. The latter isn’t new in London, but the kitchen at HUMO will have no other cooking methods, other than wood fires.

At the heart of the concept is Miller Prada - a protege of Endo Kazutoshi who is now stretching his wings with his own restaurant. You’ll find HUMO just south of Hanover Square, in the site that used to belong to Wild Honey before it moved. Design studio Afroditi has designed the space to express many elements of cooking with wood and fire - the centre of the restaurant is the four metre long grill, and various textures of different timbers have been used around the restaurant, as well as rough cut stones that evoke ash and fire. The restaurant has room for just 34 diners at any one time, but there is also a 10-seater chef’s table on the lower ground floor.

Much of the variation on the menu comes from different types of wood, which are used to create different flavours and aromas. Oak, cherry, walnut and beech are just some of the woods used at HUMO, each to different effect, and many dishes will use multiple types of wood and smoke to create layers of flavour. Ike-jime trout is smoked in juniper, for example, before being seared over white ubame oak and topped with baerii caviar. There’s also hand-dived Orkney scallop, grilled on French oak, and served with a oak-aged whisky sabayon and white kombu kelp ‘shiraita’.