Kitchen Table

This was truly a memorable dining experience and one that I won't forget for a long time. The restaurant itself is set on Charlotte Street in the very popular area of Fitzrovia. We entered Bubbledogs and received a very friendly welcome. We was asked to wait in this area and enjoy a pre dinner drink until the restaurant was ready and would then come and collect us. We were then escorted through the curtains at the back and into Kitchen Table where you will find twenty comfortable stools placed around the open kitchen. Our seats were in a prime position where we could see at close hand a lot of the cooking preparation. Closely following behind us were the other eight people who had booked the 6pm sitting. The next ten people would arrive later for the 7.30pm sitting. The first ten people sit on the right side with the next ten people sit on the left this is so the chefs can face each side of the restaurant when they are explaining each dish. It was then time to see the menu which to our surprise there was a choice of two both of which are Suprise Tasting Menus. One was a twelve course and the second was a fourteen course that had a couple of special extra dishes added. We decided to opt for the fourteen course. While the chefs were very busy preparing the first few courses in the background it was time to discuss our wine selections with the sommelier. I have to say the sommelier was very helpful and in the end we decided that she would match the wine for a few courses as and when we were ready. Now it was time to get this party started with our first dish of the evening. This was a delightfully refreshing Tomato Water & Fig Leaf Oil. This was followed by a stunning little Crab dish with gooseberry , creme fraiche , verbena , dill , cucumber & pineapple. Next to arrive was the Quail Egg with potato , garlic , onion , chervil & balsamic. What was to follow next was a small piece of heaven. It was Chicken Skin , bacon jam & rosemary mascarpone. You just had to have a moment at this point. Are you with me so far then let's continue. We now moved on to the Parkerhouse Bread with a very indulging Lamb Fat Butter with caper & olive oil. Moving swiftly on to the fabulous Mussel with meadowsweet , rhubarb & vinegar. Closely followed by what I can say is the best Mackerel dish I've ever tasted. I say this as I'm not really a great fan of Mackerel but this was served with shiso , ponzu , seaweed , sour cream , grape & apple that just tasted amazing. So where now a third of the way in and what was to follow were four fantastic fish courses starting with the Sea Trout that was accompanied by girolles , cep & green strawberry. Next to arrive was the Scallop with caviar , scallop roe & smoked cream. Following this was the Brill with foie Gras , thyme , spring onion , vinegar & chive. Then lastly came the Lobster with vanilla brown butter , redcurrant , chervil & juniper. I have to say at this point that some of these flavour combinations were just stunning I don't really know how they do it really it's just very clever. So as we move across the halfway mark of this amazing evening where we've enjoyed some fantastic food along with excellent wine pairings and enjoyed great interaction not only with the waiters/waitresses but also the sommelier and chefs. We continued with another very interesting dish Peas , strawberry , grelots , butter & truffle and yes the combination was once again a success. Now it was time for two fantastic meat dishes starting with the Lamb served with tomato , black olive , lamb fat & oregano. The second was the Beef with bone marrow , carrot , tarragon & flowers. Both dishes were rich tasting but an absolute pleasure to eat. Stay we with me as were nearly at the end now. It was time now to move on to the cheese course and once again another delightful dish was waiting for us as we enjoyed a Burrata with watermelon , mint & basil. Following this was a fabulous palate cleanser of Blueberry , spruce , sour cream & sorrel granita. This led us on to dessert and yet again another very interesting combination of Blackberry , beetroot , liquorice ice cream & corn flower and yes once again worked perfectly. It was now time to finish with coffee or tea and a great selection of treats starting with Raspberry followed by Cherry with creme fraiche & fennel pollen. Next was a Canele and to finish was Chocolate with truffle , cep & crepe. These delightful treats truly rounded of a fantastic evening. This brought to an end an absolute fantastic dining experience and one I definitely can't wait to repeat. It may be quite hard to make a booking but I would highly recommend being patient as this will be an evening you won't forget. The food is outstanding using amazing produce along with very unique flavour combinations. The wine pairings were excellent whether you were choosing to match the entire menu or as we did chose to have a few glasses. The interaction with the chefs is great and you can literally ask about what goes into creating each course or even just general banter.

I would personally like to thank James , Tom and all the staff for a memorable evening and hope it won't be to long before we return. 

The potentially interesting concept of all the customers sitting at a bar surrounding the kitchen has the odd drawbacks, namely, it requires the punters to be perched, not terribly comfortably, up at a sufficient height to get a full view of all the preparation going on, which means they are party to all the minor slips such as messing up the delicate placement of minuscule onion rings on the top of a dish to take yet another of the many ingredients, as well to major ones such as a chef licking his fingers and making no attempt to wash them before continuing with the preparation of a dish for service. The customer’s introduction to the restaurant is also slightly odd - we arrived spot on time but we were asked to wait around on out feet before we were allowed to be shown down to our perch even though it had clearly been ready for us while we were kept upstairs. The fact of having two sets of 10 diners at two specific times means that the dishes for each set need to be put together at the same time which, in itself, requires everything to be cooked and prepared in batches which in turn appears to govern the manner in which the dishes are conceived. We were seated not far from what appeared to be the ovens, but it was immediately noticeable that there was virtually no heat emanating from them. We had an excellent view of the minutely intricate way each dish was put together from the platters of pre-prepared ingredients signalling the make-up of the following  course. It has to be said that some of the dishes were decidedly good, including the “bread course”, as chef introduced it, with interesting whipped lamb fat butter, and others such as the sea trout with its lovely sauce, the scallop with its cured roe, the perfectly cooked turbot, and the very good lamb with carrots cooked in lamb fat for a remarkable text and flavour, but there some that were disappointing with the potentially excellent mackerel almost overcome by the pickled kohlrabi and the rosemary mascarpone not helped by the hard bacon in its jam, so overall we were not persuaded that a return visit was likely to be on the cards. It was also a pity that the sommelière half of the pair of patrons was prevented from being present as her stand-in was rather unimpressive, and we were less than convinced that all the chefs called upon to present dishes to the punters were entirely comfortable with that task.