![]() This was a fantastic dining experience that will be remembered for quite a while. These include HG Walter (an independent, family-run butcher), Flying Fish (who supply fish and seafood to the restaurant within 48 hours of being caught) and The London Cloth Company. At Muse, Aikens works with British suppliers and farmers who are as passionate as the restaurant about provenance. My new home, Muse, pays homage to all of these and more.”Īikens is one of Britain’s most highly acclaimed chefs, and he still holds the record for being the youngest ever chef to be awarded two Michelin stars, a feat he achieved at the age of 26 when he headed up the kitchen at Pied à Terre. Speaking about the opening of Muse, Aikens said: “Throughout my life, I have been inspired and influenced by many different people, places, time and travels. Unsurprisingly, the tasting menus come with an appropriate Belgravia price tag, however, a smaller tasting menu is available for under £100 for those on a slightly tighter budget. The tasting menus evolve with each season and include stripped-back dishes which place an emphasis on one key ingredient or element. The restaurant exclusively serves multi-course tasting menus, with Aikens drawing on his childhood memories and moments in his illustrious career to inspire dishes. ![]() ![]() The space has been designed by Australian interior designer Rebecca Korner, who has combined an eclectic mix of furniture with splashes of jewel-toned marbles and rich woods. Muse is split over two floors of a characterful mews house, with each floor boasting a fully open plan kitchen which allows diners to see the kitchen team at work. It’s the brainchild of chef Tom Aikens, who has returned to London’s fine-dining scene after a five-year absence. Upmarket Muse occupies an intimate 25-cover space in a renovated mews property in one of the most chi-chi corners of Belgravia. We left Muse with a foreboding sense that we will never experience a meal quite like that again. You could write a short novel about the intricacies of each course, the main takeaway being that, for all its complicated backstory, every idea absolutely lands. The finale is a feat of beauty and grace: a picture-perfect mille-feuille in which apple, brown butter, cider brandy and a butterscotch sauce combine the nostalgic flavours of apple crumble and sticky toffee pudding in one layered masterpiece. That’s just one course.Įlsewhere, a miso-licked piece of monkfish with pumpkin gnocchi, crispy seaweed and a mussel sauce delights with sweet and salty contrasts. This single bite is served on a twig, alongside a small bowl containing a rich bisque made with langoustine claw to minimise waste. ![]() For starters, each course is inspired by a personal memory of Tom’s, a particularly great example being one entitled ‘Conquering the Beech Tree’, reflective of Tom’s childhood sense of fearlessness, which sees langoustine wrapped in wafer-thin pork fat and served with a small, sweet black splodge of apple puree. It's a rare skill to be able to maintain an exceptional level of detail across 10 courses, but Muse achieves over and above what’s expected from a plate of food. Our seat at the counter upstairs is the best way to experience Tom’s intricate cooking, boasting an unrivalled look-in to the methodical workings of the kitchen team. The restaurant is small, tiny even, and seats a maximum of 25 diners across two floors. This is Muse in a nutshell, quietly achieving culinary excellence without making a song and dance about it. Its frontage, much like its owner, is deceivingly understated and doesn’t quite reflect the magic that lies behind its whitewashed walls. Tom Aikens’ Michelin-starred restaurant finds its home on the corner of a quiet mews in Belgravia. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |