Tom Aikens
Finally made it to Tom Aikens last night and I must say I was impressed. The large waiting area creates a nice ambience as soon as you step of the street, so I quickly found myself whisked into a Michelin starred world of pleasure. The room is lovely, a nice airy room with a relaxed and unstuffy atmosphere. The amuse bouche arrived consisting of a breaded deep fried foie gras ball – like a 1000 calorie fish finger – which was sublime, there was also a very nice piece of duck and a glass constaining vegetable jelly and foam. My starter was called ‘peas’ and thats exactly what I got, expertly presented in different ways. The kitchen illustrated how it could make elixir out of even the most humble of ingredients. After I had dover sole with ham hock, an interesting combination that worked well, the fish was perfectly cooked and the combo was great. What followed was the most impressive selection of desserts I’ve had in a restaurant. A pre dessert arrived with a wonderful vanilla flavoured foam, followed by my desert of ‘pistachio’ – keeping with the theme here of ingredient focused courses, this was a number of ice cream and mousse textured items, again keeping the focus on pistachio. Each morsel, beautifully presented and with a wonderful taste. At the same time, they brought a huge selection of additional desserts to the table. There were 5 test tubes, presented in a beautiful piece of wood, with a wide array of flavours – these were beautifully surrounded by chocolate lollipops. Additionally, they brought 5 shot glasses with additional deserts and a tray of petit fours. It was a visual masterpiece and was a wonderful way to end a great meal. The service was attentive, without being overbearing and this helped create a memorable evening. Definitely planning to return.