The most pretentious restaurant menu ever?
Ten courses for £145... but few clues to what you’ll be eating
But diners planning to try out Tom Aikens’ latest venture Muse will be left scratching their heads at what the menu actually offers.
In what must be a contender for Britain’s most pretentious menu, the tiny restaurant in Belgravia, central London, gives only the vaguest of hints about the food.
Instead of conventional names for each of the ten dishes on the £145 tasting menu, Aikens gives them titles such as ‘Just down the road’, ‘The love affair continues’ and – perplexingly – ‘Wait and see’.
Each course has a paragraph of explanation – which the chef describes as his ‘gastronomic autobiography’ – but the flowery text is thin on specifics, leaving diners to guess whether it is meat, fish or fowl.
While ‘surprise’ dishes have been a staple among trendy restaurants offering high-end tasting menus, Aikens’ take represents a new twist.
The opening course, ‘Forever picking’, is about as explicit as the menu gets. Promising snacks ‘inspired by the seasons’, it says the course ‘stems from my recollection of being in the garden with my mother and picking anything that was edible’.
But quite what a dish named ‘We all have our “Beech tree” moment’ entails is anyone’s guess. Aikens says it is inspired by a childhood memory of climbing a tree.
‘The essence’ promises to take a single ingredient, ‘searching for its essence, then developing a truly refined and unique taste’. According to Aikens, the flavour in question – whatever that may be – is one of his favourites.
The preamble to the menu informs diners that the chef’s inspiration was growing up in Norfolk.
‘From my early childhood, I have always been captivated by the unknown, the guessing game, receiving a surprise that leaves one speechless,’ Aikens writes.
‘In this menu you will therefore find some clues and anecdotes on what you will be served, that resonate with my journey through both my life and my career.’
As well as the £145 ten- course menu, a six-course version for £95 and a three- course lunch version for £50 will be available. Anyone
‘As soon as you enter you’re on a journey’
with dietary requirements can notify the restaurant in advance.
No details about accompanying wines have been revealed.
Aikens, 49, became Britain’s youngest ever holder of two Michelin stars when he was just 26. The twice-married chef is a familiar face to TV viewers with appearances on series such as Great British Menu.
Muse – the name is a pun on its setting in a small mews house – is his first high-end restaurant opening since the collapse of his business empire in 2008.
Explaining the thinking behind his ‘gastronomic autobiography’, he told the London Evening Standard: ‘It will be the cumulation of all the journeys I’ve had and all lessons in life that have led me to this resting place.
‘The idea at Muse is it’s not just a place to eat but from the moment you enter you’re on a journey.’
The restaurant, which opens in the new year, has only five tables with space for 26 diners. The good news is that once they are seated, more information will be forthcoming.
Aikens’ business development manager Laura Thompson said: ‘The menu provided on the evening will highlight three of the key components of each dish.’
Aikens’ former restaurant empire went into administration in 2008, leaving only the brasserie- style Tom’s Kitchen in Chelsea. AS A new restaurant from one of Britain’s top chefs, it has already been much-hyped.