One of the reasons that I think Tom Aikens, the Michelin-rated restaurant, was on offer was that the company running it had gone into administration a couple of years ago and this was a way to stimulate some interest in the business. I’m not sure how effective this strategy was proving – we were dining at 7pm (admittedly on a Tuesday night) and other than one other couple the restaurant was empty! (More people did arrive a little later.)

Actually, the restaurant itself does not try to cram too many people inside – in the centre of the room was a lot of
open space and of the tables I saw there must have been about 40 covers max available? Well, whatever the reason for the offer Pat and I were definitely happy to take advantage. At 50% off (£75 for £150 of credit) it was a true bargain and enabled both of us to go for the tasting menu.

You sometimes wonder with these offers whether the staff will treat you differently, especially added to the fact that we rarely drink anything beyond tap water, perhaps indulging in a soft drink with Pat maybe having a glass of wine to go with his meal. We were pleased that this didn’t affect the level of service we received at all. In fact, the staff at Tom Aikens even passed my water test (that is, that the restaurant ensures your glass of water is never empty!) The only minor gripe, and I always seem to have something, is that the first two courses were really served very quickly! Otherwise service was pretty much spot on terms of being there when we needed staff without being overbearing.

But what about the food?

Something that seems to separate Tom Aikens from its fellow fine-dining venues I think relates to the bread that the serve. Now, this shouldn’t really feature in your meal (after all, food is generally very rich and you want to save your calories for the serious stuff) however I think I have to applaud the bread that you serve. First of all there must have been over ten varieties of food offered to us including Buttermilk, Polenta, Olive, Dill, White, Brown and Bacon and Cheese. And all served warm. I was in bread heaven and Jenny if you’d been dining with me there is also no doubt that we would have been fighting over the butter to go with the bread. They offered the bread all the way until we got to dessert to – both a blessing and a curse. Ha!

Our amuse bouche was a trio of mini treats: a melt in your mouth Polenta and Parmesan croquette; a surprisingly please Tomato jelly, gaspachio and basil oil “drink” and then a surprising physical sensation in the Olive “Bubble” topped by (I think) truffle and parmesan. Very interesting!

Our tasting menu consisted of 6-courses and Coffee/Tea and Petit Fours. The first off the rank was the Scallop dish (marinated scallops, lemon oil, and lardo crudo.) This was a really light but sharp tasting dish which we didn’t have much time to enjoy before our next course of Foie Gras was served. This consisted of cured foie, pickled mushrooms, foie gras mousse, and sauternes jelly. This dish was kind of appealingly messy – though as a result I was a bit confused as to what to start with first! The foie was delicious but the pickled mushrooms a bit too vinegary for me.

A John Dory fillet was up next after quite a considerable lag. This came with a very lip-smacking tasty roast cauliflower puree, and brown butter and smoked eel. Yes the John Dory was good but the cauliflower puree won it for me!

For our “main” we had a split – both of us wanted the Sea Bass but Patrick was good enough to go for the Lamb so we could see the two different dishes. To be honest the Lamb (marinated in ewes cheese and served with aligot potato and dried green olive) sounded more appealing than the poaching in black olive oil, pickled fennel and artichoke and black olive crumb that the Sea Bass was described as but I’m not a fan of lamb at all so had to go for the Sea Bass. Both dishes turned out quite well but in the end I think Pat was pleased he had gone the Lamb than the Sea Bass. The Lamb does look simply served but the taste was incredible. Apparently.

Our first dessert, or maybe it was a pre-dessert, was a Coconut dish consisting of fresh coconut, coconut crème, watermelon and mint syrup. A dish that I should have loved I was a bit turned off by the actual plating – scraping bowl felt worse than someone tearing their nails down a chalkboard. I still *shudder* thinking of that now. The crème was lovely and the watermelon contrasted nicely with its freshness and sweetness.

A very summer-inspired dish was our next dish – passion fruit jelly, vanilla pannacotta and passion fruit granite. Very refreshing though at times the passion fruit’s tartness pushed through a little strongly.

To wrap up our meal we received, to our delight, one of the best selection of petit fours we’ve had anywhere. Another nod to the baking chefs in the kitchen I think! Our selection included a selection of eight totally decadent chocolates including the usual truffles and a particular favourite of mine – a salted caramel treat. In addition to this we also had a small selection of cakes I guess you would call them – madelines (lemon, carrot and vanilla), a donut, a pistachio cake and I think a carrot cake. We were overwhelmed but piggly split everything in half and ate it all!

I’m not sure I can afford to come here all the time but if the restaurant keeps serving up food this good – you may see me back. I saw a Roast Suckling Pig dish on the menu that I would love to try out …