Modern looking and newly promoted 1 Michelin starred venue (as of 2016) set within an auction house off Bond Street
I found the food here beautifully done and had a refined quality in all courses. I would attribute the a la carte prices to its location and I do appreciate that it is not trying to be a mainstream restaurant for people coming specifically there to dine (except people like myself). Tom Kemble has moved away from Hedone to strike gold on his first bespoke restaurant that he is in charge of so no doubt learned a great deal from Mikael Jonsson which has paid off hugely. It is the perfect addition to the auction house, but conversley I do not see myself going back frequently owing to the lack of accessibilty in general. However, based on what I had today, something tells me that in spite of the acoustics and compact feel of the dining room, that the tasting menu here will be absolutely superb. Therefore, if I can I will and will greatly look forward to it.
A lucky passing by of New Bond St allowed me to try the newly promoted, Michelin starred Bonhams for a very quick lunch today. I knew Bonhams lay within an auction house, but you do need to follow a series of corridors, going down and up stairs to get to the very cosy 26 cover only dining room. If you take the unalluring side street route to get there, this will lead you straight to the cafe beneath the restaurant at the rear entrance.
The food here was very good. The amuse bouche of smoked eal with sour cream, dill on buckwheat was, whilst not hugely intricate, very pleasant as was the home made sour dough with its warm, moist stickyness. The butter was also superb and wonderfully salty. The steak tartare I thought had a well executed and precise feel to it but I thought there was a lack of herbal punch as my mouth could only detect diced gherkin within the meat; the thin slices of shallot on the top complimented very well naturally and the shaved egg yolk sprinkled over the top was a clever touch but ultimately I thought it was ever so slightly bland as I could not really taste the egg yolk shavings much (i.e. did not seem to add very much to the dish apart from cosmetics).
The quail main with creamy mash, parasol mushrooms and foie gras was brilliantly held together with the sweet and sharpened pickled endive and I thought this dish was a knock out. My only gripe of this dish was it seemed to be a little small for a main as this was finished very quickly. I finished it thinking that it was a little steep at £25 for its size but then I reminded myself of the pan fried foie gras (which had a lovely crispy and not too salty exterior). When I saw the dessert my immediate thought was how dissapointingly simple it looked, but this became a completely redundant thought after I had my first bite. Put simply, this was the lightest, eggiest and nicest egg custard tart I have ever had and I could have had two more of these even if they probably would have used up the rest of the week’s calorie allowance. It was absolutely delicious. Definitely a revisit due when possible.
Food Grade: 86%
My hobby-turned-passion began to evolve during my assignments to London where I was fortunate enough to be able to explore all the Michelin starred restaurants in my spare time and as a result, I gradually built up a catalogue of all these venues.
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