Muse is the restaurant where Chef Tom Aikens returned to fine dining in a 23-cover 2 floor Georgian townhouse.     Opening in 2020 he was quickly awarded one Michelin star.  The menu focuses on memories of his personal life and culinary career with a seasonal emphasis.  He primarly serves foods from local and sustainable sources.  The building was in a residential looking neighborhood with a lovely reception room, bar and small kitchen on the arrival floor.  Upstairs was the small dining room and 6 counter seats facing the kitchen where he actually cooked our lunch.  The menu offered 2 tastings and a couple supplemental dishes using Urbani truffles and/or N25 caviar.  (The menu has a cute pop-up of the building in the middle.)  We chose the shorter tasting, no supplements and our own beverages rather than the available pairings.  Another one to put on your list when in London.

Set-up

Food

Forever picking – were snacks inspired by the season and from his recollection of being in the garden with his mother picking anything that was edible.  This included (at the top) a carrot tart  that had everything made of carrots, even the delicate crust.  The filling a carrot and vanilla mousse that was not too sweet and very good.  Going clockwise was a custard with Delica pumpkin (a winter squash) with pickled pears in sherry vinegar.  The light custard was fun with some twists of taste.  The final piece contained yuzu, trout, kombucha and was a  tasty one bite.    We chose to have one of their well-made cocktails with this course – a Negroni.

 

Making & Breaking was about Chef’s breads.   Bread means comfort, satisfaction, sharing and connection and of course the joy of actually eating bread.  They were in a woven ‘basket’ which contained a really crusty sourdough with with barley and treacle and a bacon and onion brioche.  They came with 3 types of butter, one with roasted cep mushrooms and chicken, a barbecue leek butter and a housemade cultured butter.  They were all good as were both of the breads.

 

Just down the road – ricotta, leak, honey – was about finding the best British producers of the menu’s ingredients.  A favorite was Old Hall Farm, a dairy farm, which was just down the road from where he grew up in Norfolk.   This one had leeks cooked in whey and poached quince with a crunchy top and truffle flowers.  It was a good assortment of mostly mild tasting ingredients, that also worked well with the bread.

 

Simple is never easy – brill, January King cabbage, blood orange.  This one was about how even a simple looking dish can take hours to prepare and just seconds to eat.  So savor, don’t devour this labor of love.  A steamed brill was on a brill mousse with seaweed, blood orange and butter sauce.  Alongside was endive.  This was a new dish on the menu and it doesn’t need anymore work.  The perfectly cooked fish mixed finely with the sauces and greens.

 

Dear, oh lovely deer – vension, clementine, parsnip – referred to the lovely deer from Aynhoe Park Estate’s green parkland in Oxfordshire.  The loin meat was with radicchio and the plate also contained hazelnut, roast cabbage with Clementine.  The shoulder meat was in cabbage and a pickled kohlrabi, cooked in vinegar, was in yummy slices.  Another good mix of things.

 

An apple a day – apple, caramel, cider – was about his grandfater’s winter baking of apples from his garden for breakfast.  The aroma of apple, butter and caramelized sugar formed a last memory for Chef.   This faux apple was a super thin sugar exterior filled with Granny Smith caramel butter, Calvados brown sponge and cream.  Lots of textures in this one with loads of sweet apple flavor.

 

Final treats were a chocolate tartlet with a warm liquid center, an Espelette pepper gel with saffron and a whiskey gummy made with peaty scotch.  All were great.

 

They sent a small muffin home as a parting gift.  It was fine.