Right now, eating out seems to have become a daily ritual for me. Gone are my quiet nights in on the sofa, my home has become a restaurant and the list of places to visit has become forever endless. Tom’s Kitchen is brand which has rolled itself out across London (even Istanbul) and has managed itself a reputation as a reliable source of good quality food at not completely silly prices. So when the opportunity arose for a sumptuous five course dinner cooked by Tom Aikins himself (with the help of his team) – well there was no way I was going to miss this.
On top of eating a meal cooked by the legendary Tom Aikins, we were also graced with the presence of Lord Newborough from Rhug Estate – the farm that Tom’s Kitchen sources the majority of its meats from. In the nicest possible way, Lord Newborough is no spring chicken but he can certainly eat, drink and talk – a lot. Listening to the history of Rhug Estate over the years with its ups and down and changes along the way – it’s something you can’t help but immediately fall in love with, both him and the meat his farms produce. With a very successful brand across the world and wholesale business, it means these fantastic meats are much more accessible than you may think. Anyway, enough of me doing a Lord Newborough and waffling on – the food during this dinner was very exciting indeed.
Starting with a Champagne reception and my tendencies to drink like a fish, I knew the end wouldn’t boast well and I’d be going home crawling – but I embraced it. After we sat down at the gorgeously laid tabled and gnawed on some bread our first course arrived. A gorgeous medley of Rhug Estate organic confit chicken boudin with a pickled mousseron (type of mushroom) vinaigrette. The chicken was incredibly juicy and full of flavour, while that tart vinaigrette quite literally left my mouth salivating and each of those mushrooms had sucked up all the flavours from the plate, bursting in the mouth upon entry. The dish was paired alongside a lovely fresh Saint Aubin from Burgundy, oozing out its moorish buttery richness.
A rather simple, but very well executed dish was this cured fillet of Rhug Estate organic Aberdeen Angus beef with salt-baked beetroot, beer pickled onion and horseradish cream. A small dish it may have been, but it had so much flavour it was the perfect quantity of richness. The beef was oh so tender it would almost melt in your fingers and those pickled onions were just something else entirely, they were perfect. It’s dishes like these that only prolongs those wishes that Tom would once again dip his toes into Michelin star-studded experiences again. This lovely dish was paired with a glass of (or three in my case) rich and jammy Salice Salentino Riserva from Puglia in Italy.
When I first saw the menu for this dinner at Tom’ Kitchen, one dish in particular caught my eye most – the Rhug salt march lamb. I’ve got a terrible soft spot for a good piece of lamb, and this here was up their with the best. Organic braised breast had some serious flavour going on, cooked to perfection and beautifully seasoned and the squares of pork belly were lovely and crispy. Everything was married together with the addition of roasted shallots, pea and pea purée, crispy onion rings and a light, but flavoursome jus. Another course means another wine and this dish was complimented by juicy and rich Ribera del Duero from Bodegas Resalte in Spain – this was my favourite wine of the evening.
Cheese course was up next, just before the dessert which I forgot to photograph as I was far too impatient and got caught up in the excitement. Arriving to the table at my surprise was the legendary Cenarth cheese from Wales, baked and topped with candied bacon crumble. Yes you heard correctly, BACON. Could this evening get any better? I don’t think it could have. More wine was in order and they’d had me from the first moment my wine glass was consistently kept topped up – they obviously know me well. The cheese was paired with a lovely Bordeaux red wine from Chateau Perron – featuring all the classic flavours of ripe fruits, cigar box and sweet vanilla from its time ageing on oak. Nothing beats a good claret.
Sadly that photo of our dessert didn’t happen but I can assure the rhubarb and elderflower fool was every bit as good as you could imagine and washed down nicely with a glass of sweet Sauternes wine. So after months of eating my way around Europe, nothing quite like this meal at Tom’s Kitchen has really caught my attention. I’ve had lots of nice meals, but no great ones – so this couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. I’ve no idea what the cooking is like in the main restaurant on a usual night, but if it’s anything like this then I’ll be making the restaurant my permanent new home (if they let drunk gastros in). My advice, go to Tom’s Kitchen, buy all of the wines I drunk and get yourself a bag of meat from Rhug Estate farms – you won’t be disappointed.
9/10
I was invited to review
