If there were any two chefs we should all be watching right now, it’s Joe Allen and Aaron Thomas. Jamie Barber, owner of “Hush”, Mayfair’s cosy fine dining restaurant has recently invested in these two entrepreneurs fresh from their appearance on the BBC’s My Million Pound Menu which aired back in January.
Impressed by their talents and cuisine on offer during the show, Jamie Barber agreed to give KityCow the ultimate opportunity by offering them a three-month residency at his Mayfair bar and brasserie. The two chefs now take up the first floor restaurant of Hush, serving Nepalese cuisine with British fusion.
The KityCow menu consists of 12 to 15 dishes of the chefs’ favourite Nepali dishes and whilst we looked over the menu, we ordered ourselves one of the special cocktails. The Fig Old Fashioned is made with Plantation 5 year Rum and a sweet Fig Liqueur. It went down a treat and if you wanted to drink cocktails all evening, lots of these would work very well alongside the ‘Taste of KityCow’ tasting menu which we ordered.
As for the food, we started out journey with some Nimki crackers flavoured with onion seeds. They were so crunchy and when dipped into the thick coriander yoghurt, it made for such a lovely little snack to settle us in. Better still was the pani puri. The classic Indian snack is one of my favourite dishes ever and this was honestly one of the best I’ve had in London. They were filled to the brim with a fresh and zesty filling and the tamarind water, served on the side was good enough to want to take a bottle of it home.
Another fantastic dish to arrive from this tasting menu was the Nepali momo dumplings with a green chilli and
tomato achar chutney. The sauce was fantastic, the filling was juicy and most importantly it left us wanting more. I also really enjoyed the cauliflower with ricotta and curry sauce – though if I had to pick one dish that didn’t quite blow me away it would be this.
If KityCow ever needed to pick out one signature dish, then surely it would be the Pakku pork chop with fennel bhaji and hispi cabbage. To look at I wasn’t completely blown away by presentation – but the pork chop was stunning enough to not care. The fragrant oils seeping out of the meat all over the plate and drapes of cabbage over the top made for one rather lovely plate of food. I can still recall just how tender those slices of pork were.
One of the most interesting dishes was the roasted skate with crushed turnips and Himalayan herbs. The skate was a thing of beauty, falling apart to the touch and the perfume from the herbs really leaped out of the plate. Presentation wise again I wasn’t crazy, especially not being able to see the fish – but when it tastes this good all can be forgiven. The side of black daal was excellent too.
Dessert is always my favourite course and this was no exception. A chilled rice pudding similar to a kheer which was so rich and creamy, had a touch of spice running through it and a sweet date sauce hidden at the bottom. If that wasn’t already good enough, the silky smooth pistachio ice-cream will have you wanting to leave with tubs full of it.
We finished up on some lovely spicy little sponge bites which went down a treat and had us leaving on a high.
After having eating here at KityCow, the first thing we did was catch up on BBC’s My Million Pound Menu to watch these two talented chefs end up being where they are today and it was a great journey to watch. The food is exciting, the cooking is precise and the cocktails are worth staying for many more after your dinner. There isn’t long left now for this duo who are here until the end of April – so get booking now!
I love the sound of the food! I remember watching them on the show!