Kitchen W8
Perfect neighbourhood restaurants are hard to come by these days; if you’re lucky enough to have one near you, squeeze it tight and tell it you love it because they are a rare and wonderful thing.
Thanks to restauranteur Rebecca Mascarenhas and chef Phil Howard, there are three such treasures in the west London area; Chelsea’s Elsytan Street, Church Road in Barnes and Kitchen W8 in Kensington. Tucked away just off High St Ken, the latter is celebrating a decade of Michelin stardom this year, but don’t let that put you off. The interiors may be chic and elegant and yes, there are white linen table cloths, but thanks to its ambience, friendly team and reasonable price point, it is genuinely, delightfully relaxed. And then of course, there is the food…
We visited on a wet Wednesday evening and hurried into a near empty restaurant…my heart sank but was quickly resuscitated by Charlie who greeted us like old friends, and I needn’t have worried because by 7.30pm every table was taken, and the buzz was a thing of beauty.
We sunk in to a comfortable sage green banquette surrounded by softly lit wallpaper adorned with leafy branches and fluttering birds. A delightful pear and thyme fizz promptly arrived along with a genuinely delicious ‘mocktail’ for my date who was kindly driving, and from then on, the evening just got better and better.
Andrew Hayes-Watkins
Andrew Hayes-Watkins
In the kitchen, Mark Kempson is in charge, whose exceptional cooking won the restaurant its first Michelin star in 2011, an accolade which it has retained each year since. Impressive, non? The food is described as ‘modern English with a French soul’. Carefully sourced ingredients take centre-stage, whist menus change with the seasons to celebrate the arrival of new produce (more on that later…).
We went a la carte but there’s also an incredibly reasonable tasting menu on offer (six courses at £80pp). My starter was gorgeous both in looks and taste – a silky saffron risotto with plump St Austell Bay mussels, pickled fennel, chilli and sea herbs. It had sweetness, saltiness, creaminess, sharpness – basically it had it all, working together in perfect harmony. The buttery soft grilled Cornish mackerel was also oh-so-beautifully balanced, with delicate slices of smoked eel, earthy golden beetroots, sweet mustard and leek, topped with fresh little pops of oyster leaf and ice lettuce.
A chunky fillet of Cornish cod arrived next, crisped beautifully and flanked by orange jewels of soft pumpkin gnocchi, roasted cauliflower florets and salty chicken crackling, all floating on a rich, creamy black truffle sauce. As I write this, I am salivating at the mere memory of it. It was sublime. Fish of the day was wild sea bass, again perfectly cooked and completely delicious, with more chubby mussels and thick slices of sweet, charred onion.
Brill, St Austell Bay mussels, Jersey Royals, barba di frate, preserved lemon @gbchefs
Cornish mackerel, smoked eel, golden beetroots, sweet mustard, ice lettuce @gbchefs
On the side, we couldn’t resist the seasonal special – Périgord truffle creamed potato. Now I know this sounds over the top, but I am emotional person, and I am not embarrassed to admit that good food is enough to push me over the edge sometimes. This thick, creamy, comforting bowl of gloriously fragrant, earthy truffle mash was enough to make me well up. Quite simply, it was sent from the Gods. Well, Mark Kempson, but after this meal, I suspect that he is in fact a God.
Following October’s popular six course game menu, this month Kitchen W8 are quite rightly devoting a four-course menu to the tremendous truffle, featuring the likes of ‘cheese on toast’ - an aged beef fat and cep brioche with melting Tunworth, Wiltshire autumn truffle and walnut ketchup, and a truffle Bolognese – roasted fillet of veal, wild mushroom Bolognese, hand rolled macaroni and Périgord truffle. The banoffee finale is also ridiculously mouth-watering; toasted oats, dulce de leche, smashed banana and honey truffle diplomat cream. The menu runs from 17 to 28 November and - needless to say - I’ll be back.
Hazelnut & brown butter tart, caramelised pear, bourbon vanilla and buttermilk @gbchefs
Mark Kempson by Sim Canetty-Clarke @gbchefs
Moving on from my love for truffs (and Mark Kempson), we ended our feast with a Valrhona chocolate panna cotta – not as smooth and creamy as I would have liked, but the toasted almond and orange ice cream was divine and combined it tasted like a Terry’s Chocolate Orange on speed.
Throughout, a delicious glass of wine arrived with each course, expertly chosen and presented each time. Which reminds me - there’s an unbelievably challenging staffing crisis going on within the hospitality industry at the moment, but at Kitchen W8 you wouldn’t know it – GM Charlotte Prescot and her team work together so intuitively that it feels effortless; every table (including ours) was so thoughtfully tended to and that, combined with the beautiful food, made for a room full of very happy people, and you could feel it.
I am strong believer that eating out isn’t just about the food, it’s a holistic experience; the staff, the setting, the ambience, the food, and a few other nuances too ambiguous to mention. What I mean to say is, sometimes you can let a place off if the food isn’t great, but the staff are, and vice versa. Or perhaps the setting is glorious, but the cooking isn’t. But when everything works, when the stars align and it all comes together, it is something very special indeed, and that was exactly what we experienced on that wet Wednesday evening at Kitchen W8.
On the restaurant’s website it says – ‘our benchmark for success is to send you back out into the world feeling better than when you arrived’ and we 100% did. In fact, I am still on high more than 24 hours later.
11-13 Abingdon Rd, London W8 6AH. kitchenw8.com
The four-course truffle menu runs from 17 to 28 November (£120 or £170 with wine pairing, to be taken by the whole table)
Published November 2021 on Essential Surrey & SW London
