Tom Aikens, London

Still from my last trip in London (have been quite busy) is another one of those Michelin Star Restaurants Called Tom Aikens. Aikens, the youngest British chef to be awarded two Michelin stars while he was working at Pied a Terre, is a very creative type of Chef, with experience working with the master Joel Robuchon in Paris. His main restaurant was also awarded with 2 starts in 2008.

He has 2 other more casual restaurants, Tom's Kitchen and Tom's Place. The Restaurant I had the chance to have lunch in was his main restaurant: Tom Aikens. Located near Brompton road, a posh area in Central London near Knightsbridge, very close to Harrods. As expected, service was impeccable and the interiors were very simple yet very elegant.

For Starters, we had an amuse Bouche - Portobello Mushrooms with Basil and Cream cheese. I know the combination sounds weird but it was surprisingly good.


We had a 3 course degustation, so as my first I chose: Baked Scallops, garlis and Thyme - This was more like a soup, with a base of creamy broth, noodles and a Poached Egg. Very creative although I could hardly taste the scallop.

For my main, I had Roast Suckling Pig, Apple Shallot. This was actually very good. The Pig was of very high quality and very tender ( a la kurobota style). It was actually served 4 ways, one being a croquette, the other was the belly, beneath was ham and last one just plain roasted chop. Very interesting play of textures and flavors, with the Apple cutting through the richness of the Pork.

I did not have any wine with this dish, although for the meal we had a bottle of 2008 Isabel, Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. I have had this wine several times. This is a light, refreshing, easy to drink white wine from NZ.

For dessert, a platter of cheese. There were so many to choose from so we just asked the waitress to make me a selection of soft cheese. My preferred cheese was the Stilton, since I love Blue Cheese



Over all a good experience although maybe next time I would like to try their dinner menu, a more complete degustation, to be able to sample all of Tom's creative dishes.