Tasting Menus Worth Shelling Out For in London

The Topsy-Turvy Tasting Menu, At Dinner By Hetson Blumenthal

Why do we always start with savoury and end with sweet? Is there any science behind finishing with dessert, or is the latter actually better for our bellies? Inspired by the mantra to ‘always question’, these are the musings which motivated Dinner by Heston Blumenthal’s latest venture. Exporting the Fat Duck’s Topsy-Turvy Thursdays to his two-Michelin Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park base, this playful tasting menu begins with dessert and ends with the starters. And the experience is just as whimsical as it sounds. From reading the inverted menu through a gilded hand mirror and attempting to butter your bread while sporting vision-whirling (giggle-inducing) goggles, to slicing into chicken liver parfait disguised as a mandarin and receiving a history lesson on ice cream as a cloud of nitrogen-freezed dessert is whipped up before you, this eccentric menu will leave you entranced with its childish sense of mischief.

The ever-delightful servers, too, play along every step of the way, greeting you to your ‘first course’ just as you’re drinking your last drops of wine. And if the premise doesn’t charm you, the moan-inducing food (special shout out to the powdered duck) and the culinary craftsmanship gone into creating it will. Available at the Chef’s Table – where the surrounding mirrors and tapestry further immerse you into the topsy-turvy, history-themed concept – or the Private Dining Room, book into this culinary spectacle while you still have the chance. 

Price: £175pp for five courses, £195pp for six courses or £230pp for eight courses

Address: Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, 66 Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 7LA

BOOK: www.mandarinoriental.com

Ikoyi, the Strand

This two Michelin-starred restaurant was founded by friends Iré Hassan-Odukale and chef Jeremy Chan, combining spice-based cuisine with British ingredients, made using organic meats, biodynamic vegetables and fish from UK waters dispatched using the Ikejime method. The tasting menu is served for dinner from Monday to Friday, and at lunchtime Wednesdays to Fridays, and features dishes like aged sirloin with salted citrus and lobster, turbot and caramelised chicken wings, smoked jollof rice, and a poppyseed and rum cake. It’s worth noting the menu can’t be adapted for vegetarians or vegans. At £380pp it’s certainly not cheap, but you can guarantee an unforgettable dining experience, and you can get a shorter menu £170pp.

Price: £380pp for dinner on Monday to Friday and lunch from Wednesday to to Friday, £170pp shorter tasting menu

Address: 180 Strand, Temple, London WC2R 1EA

BOOK: ikoyilondon.com

Evelyn’s Table, Soho

Intimate chef’s table experience Evelyn’s Table is another favourite among London foodies, constantly popping up in lists of the country’s best restaurants. Hidden below The Blue Posts pub in Soho, with room for just 12 guests, it has a speakeasy, supper club-style vibe. You won’t find out what’s on the menu until you arrive (dietary requirements are submitted in advance), but you can assure you’re in safe hands with chef James Goodyear, who combines a love for British produce with Scandinavian and Japanese cooking techniques – underpinned by his French training. Expect top-quality dishes, with optional wine pairing, served amid a relaxed, unique setting. 

Price: £135pp Monday to Friday, £95pp for lunch on Fridays and Saturdays

Address: 28 Rupert St, London W1D 6DJ

BOOK: theblueposts.co.uk

SUSHISAMBA, Covent Garden and Bishopsgate

London’s hottest sushi spot and twilight cocktail venue with a view is venturing further into daytime territory with its Taste of Samba lunchtime tasting menu. Inspired by the cuisine of Japan, Brazil and Peru, the ever-popular SUSHISAMBA flexes its culinary skill across  three different menus (signature, veggie and premium), each with six courses amounting to between 10 and 13 dishes. Start with a humble batch of edamame and moreish crunchy plantain chips ahead of plates of crispy yellowtail taquitos, black cod anticuchos, tiger maki and nigiri. After robata dishes like lamb chops and grilled eggplant, finish with the chocolate banana cake dessert.

Price: From £95pp

Address: SUSHISAMBA Covent Garden (35 The Market, London WC2E 8RF) and SUSHISAMBA Heron Tower (Bishopsgate, London EC2N 4AY)

BOOK: sushisamba.com

Scully St. James, Mayfair

Chef Ramael Scully’s acclaimed Asian fusion restaurant, Scully St. James, offers an excellent five-course tasting menu. Guests will embark on a journey through Scully’s heritage (he was born in Malaysia, and grew up in Sydney with a mother of Chinese/Indian descent and an Irish/Balinese father) and cooking techniques, with a focus on fermenting, preserving and ageing ingredients. That means unique flavours, but also low waste, with a standard and a vegan menu to choose from. The menu is constantly changing, but to give you an idea, the meal might begin with crispy stuffed chicken wings followed by red mullet with tempura chicken oyster, with a ‘Popping Candy Basil Pot’ for dessert. Wine pairing is available for an extra cost.

Price: £135pp for the standard menu, £105pp for the vegan menu

Address: 4 St James’s Market, St. James’s, London SW1Y 4AH

BOOK: scullyrestaurant.com

Umu, Mayfair

Forgoing the theatrical bells and whistles found at London’s more name-checked Japanese establishments, Umu favours a more refined, less Westernized cuisine that won it a Michelin star within months of opening (it now has two). Around 70 per cent of the fish served is British, and such is chef Yoshi’s dedication to the highest quality produce that he personally trained Cornish fishermen in the ikejime method of killing and preserving fish to ensure it met his exacting standards. The seasonal kaiseki tasting menu takes you on a journey of elegant, traditional and previously unheard-of dishes, with many of the top contenders being fully vegetarian. Spring dishes include monkfish spring rolls with wild garlic, charcoal grilled tuna with Tokyo leek, grilled wagyu beef, and a Warabi mochi dessert, served with sakura ice cream.

Price: £260pp

Address: 14-16 Bruton Pl, London W1J 6LX

BOOK: umurestaurant.com

Restaurant 1890 by Gordon Ramsay

Gordon Ramsay’s third restaurant at The Savoy, which holds one Michelin star, is a tribute to esteemed chef Auguste Escoffier, who worked at the esteemed hotel back in 1890 – hence the name. The small restaurant is open for lunch and dinner, offering a tasting menu featuring seasonal French dishes with European influences. Think celeriac royale with hazelnut and Iberico, Orkney scallops, native lobster with cucumber, and Yorkshire rhubarb souffle for pudding, rounded off with petits fours.

Price: £155pp

Address: Restaurant 1890, Savoy Hotel, Strand, London WC2R 0EU

BOOK: gordonramsayrestaurants.com

Six by Nico, Fitzrovia and Canary Wharf

After proving popular in cities like Edinburgh, Belfast and Manchester, Scottish-Italian chef Nico Simeone brought his innovative dining concept Six by Nico to London. The Fitzrovia branch follows the same unique format as its siblings: an ever-evolving six-course tasting menu that changes every six weeks, each following a different theme. Currently, is a Paris-themed menu with dishes such as tartare de bœuf, poisson au vin rouge, plus Parisian hot chocolate for dessert.

Price: From £55pp

Address: 41 Charlotte St., London W1T 1RR and Chancellor Passage, London E14 5EA

BOOK: sixbynico.co.uk

Read our review here

Muse by Tom Aikens, Belgravia

Muse is the latest venture from chef Tom Aikens, who returned to London’s fine dining scene at the start of 2020 following a five-year absence, bringing with him years of experience in the world of high-end restaurants. Aged 26, Tom became the youngest British chef ever to be awarded two Michelin stars, going on to cook at the likes of Pierre Koffman’s La Tante Claire, Pied-à-Terre and Joel Robuchon in Paris. Muse is a culmination of all this: a ‘gastronomic autobiography’, as he puts it. You’ll find the restaurant tucked away inside a tiny townhouse in a residential Belgravia mews, spread across two floors and seating just 25 diners. The ten-course tasting menu tells a story, with each dish reflecting a part of Tom’s life. An onion, sorrel and cheese dish, for instance, is an ode to the many onions he has peeled during his career as a chef. And for dessert? ‘Wait and see’, says Tom – a nod towards the often-used mother’s response he remembers from childhood.

Price: £195pp

Address: 38 Groom Pl, London SW1X 7BA

BOOK: musebytomaikens.co.uk

Restaurant Story, London Bridge

Chef Tom Sellers earned his stripes working in top kitchens across the world before opening his own restaurant aged just 26, Restaurant Story in London Bridge. After five months it gained its first Michelin star, which it has held onto ever since, landing a second in 2021. As the name suggests, Tom likes his dishes to have a narrative behind them. Upon arrival you won’t receive a menu: instead you’re asked for your likes and dislikes and a parade of exceptional tasting dishes will arrive on your table. There are some signatures though, like the famous beef dripping candle, an edible candle which creates a dipping sauce for your sourdough, and the ‘Storeos’ – a savoury spin on Oreo cookies filled with cheese. Not a meal you’re likely to forget any time soon.

Price: £275pp

Address: 199 Tooley St, London SE1 2JX

BOOK: restaurantstory.co.uk

Kitchen Table

After 15 months of closure, Michelin-starred Fitzrovia restaurant Kitchen Table reopened in 2022 with a fresh look and an exciting new menu. Spearheaded by husband-and wife-duo, Noma-trained James Knappett and sommelier Sandia Chang, Kitchen Table used to sit at the back of gourmet champagne and hot dog restaurant Bubbledogs, which sadly closed for good during the pandemic. It’s been repurposed as a cocktail bar though, while Kitchen Table continues to serve as an intimate dining room seating just 18. The setting may be low-key, but the two-Michelin-starred food is anything but: diners will embark on a dazzling 20-course gastronomic feast. Prepare for some surprises – the daily-changing menu is intentionally enigmatic, with one-word descriptions of dishes, but the chefs will talk you through their magic along the way.

Price: £250pp

Address: 70 Charlotte St., London W1T 4QG

BOOK: kitchentablelondon.co.uk