The Guardian
Grace Dent both enjoyed and suffered an “unforgettable” evening at this new King’s Road hangout from restaurateurs George Bukhov-Weinstein and Ilya Demichev along with chef Chris Denney, formerly of Fiend and 108 Garage in Notting Hill.
Everything on Grace’s plate was “delicious”: “Denney is again reaping his trademark culinary whirlwind. He’s never boring”, while his kitchen team “show flair for flavour in everything they touch”. And the prices are “wholly in keeping with fancy London norms right now, so factor for about £100-plus a head, before booze and service”.
But there’s a lot that Grace found wrong with the place, starting with a menu that is “borderline chaotic on a global level”, flitting across Europe from Ireland to Greece with detours to Japan to Mexico. This chaos is augmented by the “many servers, sommeliers, managers, deputy managers and even the owners, all milling about on the floor and barely two yards from your plate. I’ve seen calmer hokey cokeys”.
Add in an open kitchen on one side of the room and a cocktail bar on the other, along with relentlessly loud music – “tribal house, or thereabouts, in case you’re wondering” – and Grace was left reeling by a “wholly unrelaxing dining experience”.
Grace Dent - 2024-11-17Evening Standard
David Ellis welcomed the return of Chris Denney, formerly of Notting Hill’s 108 Garage – “a chef of endless imagination, uncommon talent and an explorative, expert palette”. Typical of his new menu was a dish of foie gras on a pancake, topped with rhubarb relish: “I’ve never had anything like it.”
David was less enamoured of the venue itself. From the outside, the half-drawn curtains suggested an “upmarket brothel”, while “inside is what I imagine Jeff Bezos’s panic room looks like… very expensive and at the same time like an abandoned diamond mine… all rough plaster, muddy colours, peasant lampshades”. The leather-clad staff were uniformly unhelpful, too – and David suspected they did not speak to each other.
“Find a manager whose operational skills measure against his kitchen nous, and the restaurant would be among London’s very best. Denney deserves that.”
David Ellis - 2025-01-26
