In New York City, the closest equivalent to our own esteemed Gordon Ramsay is Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Each man holds three Michelin stars for his ‘name’ restaurant, and each is the respective city’s highest-profile empire-builder. But whereas Ramsay’s restaurants are usually Michelin-pleasing French, J-G has tried his hand at a whole range of culinary styles, often with a hint of the East. In London, he is best-known for Vong – a French/Thai fusion outfit formerly of Knightsbridge, and still trading in NYC.
We suspect you can’t really understand how Nuño Mendes (the chef) and Philip Mossop (the owner) came to create Bacchus without knowing that Mendes worked for Vongerichten for many years. (Mainly in New York, but most recently at the St James’s casino, 55.) Without such a confident grounding, it’s difficult to see where they could have found either the vision or, particularly, the confidence. It’s brave enough that these total unknowns have set up a quality restaurant half a mile north of any point in the known culinary world. And that its prices are set at Knightsbridge levels. But what’s positively surreal – as we noted on our way out from a lunch at which we were the only guests – is that the brigade numbers no fewer than ten chefs.
So, is this a folie de grandeur destined quickly to go the way of the dodo, or the first shot from a kitchen who might just set the town on fire? Our money’s on the latter, as we ate here one of the handful of truly innovative meals we can honestly remember eating in this city. For London – for all its quality and diversity – has proved a laggard when it comes to evolved cuisine: if you want ‘something completely different’, you have to head off to the likes of Bray (Fat Duck), Leeds (Anthony’s) or Cambridge (Midsummer House). Or, now, to Shoreditch.
Mr Mendes’s culinary inspiration is, in fact, none of the English chefs responsible for the above, but the innovators of northern Spain (of whom Ferran Adria, of El Bulli, is but the best-known). His dishes, which infuse European dishes with a Japanese sensibility, are in the work-of-art style – often in a bowl, with the ingredients arranged broadly in yin/yang formation. Such presentation could easily seem precious, but here it does not, as almost every dish really works.
It’s hard in a few words meaningfully to convey why this food tasted so fresh and interesting, but one of the very best things we’ve eaten in the last 12 months was Mr Mendez’s starter based on yuba (rolled milk skin), with mushrooms, herbs and flowers. It seems unlikely that dissecting such unfamiliar tastes and combinations will help do justice to what you personally might experience. Perhaps you should just go and check it out for yourself.
