Press
City AM – Steve Dinneen
(Awarded 5/5 for both food and service)
“Tom Aikens Restaurant feels like the way great food should be served today – without stuffiness or ostentation.”
“The service was a rare combination of attentive and informal and the menu was perfectly matched with the natural, laid back atmosphere.”
The Sunday Times, Style Magazine – A. A. Gill
(4/5 rating for both food and atmosphere)
“It was a pleasure to walk into a simple grey room with Scandinavian chairs (we’re all over the chairs) and a long window onto a street that is surprisingly beautiful at night.”
“This restaurant is one deep breath away from being in the half-dozen best restaurants in the country…”
Independent on Sunday, New Review Magazine
– Lisa Markwell
“This eminent dining-room offers unusually intriguing and tasty dishes in a setting of almost Scandinavian understatement.”
Bloomberg.com – Richard Vines
“Aikens is such a creative and adventurous chef, I’m not sure there is much point going for a budget lunch. Yet the set lunch, with its layers of flavour, does provide a relatively simple introduction to his ambitious cooking.”
Viewlondon.co.uk (5/5 rating)
“Tom Aikens restaurant has evolved. And the food? Excellent as ever…”
CharlesCampion.com
“The service is slick and polished. The new dining room is much more comfortable…The new menu and presentation on the plate is a tad less fussy than the old one. You would bet that the Michelin chaps will be round soon and in due course Tom Aikens will again be suitably spangled.”
Hardens.co.uk
“Two of us tasted everything from the lunchtime menu, and had one of the most innovative and most enjoyable meals we can remember having in London, or anywhere else for that matter, for a very long time. There was almost nothing which was not a delight…”
“Our only slight concern? We may – already – have had our best meal of 2012.”
Squaremeal.co.uk
“Food-wise, Aikens seems to be sticking to what he does best – namely high-end contemporary French cuisine showcasing contrasting flavours.”
Hot-dinners.com
“Somewhere between Fat Duck and a steady French foundation lies the perfect sweet spot for this comeback kid.”
Emily Rookwood, Spears Wealth Management
"Everything is meticulously put together, from half-centimetre diameter cubes of jellies, to tiny flowers and delicate cylindrical slices of fruit….The restaurant was inviting, warm and dry, the food beautiful and the wines surprising"
Lucy Thackray, BAHighlife.com
"With its sexy, low-lit dining room and show-stopping presentation, Tom Aikens offers a show-stopping meal with plenty of thought behind it…Everything is a delightful conversation starter."
Jeanette Arnold, Instyle.co.uk
"Seasonal British ingredients, with a French twist, best describes the food here, which all comes looking like a pretty picture on a plate – but this does not detract from the incredible flavours."
"One of the highlights is the hessian basket of warm breads which come with three flavoured butters (bacon and onion, mushroom and sea salt) - the bacon brioche is irresistible and we managed to polish off the lot!"
Square Meal Restaurant Guide 2013
"When clean and complex do gel, however, the results are stunning – witness sublime jasmine-cured salmon with viola flowers, pickled apple and jasmine oil or an inspired combination of homemade ricotta, green olive juice, honey jelly and powered pine-nut oil. Overall, there’s much to like about this new incarnation… charming, extremely knowledgeable staff seal the deal."
Scott Manson, Tempus
"Tom Aikens [is] arguably one of the most talented chefs currently plying their trade in the capital."
"From the start – homemade bread served with three types of butter – this cooking was done with flair, imagination and technical mastery... this is a restaurant worth travelling for."
Richard Nicoll, designer
"The food is beyond incredible thanks to the Michelin star credited skills of Tom himself and a nice guy to boot."