Some people love chef’s tables. Others really aren’t fans.
Blurring the line between kitchen and diners, a chef’s table invites a small group of customers to dine in the heart of the kitchen, where they can watch what goes on behind the scenes as the chefs bustle about their business.
Respected critic Marina O’Loughlin describes the “chef’s table phenomenon” as “rich Victorians peering at Bedlam inmates for sport” and a commenter on her article labels people who like them as tosserati. But she’s talking about an experience in which the diners sharing the table are strangers, and she is stuck with a plate-licker and silent photographers for the duration. It sounds more like going to the theatre, but getting to eat as part of the performance.
More common are tables to be booked by a single group, like the one at Odette’s restaurant in North London.
Owned and helmed by Bryn Williams, this Primrose Hill institution has been popular with locals since it opened in 1978. Williams took over in 2008 and has gained a loyal following for his confident modern cooking and high quality ingredients, many of which are sourced from his home region in Wales.
During a recent kitchen refurbishment, Williams completely rearranged the space and found himself with a generously sized un-used alcove that was crying out for a chef’s table. Its position means diners who book Odette’s Kitchen Table have the opportunity to observe the chefs at work as much or little as they like, but have enough separation from the core cooking area to catch up with their friends and have a sociable evening together.
My visit was the result of a PR invitation, but with just six of us at the table, all of whom knew each other already, it was more an evening with friends than a typical media event. Indeed, while we appreciated the chance to have a quick tour of the kitchen, the invitation to help cook and plate one or two of our dishes if we wanted to, and the ability to glance up and watch the small team of chefs at work, we mostly got on with chatting about everything and anything, from holidays to weddings to families to our student days. Of course, photos of the delicious food were taken, but what I most enjoyed about the evening was that we spent virtually no time dissecting the actual dishes – other than brief comments of appreciation, we focused more on eating, drinking, gabbing and laughing.
The kitchen table, Williams instructing his chefs, Ed being told about the fish before having a go at cooking, a chef finishing dishes at the pass, pans, Chloe helping with dessert
Dining at The Kitchen Table means booking an expanded version of the tasting menu. The standard tasting menu, available in the restaurant, offers 6 dishes for £50 (or 7 for £55 if you add the cheese course). You can add wines for an additional £35. The Kitchen tasting menu is £80, which includes the cheese course, several snacks before the first course proper and coffee and petits fours at the end. With wine, it’s £125.
The small team of chefs each “own” different dishes and as each one is served, the chef responsible comes to the table to introduce it in a little more detail than is provided on the menu.
Slices of Carmarthen Ham – one of the “snacks” before the named menu dishes.
Truffle Arancini – second snack, heady with truffle and very soft and moist.
Goats Cheese Choux Pastry – third snack, served hot and fresh.
Marinated scallop, pear, mooli & Carmarthen ham – like petals at the bottom of the bowl, almost translucent paper-thin slices of mooli, on top of these a mayonnaise made of scallop roe, oil and chilli peppers, then a small pile of diced scallop and pear (served raw), in a ceviche dressing of lemon juice, olive oil, salt and sugar and a garnish of sea purslane and Carmarthen ham. The combination of pear and scallop was surprisingly wonderful.
New season asparagus, lardo, truffle & smoked rapeseed – blanched new season asparagus, a mayonnaise (made using Welsh smoked rapeseed oil, eggs, vinegar and Dijon mustard), a truffle dressing with shallots, mushroom, garlic, thyme, bay, madeira and truffle juice, finished with sherry vinegar and olive oil, on top a slice of lardo (cured pork backfat), micro herbs and truffle. This dish showed off top quality new season asparagus very nicely.
Whole lemon sole Grenobloise, salsify, potted shrimp sauce – A fillet of lemon sole with a classic Grenobloise garnish featuring lemon, capers, parsley and croutons, modernised by the use of Lilliput capers, lemon segments, soda bread croutons, brown shrimps and sea purslane. Served with an emulsified sauce based on the butter and spices used to pot shrimp. Garnished with salsify. Perfectly cooked, with beautiful flavours.
Welsh lamb, courgette & anchovies tarte fine, artichoke, tomato – rump of Welsh Elwy Valley lamb, medium rare. The description tells me it was served on a courgette, onions and anchovy tart but I neither remember seeing that on the plate, nor can I spot it in the photos, so I assume it was omitted. The baby artichoke was cooked Barigoule (in white wine, vinegar and lemon juice with herbs and spices) before being fried. There was also a spiced tomato chutney and virtually insignificant amounts of sauce.
Perl wen and truffle – organic Perl Wen cheese with freshly grated truffle, served with bara brith (fruited brown bread) and savoury crackers with poppy and fennel seeds. Generous truffle with perfectly ripe cheese and excellent bread and crackers.
Garrigette strawberries, cheesecake & elderflower – Strawberries lightly marinated in jus de fraise (strawberry syrup) and elderflower cordial, a thin tuile of feuille de brique pastry with honey, a quenelle of “cheesecake” (made with Philadelphia cheese, crème fraiche, cream, sugar and vanilla), elderflower and lemon granita and additional jus de fraise. Super sweet, but the very essence of fruit.
Odette’s jaffa cake, orange cream & marmalade – layers of sponge with marmalade, dark chocolate mousse and orange jelly, chocolate soil, an orange burnt cream and a chocolate caramel tuile. A beautiful dessert, really well balanced, lovely textures, tasted fabulous and looked stunning.
Chocolate truffles.
Mini chocolate eclairs – generously filled with a soft creamy custard.
Mini Madeleines – hot out of the oven. Delicious orange zest flavour.
As I’d hoped, the meal was excellent. It’s not uncommon with a tasting menu for there to be one or two dishes that aren’t as good, or simply not to my taste, as the rest but here I enjoyed every dish, from the first snack to the last petit four and everything in between. And for the courses we had, I thought £80 was great value.
Service, as in the restaurant proper, was warm and helpful without being obsequious or pushy.
Being in an alcove on the other side of the pass meant that we had great access to the kitchen but also had our own space. We were not pressured to watch the chefs in sycophantic fashion – rather their presence and our interaction with them was simply a small but fun extra facet of our meal. It was also a wonderfully peaceful kitchen with focused chefs calmly performing their jobs; no need for drama or stress or noise.
Kavey Eats was a guest of Odette’s restaurant.
Please leave a comment - I love hearing from you!6 Comments to "The Kitchen Table | Bryn Williams at Odette’s"
Very nice write-up Kavey x
Thank you!
We also went for the taster menu at the chef’s table, my wife and two daughters? What you wrote I totally concur with you – a great experience and one on a gastronomic experience we’ll cherish with the atmoshphere being one to savour – Bryn Williams has a great Team there.
Glad you had similar experience! Thanks for commenting! X
That looks quite epic.
I keep going back to that photo of the strawberry dessert and still think the waiter’s pouring strawberry syrup from his finger. 😉
Ha ha now that would be a magic trick!