HALF-BREWED!

Hedone is one of the highly-rated restaurants in London by the food critics. It is a one-star Michelin restaurant owned by Chef Mikael Jonsson. Swedish Chef was a food blogger and dined at a considerable amount of Michelin restaurants all over the world. He is mostly a self-taught chef and was a corporate lawyer. His allergies prevented him from being a chef and even touching food until he found the correct diet. At age 44, he was finally ready to manage his own restaurant.

Hedone opened its doors in 2011 and was awarded a Michelin star in 2013. I went to this restaurant with high expectations due to its reputation and the inspiring story beneath the curtain. Unfortunately, Hedone failed to meet my expectations.

Ambiance

I first want to start out with my favorite element, the open kitchen. For the ones that keep following my posts, you know very well that I really am fond of the open kitchen concept. You can sit at the bar and eat right in front of the kitchen while watching the chefs prepare your dishes. Although I didn’t have such a chance to do that, it would be such a pleasure for me.

The ceiling of the restaurant was pretty interesting. There were some hand-drawings related to the menu and kitchen such as fish, octopus, knife, crab and bird. I loved the brick effect on the walls, it reminds me that I am in London.

The entrance to the restaurant can be more recognizable. It is not possible to see it at first sight. There is a curtain when you open the door. I sometimes encounter with the use of the curtain at the entrance of the restaurant but I’m not really sure about why it is there.

Taste

There were two choices for the tasting menu; seven or ten courses. I chose to have the seven course. I asked to see the tasting menu but they told me that they didn’t have a printed out menu due to frequent changes of the ingredients. I heard that Hedone was popular with the quality of the products used, however, I think that when a customer wants to see the menu or have a printed out version, they need to make it ready to be printed out immediately upon request. Besides seeing the detailed menu, I love to keep the printed out menu as a souvenir.

First, amuse bouche was fish and chips with tartare sauce. It wasn’t a creative one but I loved the taste of the monkfish. Next was oyster with cucumber sorbet. I didn’t like the aftertaste in my mouth. As a personal preference, I also didn’t like the fact that it was too cold. I prefer to eat icy dishes at sorbet or dessert. I need to mention that their home-made sourdough bread was really good.

The vegetable dish made of seasonal vegetables was good in taste but wasn’t impressive. Dehydrated cabbage was my favorite. Following blue lobster dish was surprisingly mediocre. It was served with coral sauce and ponzu sauce but still wasn’t delicious. Seabass served with cauliflower foam, Japanese grain and coconut was an interesting and a bold one. Though I think that foam is generally used a lot for the tasting menu. It can be replaced with sauce and puree.

Next was pigeon breast and leg with beetroot, cabbage puree and sake sauce. The pigeon was cooked with cinnamon. I didn’t like the overuse of cabbage in the dishes. Luckily, the pigeon was cooked well and was tasty. White truffle from Alba was brought to the table at some point through the tasting menu. It was available for an extra 40 pounds if you wish to have it.

Pre-dessert was a lemon tart which was my least favorite. I had an unpleasant taste in my mouth. On the contrary, my favorite dish was the dessert; chocolate mousse with raspberry powder, passion fruit jelly, chocolate biscuit and vanilla ice cream. The sweetness of the chocolate was very well balanced with the sour passion fruit.

Service

I was a bit late for my reservation because the restaurant was much far than I thought to where I was staying. When I entered from the door, the cheerful staff told me that they were waiting for me and wouldn’t give away my table to anyone. I was impressed by the attitude.

Unfortunately, the rest of the staff wasn’t as friendly. But what I didn’t like the most was the pace of the service. My order was taken after sitting and waiting for twenty minutes. The whole tasting experience took 3.5 hours due to the slowness of the staff. I was bored of waiting and was full earlier than I should be due to long waiting periods between the dishes. Even the cheque arrived so late. Hedone definitely is in need of more staff.

Another thing that the staff needs to be careful is the crumbles on the table. If there is any need, it needs to be cleaned immediately, not at the very end of the tasting experience.

An amuse-bouche was offered to be eaten by hand. If you are asking your guests to eat something by hand, you must give towels for cleaning hands in advance.

I made the reservation via e-mail. You need to provide your debit/credit card details to complete the reservation.

Creativity

I don’t have much to say in term of creativity. I wasn’t really impressed neither by the presentation of the dishes nor by the combination of the ingredients. It was all mediocre. My favorite was the hand-drawings on the ceiling.

Value

The price was too high for what the restaurant offers you; seven-course tasting menu was 95 pounds.

I was happy with the sommelier. He made a good suggestion for what I demanded. I had a nice sweet but acidic French wine; Jurançon 2015.