Tom Aikens Chelsea restaurant re-opens with new focus for 2012
The 52-cover restaurant in Elystan Street, which originally opened in 2003, has been closed for the last six months for refurbishment with Turkish designer Hakan Ezer brought in to give the premises a look to reflect the new, less formal style of the restaurant.
Aikens and his new business partners London Doors, who bought the business from Peter Dubens in March last year, decided they wanted a simpler approach to the whole venue.
While the food aims to be of the high 'gastronomic standard' expected from Aikens, it will be delivered in a less formal way than in the previous restaurant.
Dishes include starters of roast foie gras, thyme sabayon, smoked onions or venison tartar, grated walnuts, wild sorrel; mains of chorizo-baked cod, 24-hour squid, cod soup or piglet, roast gem, pineapple fondant, sage, caramelised squid and desserts of beetroot & yoghurt parfait, sweetened beets, Port syrup or Regent’s Park honey, goat’s curd, toasted poppyseeds, Pernod, fennel.
Ezer's 'slightly rugged, but urban and stylish' decor features boarded oak floors, mismatched, bare oak tables, handmade wooden chairs and famous quotes about food and wine written on the wall and has been designed to reflect the chef's new style of cooking.
Simplicity
“I wanted to create something original that reflected Tom and his cooking now, that was inviting and welcoming and not overpowering or over-designed. a space that celebrates the simplicity of good ingredients in both the kitchen and the dining environment,” he said.
Aikens said the new feel of the restaurant reflects the times.
"We want our customers to relax and enjoy the whole dining experience, from food and drink to the actual dining room’s environment – this informality is definitely the mood in the marketplace for 2012," he said.
The refurbishment of Tom Aikens at Elystan Street is the first major project for the partnership between London Doors, set up by Istanbul Doors Restaurant Group and Trilantic Capital Partners and Aiken. Under the partnership, there are also plans to expand and strengthen the Tom's Kitchen brand.
