27 Cale Street
Chelsea
London, SW3 3QP
Nearest Transport: South Kensington
020 7349 0202
Tom's Kitchen is the latest venture from Tom Aitken, regarded as one of the top chef-proprietors in the UK. This all-day brasserie serves Anglo-French dishes, executed perfectly by Tom's head chef, Ollie Couillaud - the simple decor only further emphasises that the accent here is on straight forward, delicious food.
My wife and I visited this establishment with great expectations - probably too high!(although I do not think that our expectations were unwarranted in view of all the reports that we had read and received from friends who had visited Tom Aitken's restaurants). We both chose the Gloucester Old Spot pork chop expecting it to be at least as good as that which we had experienced at The House in Islington - but Tom's dish was nowhere near as flavoursome or indeed as large as that at The House - in fact Tom's dish was very average and somewhat tasteless in comparison (and not dissimilar to a standard pork chop), although at least not bad enough to send back. The bottle of wine that we had was good although overpriced. Although we were invited to return (to give it another chance and try something different!) we shall not bother as we have other restaurants which we frequent where the quality and/or value for money is far better.
I recently visited Tom's Kitchen for a Sunday night meal with a group of friends. Although pricey the evening was good fun with great food and good service and I would recommend it.
They seem to have made quite an effort to make the place feel informal with canteen style seating where you share a bench with other diners. Music is also played quite loudly in the restaurant which makes it feel like a lively atmosphere.
The food was served promptly and was excellent. Probably no surprises there given that it is owned by Tom Aiken's. I ordered the steak tartare and a sirloin steak as a main which was probably a bit of a meat overload but both dishes were very tasty.
I would recommend this restaurant to someone looking to eat good food in an informal environment with a group of friends.
Went with daughter's friend who had worked there and were welcomed and given the star table (in the window, behind the coats where people can't easily see you, as opposed to the celeb tables where everyone can gawp at you to your heart's content) and had a pretty flawless evening. Good manhattans and cosmos (for the daughter) and a decent coupe for me followed by fois gras with eggs and bacon - amazingly delicious! We had to order bread - ok and baked on the premesis - to soak up the juices, pointing to the fact that you don't automatically get it when you sit down. I suspect that reflects its high quota of slender young things who try not to nibble....). The restaurant is strong on meats of the heartier variety and the party had roast belly of pork, which was just that - very tasty with plenty of crackling. My lemon sole was a disappointment - rather small and undistinguished, but they usually are so it was my poor choice. Daughter had a beautiful birthday dessert without the awful knot of waiters singing tunelessly but calvados was third-rate and only good for cooking. We had a fine Australian pinot noir from the short list and the whole meal ran out at about £6o a head....not bad for a noisy brasserie!
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