Review: Kitchen Table at Bubbledogs, Soho

Maybe Kitchen Table at Bubbledogs hasn’t got the oddest name of any Michelin 2-star restuarant, but it’s got to be in the top three. Out the front is a champagne and hotdog bar, which explains the name, and I was pleased to see they specialise in small champagne producers at sensible prices.

In the back it’s very much dining as theatre, with the 20 guests seated at a semi-circular bar around an open kitchen where James Knappett and his team prepare your 14 courses. Actually closer to 20 courses. The experience itself is wonderful; there’s plenty of action to watch in the kitchen, the chefs are friendly, deeply knowledgable and happy to share. We had a long chat with James over tea at the end. This is a place to relish the food, not to have a good ol’ natter with friends while you barely notice what’s being put under your nose.

So I’m not gonna give a blow-by-blow account of 20 courses. The first bite was lovely though, a delicately poached oyster with elderflower granita and a smoky tang underneath. A bit later on a filthy bit of wickedness: two sliced of perfect crispy chicken skin sandwiching lightly spicy bacon jam and marscapone.

The first really epic dish, though, was the sea trout done two ways. First, a smoky skewer of belly with a powerful flavour of scorched fat and cut through by thin slivers of rhubarb perched on top. Then a more meaty piece of the vivid amber fish, with girolles and a silky, earthy, creamy cep sauce. Really blissful. So was the scallop with white asparagus, Exmoor caviar and a delicate smoky foam.

It only got better. Dish of the night for me was orzo cooked with brown crab, the rich flavour sliced through with a powerful dose of aniseedy tarragon oil and a punchy reduced sweet tomato puree. Topped with white claw meat. If I had an entire bowl of this every evening for the rest of my days I’d be in heaven.

Oh, but then I also have to shout out the asparagus tart with foaming orange hollandaise and a bunch of sticky rich orange/citrus flavours inside. And the salad of insanely pop-fresh peas, strawberries, grelot onions, champagne butter and shaved truffle. Such a great combo. And the lamb with rose yogurt and… oh, but wait.

Moment of respect for the 196 day aged beef.

Damn, that was an amazing piece of beef. Such a powerful almost yeasty flavour and so sturdy in texture yet soft as a pillow to eat. Eating pillows? Maybe not my best. But the beef was stunning.

And then a lovely canter through a half-dozen wonderful sweet things. Loved the simplicity of strawberry, basil and burrata. Absolutely gloried in the powerful warm summer hay flavour of the woodruff snow heaped over the sour cream ice cream and beetroot candy. The gooseberry and almond finale was pretty as a picture and blast of sour and milky freshness.

We had tea to finish, because their amazing jug of fresh foraged herbs for tea was just so beautiful. Maureen’s dried fig leaf tea sticks in my mind for a wonderful bitter-sweet herbal flavour. Richly silky chocolate mousse with plenty of truffle grated over was a fine finale.

The price of the menu sails over £150 a head, but an evening at the Kitchen Table is a proper event and some of the best cooking in the country. There’s theatre in the surroundings, the open kitchen, but also in the vigorous use of British foraged ingredients, made to star and shine alongside more traditional luxuries. Go.