Auction house Bonhams opens restaurant with chef Tom Kemble
The restaurant, which is open across two floors at the auction house's New Bond Street headquarters, is also the first in London to have a wine list created by two Masters of Wine.
Richard Harvey, the head of Bonhams Wine Department and sommelier and Vintners Cup winner, Charlotte Edgecombe have made use of the location's 2,400 bottle cellar to create a list featuring sought-after wines such as Domaine de la Romanée Conti Richebourg 1995; Château Cheval Blanc 1982 and Screaming Eagle 2011.
Wines will also be bought from sales at the auction house with the restaurants' two Enomatic machines able to dispense up to 16 wines by the glass to diners.
Wine-matching
Kemble, who also worked at Faviken, has created a modern European menu designed to match the wines on the list. The chef will also create special tasting menus to accompany wines at tastings hosted by fine wine producers.
The restaurant is initially just open for breakfast and lunch. Dishes on the breakfast menu will feature sourdough brioche with seasonal fruit confiture; homemade granola and yoghurt plus bacon from Knightsbridge butcher O'Shea's and smoked salmon from Hansen and Lydersen.
Sample lunch dishes include Jerusalem artichoke veloute with black truffle and quail's egg; haunch of Sika deer with chestnut and juniper puree, baby turnips and beetroot and Pollack with celeriac puree, Cevennes onion, parsley and lemon confit. Desserts include Cox apple 'dauphinoise', arlettes and cinnamon ice cream and Floating islands, citrus anglaise and chocolate sorbet.
