Called The Soak, the restaurant has been inspired by one of the year’s biggest food trends, with soaking said to allow flavour to absorb deep into food and enhance its tenderness. It will open at the end of April on Buckingham Palace Road.
It will be headed up by Polish chef Chris Zachwieja, who has worked in restaurants and hotels including as a development chef at The Ritz and at Boisdale of Belgravia, where he has spent the past three years.
The restaurant will open seven days a week, from 7am and until 2am on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Dishes will be seasonal and rotated regularly, with those on the launch menu set to include cured venison tartare, which is prepared using soaking techniques that create a product similar to a bresaola, says Zachwieja, and a slow cooked beef cheek bourguignon.
Desserts will also be in keeping with the soaking philosophy and will include a rum baba, which will be soaked in fermented rum.
“We wanted to come up with a concept that was unique to the area of Victoria,” says Zachwieja. “I believe steeping and preserving are the best ways to develop deep, bold and strong flavours, whether it be with meats or vegetables or preparing fruit for use in desserts.
“The soaking techniques allow flavour to absorb deep into the foods and enhance tenderness. It’s all about creating taste through longer periods of time, using methods that soak and steep food and drink with long-lasting flavour. Not only are we enriching flavour but we are also using techniques that provide many health benefits, for example kefir, a fermented milk, can aid digestion.”
“Nothing tastes more like Polish home-cooking than soaked, pickled, or fermented food. Brining and fermenting are the techniques that I was brought up on, and I’ve used this style of cooking ever since I began working in kitchens in my native Poland. The seasonal menu I am developing will include signature dishes that have been enhanced through brining, steeping, fermenting and soaking, I am excited to start sharing these flavours with our customers.”