Omakase Mystery Menu At The Table Review
Award-winning restaurant and institution, The Table, famous for its delectable dishes and warm, welcoming ambience, hosted their monthly Omakase ‘Mystery Menu’ last week.
You learn something new everyday and I learnt that Omakase is a Japanese phrase that means ‘I’ll leave it up to you’ or, in the context of ordering food at a restaurant, ‘I’ll trust the chef”. The Omakase Mystery Menu concept is that each month the menu will offer four courses inspired by a specific chef’s heritage, but the menu will only be revealed on the night. The menus are inspired by the chef’s experiences across the globe and childhood culinary memories. In this way, The Table celebrates the diverse cultural heritage of its chefs while offering an immersive dining adventure. What an amazing concept!
As someone who usually peruses the menu considering all my options, I was excited about not having to make decisions about my food. I also liked looking forward to not getting food envy by looking at other diner’s tables as I knew we’d all be having the same. In the lead up to attending we wondered what the dishes would be: would they be our favourite cuisine or something we’d never had before? Once seated, our waiter revealed the cuisine: Jamaican Caribbean. We were both very pleased with this.
When I think of Jamaica, I think of jerk chicken and rice, beef patties, rum, a blue sea. We were immediately transported to the Caribbean through Jamaican patties with home-made bonnet sauce. As one would expect, this dish had quite a kick to it which we both liked.
Next was butter bean soup with jerk shrimps. It was creamy, thick and flavourful, and paired beautifully with the shrimps. For both of us, this was the standout of the evening and the dish I’ve mentioned the most to friends. Please Chef, may I have some more?
For mains there was a choice of Jerk chicken or Jamaican chickpea curry. We both had the jerk chicken which was succulent, smoky and bursting with flavours. Dessert was banana fritters with dark chocolate and rum sauce with lime sorbet. I’m not the biggest fan of banana but we both felt the batter fell a bit short compared to the quality of the other dishes. The sorbet was the best feature of the dish with its tart flavour.
All the portion sizes were great, leaving you pleasantly full. We felt it was a good selection of food that told us a story about Jamaican food.
Our waiter was friendly and efficient- always explaining the menu, confirming we were finished, and asking if we wanted the next course now or to wait a few minutes. This meant we could enjoy sipping our wines and resting our stomachs before having dessert.
I’d never been to The Table before and found it a relaxed, friendly vibe. On one side there’s an L shaped white lounge, another lounge with black, white and red covers and cushions, and some booths also in the same colours. Although it’s an open space, each area feels distinct. There’s also tables and chairs on both sides with most tables having one seat facing the windows. The wooden or brick flooring depending on area, and the green potted plants contribute to this welcoming ambience. We liked that there was a map of the area illustrating where The Table was and on the back informing us about upcoming events at the venue.
The Omakase Mystery menu is a great price at £40pp, which includes four courses and a welcome drink. Each month there will be a new theme for Omakase Mystery Menu. The next Omakase dinner is Wednesday 26th March.
Address: 35-37 Battersea Rise,
London, SW11 1HG
Website: https://thetablecafe.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetablecafe
Phone: +44 207 223 0033
Email: [email protected]
Written by Caitlin Neal
