Dabbous has only been open for just over a year and has already wowed the critics and public alike.
The building is a modern, minimalist industrial space offering a unique and different experience to what you would normally expect from a five star gastronomic restaurant. With a lengthy waiting list you will be lucky to actually see this place within the next six months with dinner reservation bookings a nigh-on impossibility, but Dabbous is well worth the wait.
The young chef, Oliver Dabbous, who worked with Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir and then at Texture in London, is being hailed as the new culinary messiah.
The menu is faultless, offering small tasting dishes of genius flavour combinations, all executed with culinary precision and perfection. The sensational elements of each dish are exceptionally balanced and brilliantly thought out to create a high quality plate transcending everyday food to heroic proportions. ‘Peas with mint’ translated to a tiny ball of verdant pea granita suspended in a smooth and chilled pea soup, studded with fresh just-cooked peas and scattered with mint leaves and pea shoots. Other highlights include the barbecued Iberico pork with savoury acorn praline, while the ‘Rabbit pie’, saw tender pieces of white meat cooked in a marquis then covered with a buttery, golden crust. Finally, ‘ripe peach in its own juice’ showcased the fruit at its best, with sweet pieces of poached flesh in a puddle of heavily scented, coriander-spiked syrup. Dabbous takes seasonal ingredients and combines them together to produce intelligent creations and modern infusions of flavours to produce a complex plate of food using simple components.
The imaginative and clever approach to the presentation is outstanding; offering a feast for the eyes by demonstrating innovative designs and illustrating the creative art of gastronomy.
It’s easy to see why people are going mad over Dabbous, and why it was awarded a Michelin star only months after the opening, the popularity is completely justified. Oliver Dabbous offers skilled, authentic and adventurous food. However, the only problem is you’ll probably not taste his coking for a very, very long time.
| 39 Whitfield Street, London, W1T 2SF. | Transport Goodge Street tube |
| Telephone: +44 020 7323 1544 | Opening Hours Tues-Sat: noon-15:00, 17.30-23.30pm |
| Price per head: Main courses £11-£16. Set lunch (noon-14:00 Tue-Sat) £22 for 3 courses, £26 for 4 courses. Set meal (noon-14:00, 18.30-21:00 Tue-Sat) £54 tasting menu. Meal for two with wine and service: around £130 | Website |
