If you watched this year’s Great British Menu you’ll have seen Kerth Gumbs make it to the show’s final with his set of dishes inspired by children’s literature. Now he’s brought them to Ormer Mayfair with a new six-course tasting menu.
It kicks off with a very generously sized amuse bouche of johnny cakes (a type of cornbread) piled with crab, smoked mayo and roe. Next up is The Walled Garden, which features pretty much every conceivable preparation of carrot, including as a sorbet and as a shot on the side, with whipped goat’s cheese and a delicate little biscuits presented on a ceramic carrot. Needless to say, if you like carrots you’ll love this.
The fish course is titled Commotion in the Ocean and it very much lives up to its name, with the dry ice presentation causing a bit of a commotion at the table. Thankfully what’s actually on the plate – lobster, cauliflower and cockles in a fragrant, coconutty green curry sauce – is just as exciting. The last savoury dish is Three Little Pigs, honey glazed pork loin and cheek, with bacon, celeriac lasagne, artichokes and truffle, and although all the individual components are cooked beautifully, for us they didn’t come together as the other dishes had.
Snozzcumber & Frobscottle, inspired by The BFG, is the pre-dessert that was served at the final banquet and it’s easy to see why. The pickled cucumber, chervil granite and yoghurt is incredibly fresh and it comes with a vivid blue sloe gin cocktail on the side that looks like a WKD but tastes about a thousand times nicer. The menu concludes with The Folk of the Faraway Tree, which is another ‘gram-worthy piece of plating and again there’s a lot going on with various textures of blackberry, chocolate, sea buckthorn and buckwheat.
As you may have guessed, the presentation of all the dishes is really theatrical (there are even some of the additional props Kerth used on the show displayed on the bar) and not only does the food look and taste good, the staff seem to have fun serving it, and we all need a bit of fun right now.
7-12 Half Moon Street, Mayfair, London W1J 7BH
flemings-mayfair.co.uk