Cycene is the new-ish restaurant at Blue Mountain School on Redchurch Street in Shoreditch – it took over the space that was previously Mãos. Cycene is headed up by chef Theo Clench, who was previously at Portland and most recently at Akoko. The space has remained very much the same but Theo has bought an entirely new menu into the renamed restaurant (‘Cycene’ means ‘kitchen’ in Old English, btw), and it’s clearly been working out very well already, as Cycene picked up a Michelin star earlier this year. The Cycene experience begins at the downstairs bar, where you’ll have your first course with an aperitif. For the next course, you’re taken upstairs to the kitchen, and then you’re into the proper dining room, a tiny, charming little place with wood-panelled walls and Persian rugs. The tasting menu now begins in earnest with some exceptional snacks and other highlights like confit scallop with tomato & ginger sauce; aged turbot with fish bone caramel; Hereford beef with sea buckthorn; and chocolate mousse on top of wafer-thin biscuit, topped with crème crue. A special mention must also go to the ‘half and half’ wine / soft drinks pairing – in between the wine servings, you get to try some really interesting soft drinks and kombuchas that have all been made in-house too.