Tom Aikens will reopen his eponymous Chelsea restaurant today after a significant refurbishment. Aikens Restaurant, located at 43 Elystan Street, Chelsea, originally opened in May 2003 and quickly garnered numerous culinary accolades for Tom’s creative and distinctive modern French cooking.
After eight years, Tom and his new business partners, London Doors, decided it was time for a new focus for the restaurant. The objective was to continue to offer food of the gastronomic standard for which Tom is celebrated, but to move away from the typical formal style of that type of restaurant.
“We want our customers to relax and enjoy the whole dining experience, from food and drink to the actual dining room’s environment – this informality is definitely the mood in the marketplace for 2012,” Tom explains.
Along with a new look for the restaurant, Tom has developed a series of à la carte and tasting menus, including six, eight and ten course options that are also available with matching wines. The food is simpler than in previous years, but still promises to bear Tom’s exciting and distinct flavour combinations.
The 52-seat restaurant has been designed by Hakan Ezer, a well-known Istanbul designer. It features broad-boarded oak floors, custom-designed hand-made wooden chairs, a variety of mismatched oak tables, and evocative quotes about food and wine written on the walls, ranging from Socrates and Bacchus to Miss Piggy.
The restaurant is open Monday to Friday from noon to 2.30pm for lunch, and Monday to Saturday 6.45pm to 11pm for dinner.
Rhiannon Bury
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