There can’t be too many Michelin-starred restaurants where you sit on a high stool around an L-shaped bar. But at Humble Chicken, this is exactly where you want to be because, here, they have perfected the art of cooking as theatre. Food is prepared and cooked, glasses and ceramic bowls appear at each stage of the tasting menu and staff glide past each in a remarkably small space with a smile on their faces and a demeanour of utter calm. Kitchen nightmares? Angelo Sato is no Gordon Ramsay though, oddly enough, his first job was in Ramsay’s Chelsea restaurant.
To say Sato has come a long way is putting it mildly. Born in Tokyo, he moved to London when he was 17, had a spell in New York and opened his first restaurant aged 27 in Frith Street. Then it was a yakitori bar (hence the name Humble Chicken). Now, it is something else entirely.
The underlying concept of Humble Chicken is a tasting menu (if you count all the “snacks” there are 14 courses) that you have with a flight of sakes or a wine-sake mix (non-alcoholic alternatives are available). Fish, as you would expect, predominates though there is a sukiyaki “main” course featuring Aberdeen/wagyu beef. Arriving slightly early, we were offered a glass of bubbles while we chose the ceramic bowls for our sake and watched, fascinated by the chefs cooking, arranging and explaining the plates for other diners around us. This isn’t that flamboyant Japanese style of cooking that was so popular a few years ago, all flames and flashing knives. This is delicate, much of the arranging done with chopsticks, a kind of Zen cuisine. This is very clear from the first dish.
Our first “snack” was a wild mussel each, with Kosho Ponzu and Avocado, served in its shell on a dish decorated with pebbles, starfish and seaweed and, we were advised, best eaten by slurping it out of its shell. Just before it arrived, Aidan Monk, the very knowledgeable (and funny) restaurant manager had introduced us to our first sake (Junmai Bodaimoto MNG ‘Evolution’ – salty, slightly sweet and one of the most delicious I’ve ever tried). It came, he explained, from near Hiroshima and was chosen to match the flavours of the series of snacks that kept on arriving: nori with mackerel and a tiny forest of upright chives; fig and foie just exploding with flavour; tiny mushroom tartlets served on a basket of pine leaves; Humble Fried Chicken (their take on you know who); and their bao bun, the last of the snacks, known as This Little Piggy.
Whimsy is big here. The food, while serious, doesn’t take itself too seriously and Angelo and his co-owner and fellow chef, John Paul, like to have some fun. Each of the chefs you have seen preparing each of these delights brings you his dish and explains it and Aidan keeps on returning with more drinks and even more background stories. Everyone has time to chat and the atmosphere is very sociable. There are just 20 covers so it’s decidedly cosy. I found myself having several conversations about the food and drinks with my neighbour who had booked Humble Chicken before he came to London from Italy for a few days. Clearly, it’s a place where the word of mouth has spread.
The snacks now over, a new sake appeared (Junmai Koji 99), the explosive flavours of which would, Aidan explained, blend perfectly with the Isle of Wight tomatoes and Cornish lobster that were the next course. Provenance is another big thing here as is local British produce. Angelo, it turns out, is not just Japanese. His mother, being German, introduced him to European tastes, too, and his time in the US has brought further influences.
So, the next course was Shokupan – the lightest of loaves accompanied by pickles and a butter with three layers (parsley, chicken livers and truffle parfait), this time served with a wine from Gran Canaria (Marmajuelo from Bodegas Tameran), all mineral, volcanic flavours. And then two kinds of tuna appeared, one generously fatty, the other red loin served with a fragrant sake, with a touch of lychee on the palate.
There was a break for tea, a delicious Japanese snapper, two puddings including a deconstructed strawberry cheesecake covered with shavings of frozen Kent strawberries: one delight after another, delicately conceived and inventively presented. All of the staff want to tell you more about the sakes, the wines, the dishes and they’re clearly a passionate bunch. If you’re not passionate about food, this is probably not the place for you. If you are, you’re in for a treat.
Humble Chicken, 54 Frith Street, Soho, London W1D 4SL. For more information, and for bookings, please visit www.humblechickenuk.com.
