Feasted is introducing an exclusive tasting menu in collaboration with British Ceramics Biennial to celebrate the relationship between food and ceramics. The themes of storytelling, playfulness, risk-taking and activism have been considered and infused into each dish. From The Ground Up is the new autumn menu for The Chef’s Table, a unique dining experience for ten guests at a time.
The menu
Guests can choose a 5-course lunch or a 7-course dinner, and opt in to the full tasting menu experience with carefully selected wine pairings.
The chefs at Feasted have explored storytelling throughout this menu. Storytelling is something that is present in all the dishes they create. From the first dish to the height of the last they have carefully considered the narrative they share to give a compelling experience for diners. Playfulness, risk-taking and activism are also intertwined into the dishes.
Starting with the first course “From the Ground” featuring charred broccoli on flatbread, we are taken on a journey up through the stratosphere from a course featuring a smoked mushroom broth to one that imagines “Pigs Might Fly” consisting of a pork loin and a chicken wing with flavours of coffee, spring onion and peanut. The meal ends with a dessert of a poached pear with bay leaf ice cream and miso caramel sauce, and a petit four with flavours of plum, brandy, white chocolate and hibiscus.
The process
Clay and food are symbiotic. The need to make vessels to hold water and food has led to exploration and creativity that transcends either need. But, we return to the relationship of food and clay.
When creating dishes chefs go on a discovery that extends way beyond flavour. Although this is the core of every creation. Texture, aroma, acidity, colour, form, proportion and foundation are some of the practical considerations. But if we explore the process we uncover geography, history, culture, heritage, the arts, science, maths and English contained within the language of how a chef realises a new creation.
This process is very much one aligned with an artist. A great chef considers all these things when in the process of their art. When a chef invites guests to experience these dishes, they become a producer, repeating those processes. A chef does not do this blindly as they look to develop the dish further while every guest waits with anticipation.
Pottery or ceramics provide a unique plane for flavour and can help an experience be playful and unique. The ceramics we use for each dish is as important as the dish itself. It’s the relationship of both.