Evelyn's Table

High quality cooking

'Chef's table' restaurants can so easily go either way. Are you there to worship at the shrine of a chef taking centre stage, perhaps with the maddening distraction of somebody faintly disturbing sitting next to you? Or are you there for a good dinner in surroundings that are both more up-close and relaxed than a berth in a many-tabled room? At Evelyn's on the edge of Soho, the latter tendency is in the ascendant. The 12-seat counter works to two evening sittings, plus Saturday lunch, while the brigade of chefs – and it is quite a brigade – take on all duties, from plating and serving to describing dishes to each diner with a minimum of theatrical flourish. Seamus Sam (ex-Muse) took over the reins here in 2024, and his cooking is full of intuitive balance, working with the grain of expectation rather than against it. At inspection, a two-part opener featured a savoury tea of langoustine and Thai flavours, then a whole barbecued langoustine with two preparations of white asparagus (one coated in roasted rice) and a claw-filled morel. Elsewhere, a tartare of Cornish bream was accoutred with rhubarb ponzu, blood-orange gel and cucumber, for a deceptively simple but bracing interlude. The triumphant principal course of Herdwick lamb offered rolled saddle, stuffed with merguez but cooked proficiently pink, with puréed and steamed aubergine, juicy sweetbread under crisped wild garlic (like Chinese takeaway seaweed) and minted kombu sauce. We visited during the rhubarb season and were regaled with a fabulous multi-part dessert of textural and spice variations: salted duck egg and tonka custard set over rhubarb jam for that 'wow' effect; poached rhubarb with sorbet, tapioca and Thai basil; and a satisfyingly rich salted yoghurt foam with Meyer lemon and shortbread. Wine pairings throughout are clever and thought-provoking, and the list itself is tremendously impressive, with 'no' and 'low' options among the splendidly varied, if punchily priced, selections.