Everyone knows I'm a sucker for:
Euro cuisine with Japanese influence (see my recent comments on Ginza Onodera in Tokyo).
Cooking with fire (see my comments on Onodera, Quetzal in Toronto and Ekstedet in Stockholm)
The controlled chaos of a chef's counter where you're literally integrated as a part of the pass.
Enter HUMO, a relative newcomer with one star, a slick dining room, and one of the best kitchen seats in the world.
Having just gotten off the plane that morning, I cobbled together a light tasting menu from the a la carte (a regular tasting menu is also available).
Best seat in the house at HUMO.
We don't go to the cellar for the wood. It's part of the kitchen.
Let's get that beautiful char.
This should never leave the menu. Never.
Maitake, bio enoki, morels, white yolk sauce, griolle, saffron, hazelnuts.
I can't explain how perfect the char was on each ingredient mixed with the silkiness of the egg and texture of the nuts.
It's a signature dish if there ever was one. Sadly, it's not always on the menu, even with the seasonality of different mushrooms.
34-dry aged Cornish lamb, beet, onion chutney, cedro, castel franco
That chutney was a thing of beauty in contrast against the crust of the lamb.
Can you guess what's grilled in the next two desserts? Not going to give up my chocolate or sponge fix.
This is a fun, atmospheric, and relaxed place with solid cooking and an electric chef's pass if you're in on the action.
A few days later I was talking with a colleague and she wanted to know where I'd been eating. I mentioned HUMO, and she perked up, widely opened her eyes, and said, "Did you have the mushrooms?!?"
See, even I get it right sometimes.
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