The main dining room downstairs
What can you tell us about The Cocochine?
This restaurant is a team-up between gallery owner Tim Jefferies and ex-Petrus chef Larry Jayasekara. They've already opened an impressive deli just down the road, The Rex Delicatessan, but this is their main magnum opus. It sees them taking over all four floors of a Mayfair townhouse for a restaurant, chef's table, wine cellar and hugely impressive private dining room/penthouse (we'll get to that last part in a bit).
Inside The Cocochine. Clockwise from the top right - the main dining room, the chef's counter upstairs, the wine cellar (which has a small seating area beside it) and the stairs leading down to that cellar. It's all very beautifully designed.
Where is it?
It's in an area of Mayfair that's seen a lot of development of late, Bruton Place. AsIn addition to The Rex there's been a big extension of The Guinea and it's also rumoured to be where Jason Atherton is opening one of his potential upcoming restaurants. Tucked away just off Berkeley Square, it's pretty much equidistant from Green Park, Bond Street and Oxford Circus stations.
Where should we go for a drink first?
There are a couple of very handy options close by. First of all is the obvious one that's directly opposite - The Guinea. If you fancy a Guinness before or after your fine dining, this is a good bet (although they do also have a pretty good wine list). We'd also put in a very good word for the small bar at Bellamy's, a great place for a pre-dinner martini.
Much more closely linked to The Cocochine is The Rex Delicatessen, and that's good for a pre-dinner glass of wine as it becomes a wine bar from 6-9pm. It's a beautifully designed space, that was once a Mayfair stable and well worth a visit in its own right.
Onto the restaurant itself - where should we sit?
There are two key options here. There's the main restaurant on the ground floor for a more traditional experience. It's a beautifully designed room, with incredible attention to detail, and it's just a very comfortable space. Get a table near the window if you can, but any table in here is good.
Alternatively, there's the chef's counter upstairs, facing into the main kitchen. When we visited, this seemed to be the place of choice for most diners and is probably a better option for anyone after a speedier one or two-course meal, as seemed to be the case with the people dining there when we visited. Or, if space is available, we'd suggest doing what we did - have most of your dinner downstairs and head up to the counter for dessert. That way you get a much better view of the whole operation.
At this point, it's also worth mentioning the art which, with a gallery owner in charge, is as impressive as you'd imagine. Every room features a different theme - we particularly liked the amazing photography on the ground floor.
And a penthouse was mentioned?
Yes, this one is a bit special and you're not going to be able to eat up here unless you hire out the entire thing, which will cost you a pretty penny. But, it would be worth it. This space is, we think, the most impressive private dining room we've seen in London in a very long time. First of all, it is HUGE, taking in the entire top floor with both a main dining table and entertaining area. With light pouring in, it looks like something from a movie set and is once again decked out with beautiful art with original Warhol paintings on the walls.
If we ever win the Euromillions, we want our lounge area to look like this:
This photo doesn't quite do justice to exactly how jaw-dropping this double-height room is when you walk in. It's very impressive.
What can we expect from the food?
The main menu (which is what we had) is an a la carte affair, with three courses for £145 (but there's a fair bit added on to that, which we'll cover in due course). In each course, you have a choice of five dishes, with one being a vegetarian option. We're very much in fine-dining territory here, with an awful lot of work going into each dish. Much of the meal uses produce from the regenerative mixed farmland at the Rowler Estate in Northamptonshire.
Here's a taste of what we had:
First of all, canapés. These include a 36-month-aged Comte and black truffle doughnut (topped with 72-month-aged Parmesan) and a tartlet of carrot purée and pickled red onion, cured and smoked reindeer heart from Norway.
Otoro with Japanese soy, and a generous spoonful of golden oscietra caviar on the top.
Tanera Island native lobster, barbecued in banana leaves and served with crème fraîche, wild cardamon, red wine jus
Spiced Brixham crab, seaweed crèpe avocado, toasted almond with a sauce made from crab shell stock, crème fraîche, and finished with dill oil. This is their take on a Coronation-style dish.
The bread course - This features homemade brioche with caramelised onion, thyme, and glazed with brown butter and sea salt. It comes with two great butter options of whipped truffle butter and fresh Normandy salted butter.
Arnaud Tauzin poulet des landes, Tanera Island langoustine, morel, shellfish sabayon, jus gras - it's rare we see chicken paired with langoustine but it works very well, not least because of the below...
The chicken comes with this pie filled with roasted chicken leg, leek, mushroom and Norwegian brown cheese - absolutely amazing.
Slow-roasted Rowler Farm lamb and finished on the barbecue, with onion, peas, lamb jus - a barnstormer of a lamb dish.
What about dessert?
It's an extremely well-balanced meal, we thought. Portions are small-ish (as you'd expect from fine dining) but there's a lot of rich flavour. So you'll definitely be ready for dessert and, as mentioned, if you get the chance to have it on the counter upstairs, go for it.
Gateaux Nantais (a less sugary version than that cake usually is) filled with diced mango, lime and vanilla. It comes with Alfonso mango sorbet, Sri Lankan jackfruit with exotic garnish and crème anglaise.
The 66% Cocochine chocolate biscuit, which comes with golden oscietra caviar to add a little bit of saltiness to the chocolate, as well as creme fraiche ice cream.
This is also well worth considering - the excellent Tahiti vanilla ice cream which comes with jaggery caramel
And there are some newer set menus?
They've just added a couple more menus if the £145 price point is a little out of reach. There's now a set lunch menu at £50 for two courses or £70 for three. Some of the key dishes above appear on that, including the lamb and the ice cream so it's worth a look. They also have a special "pie menu" which lets you order a pie and salad for £45 including the chicken pie above as well as a short rib of beef & mushroom pie or a slow-cooked Rowler Farm lamb shoulder pie.
What about drink?
We're in high-end Mayfair territory, so your cheapest glass comes in at £18 (2022 Antinori Castello della Sala Bramito), with the entry-level bottle a Spanish Albarino at £60. If you're looking to splash out, there are plenty of opportunities to do so, with quite a few fine wines in the £1000+ range, leading upwards to a 2013 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti at a pretty eye-watering £32k.
Overall thoughts
The Cocochine is a beautifully-designed restaurant, top to bottom and chef Larry Jayasekara and his team are serving up some of London's best fine dining food at the moment, particularly reflected in some of the touches like the chicken pie and the otoro tuna starter. It's definitely on the high end of things price-wise, but the newer set menus do offer a more affordable way of checking it out, and we'd say it's worth taking advantage of those.
More about The Cocochine
Where is it? 27 Bruton Place, London W1J 6NQ
How to book: Book online
Find out more: Visit their website and follow them on Instagram @larry_jayasekara and @thecocochine.
Hot Dinners dined as guests of The Cocochine. Prices correct at time of publication.
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