Thirty six views of the kitchen
A veritable tsunami of elegantly served and delicious food hits our reviewer. Will he last the course….?
Article by Andy Barnham
Those familiar with the Japanese print of The Great Wave by Hokusai will note that the sailors in the boat are all depicted as calmly bowing down before the power of the ocean and accepting of their fate. Is this due to heroic stoicism or awe inspired paralysis? Or maybe it is a third option of ignorance and misunderstanding at a situation, as it was this reaction to which I succumbed at Parlour.
Located in north London in Kensal Green, Parlour is a combination of art deco and retro styled restaurant and owned by chef Jesse Dunford Wood. Seated at the chef’s table, so called due to it’s location next to the kitchen and the view into the heart of operations, we were welcomed by chef Jesse and then forewarned of a food tsunami coming our way. Gleefully ignorant of the size of the upcoming wave, our evening began.
The meal started in bite sized portions with popcorn chicken, literally pop corn and chicken with a side portion of chestnut hummus and rosemary pita. This was followed in steady succession by duck liver pate on crunchy bread, great British raw vegetable ravioli, hash brown and egg, smoked salmon, caviar crisp skin and sourdough bread, tomato and basil salad with peach brittle, blue cheese custard and marmite stick…
The small start quickly became a torrent of food. Each course was delicious, immaculately presented and introduced by chef Jesse. As soon as one course was sampled, a new one would appear. Personally and because I love pate and blue cheese, these courses were stand out in my mind. Somewhere during the evening a bottle of prosecco appeared and with great panache opened with a 3ft machete. By now the reality of chef Jesse’s prediction was dawning but with such incredible food and service, why slow down only half way through the meal? Rather accept our fate and hang on to see what was coming our way next.
Indeed, as it turned out we had only just arrived at the main course. Inspired and named after the favourite dish of The Dandy‘s Desperate Dan, the next creation to arrive from the kitchen was Cow Pie. The size of the tsunami was only now making itself clear and transparent. Cow Pie was larger than my hand span and cooked with bone marrow in the middle which acted as a chimney to ensure heat consistency throughout. Large chunks of beef dripping in gravy and cooked to perfection emerged from the under the crust and were accompanied with an Argentinian Malbec. Needless to say that despite how incredible Cow Pie was, sadly it was not finished. We were starting to feel defeated by the tidal wave of food as we hung on for dear life, saving strength for desert.
The table was cleared and chef Jesse approached the table again with his machete with two sets of headphones hanging over the blade and uttered the words, ‘Do you like to party?’ In hindsight, alarm bells should have been set off at these five words. Over the course of the songs that played through the headphones (starting with the theme from 2001), we were treated to a spectacle. Silver foil was laid along the course of the table, smoke from a hidden smoke machine filled the air and chef Jesse set the scene for his final performance of the evening. Sweets such as marshmallow wagon wheel, hot blackcurrant souffle, cheesecake, and artic rolls were individually placed on the foil to build up a creation of art and desert. When the final touches were carefully placed, synchronized perfectly to the closing bars of A Spoonful of Sugar, the masterpiece and chef Jesse’s prophecy was complete, in full sugar coated glory. Where to start? What to try first? What did it matter we thought as we dived head long into this work of candy caramel art. Any passing resemblance to a Jackson Pollack quickly evaporated as the sweets were consumed and the foil left looking like a battlefield.
Looking back the tempo and parallels of the waves of food become more apparent; the degustation start to the meal book-ended with the horde of sweets centered around a pillar (or in this case a pie) of a main course. Flourishes sprinkled throughout the evening, such as the machete opened prosecco, the headphones and smoke gave the meal a wonderful panache with chef Jesse multi tasking his role in the kitchen, serving other tables and hosting his chef’s table to perfection. Parlour a must. 
Enquiries; Parlour, 5 Regent Street, Kensal Green, London, NW10 5LG/ 020 8969 2184/ www.parlourkensal.com