Dosa at Mandarin Oriental: a new chef’s table opens in London, with a Korean theme and a strong wine emphasis
Website: https://www.mandarinoriental.com/en/london/mayfair/dine/dosa
Akira Back is the name behind the Japanese-themed restaurant at the new Mandarin Oriental in Hanover Square, Mayfair, London. It’s a Japanese/Korean-influenced joint from the much-travelled chef (who was at one stage a pro-snowboarder), and it recently got savaged by Jimi Famurewa in the Evening Standard here.
He’s just opened a new chef’s table experience for 14 diners called Dosa, which is Korean for ‘expert’ and guests sit on stylishly appointed, spacious counter-tops around the kitchen. There’s just one service, at 7 pm, so everyone sits down together to be taken on a culinary journey that’s artfully presented.
I was there as a guest at a soft opening, invited because there’s a strong wine theme here. As well as the 8-course tasting menu (£185 per head), there is the option of wine/drinks matching at £145 per head, with some really interesting bottles of wine (plus a sake and a perry) chosen to pair with the dishes.
Akira Back, who lives in Las Vegas and was grumbling about the UK weather, was in town to oversee the launch. Born in Seoul, raised in Colorado, Back is a busy man, and has lent his name and creativity to restaurants all over the globe. There’s a list on his website https://www.akiraback.com/about-the-chef In 2007 his Dosa restaurant in Seoul gained a Michelin star.
The chef in charge of Dosa is Jihun Kim, and he had a full team in support: presumably there won’t be as many chefs in the kitchen as this when it opens properly next week. Sommelier services were in the hands of assistant head sommelier Maxim Maiano, who did a great job. Head sommelier here is Andres Ituarte. To work out the pairings for this menu the sommelier team tried 110 different wines on one day, and then had a second round of judging with three wines per dish, bearing in mind other factors such as price.
To begin with, fizz. Two really good ones. This was the accompaniment to the excellent canapés.
Champagne Hugues Godomé Grands Jardins Blanc de Noirs NV
Lots of reserve wines in the blend, three years on the lees. There’s some richness here. Cherry and a touch of pear and citrus. Rounded with fine spiciness and nice finesse. This shows precision with fine-grained structure. Lovely delicacy. 94/100
Roederer Estate L’Ermitage 2017 Anderson Valley, California
Lovely weight and structure to this high-end Californian fizz. Good depth with pear and peach fruit as well as good acidity. Textural and fine with real finesse. 94/100
Then an interesting paring with sea bream sashimi, wasabi, green tomato sorbet and sweet green pepper. An old Jura.
Domaine Rolet Arbois Trousseau 1985 Jura, France (from magnum)
Delicate and sappy with a fine nose of redcurrants, dried leaves and some lovely floral perfume. Still so aromatic and fine. The palate is textured and elegant with fine cherries and plums as well as some peppery hints. Such elegance here with warmth and texture. Nice bright red cherry fruit on the finish. 96/100
The next match was with preserved tomato filled with raspberry coulis. This was a Grüner Veltliner.
FX Pichler Grüner Veltliner Kellerberg 2021 Wachau, Austria
Textured with nice freshness and also some peppery hints on the nose. Crystalline citrus fruit with some juiciness on the palate. Linear and focused with real detail. Lovely wine. 94/100
For the next course, a preserved prawn sashimi after it had been marinated a week, we headed to Japan, and a really appealing sake.
Muki Junmai Daiginjo Sake
35% polishing ratio. Very fine and delicate with pear, lemon and some lovely fine spicy detail. Good weight in the mouth with real finesse and also a slight saltiness. This is really good. 93/100
Fish time. Turbot with makgeoili bitter. The wine pairing was a lovely Condrieu from Guigal. Yes, this is fermented and aged in 100% new barrels, so I wasn’t expecting it to be my sort of thing, but it worked.
Guigal Condrieu La Doriane 2022 Northern Rhône, France
Wonderful aromatics with apricot, nice fine spices, some pear and a hint of wood. There are some honey and nuts here. Such a beautiful expression of Viognier with real texture. 94/100
Next up, duck dry aged 14 days with cultivated bacteria (Nurek) with a fermented cherry sauce. This was good but it’s where the menu tasted a bit too conventional. This was nicely paired with a good, intense Barolo just entering its drinking window.
Gabutti Barolo Sordo Reserva 2007 Piemonte, Italy
This is from a south-facing slope and is aged in 1200 litre botti. Spice, pepper and herbs augment vivid cherry and raspberry fruit. There’s nice grip with real depth and texture, as well as the first signs of maturity. Superb. 96/100
We then moved to the Waygu beef course, with three types of Kimchi. The Waygu was served as small pieces (mine was over-cooked, alas, so I took a picture of my neighbour’s) and then, most successfully, as a tartare with rice. To match, it was perhaps my least favourite wine of the evening, the Purple Air from Changyu-Moser, a wildly over-priced offering at over £400 on the otherwise really good, inventive wine list.
Changyu Moser Purple Air 2016 Ningxia, China
Sweetly aromatic with redcurrants, plums and dried herbs, as well as hints of dried pepper and strawberry. There’s nice warmth here with sleek, green-tinged berry fruits. Shows some finesse, with quite a bit of evolution, finishing green. 91/100
Desserts were a mix of little things, with an apple and yuzu sherbet, and then an amazing sweet corn dish, and these were inventively matched with a perry.
Eric Bordelet Poiré Granit Perry 2022
Tart and appley with nice pear notes and some juiciness. It’s nicely complex with brightness and also a bit of sweetness.
