So it's like tiny, tiny food which Prof Brian Cox eats with tweezers?
Well, yes and no.
Tiny? Not necessarily.
Brian Cox? Yeah, he probably dabbles.
Molecular and experimental gastronomy describes a style of cuisine in which chefs embrace sensory and food science, borrowing tools from the science lab and ingredients from the food industry and concocting surprise after surprise for their diners.
Most commonly, this is manifest as a pretty arrangement of multi-coloured gel balls which sit on your place as a garnish. It's mostly a bit of fun, but when it's done well... it's fantastic.
London's best molecular food
With his first restaurant Jason Atherton attempted to move away from formal fine dining, offering a bar area for starters and small plates, the main dining room and a separate dessert bar. Nothing is quite as it seems on the playful menu, so the English breakfast is a slow-cooked egg served atop tomato sauce, croutons and mushrooms.
Alvin Leung – the “demon chef” - may be most famous for his edible condom, originally produced to raise money for Elton John’s Aids charity, but his London restaurant’s Brit-inspired tasting menu is about so much more than shock value. Clouds of rose mist, toad in the hole made with frog meat and sous vide pigeon are just a few of the fantastically clever tricks Leung has up his sleeve.
Lawyer turned food blogger and later restaurateur Mikael Jonssonwowed critics with Hedone. A daily changing menu that’s never advertised online, his USP is to let ingredients do the talking, such as with the famous onion dish, with a quarter of the vegetable served with a barely-there slice of pear.
Tom Sellers, previously of Noma, opened this first restaurant amidst a flurry of hype. With dishes like candles made of beef dripping and burnt onions soaked in gin, you’re going to be hearing about Sellers for a very long time.
Run by the Gladwin brothers, a farmer, a restaurateur and a chef, the hearty cuisine at the Shed is innovative and fun. They put a clever spin on popular ingredients like the lamb chips, crispy croquettes made from seasoned shredded meat, and a dish of minced chorizo dotted around the plate with crispy kale and thick labneh.
The food is as imaginative as the décor at Sketch. Pierre Gagnaire’s creations include dishes inspired by his favourite perfume, and his flair earned the restaurant its second Michelin star in 2012.
Heston Blumenthal shows us just how innovative our forebears were when it came to cooking, with pre-20th century dishes like the salagamundi, a salad of smoked chicken with horseradish, bone marrow and salsify.
Influenced by Icelandic cuisine and Scandinavian minimalism, the tasting menus are ingredient-led. Take the Scandinavian fish tasting set, where one of the dishes pairs Icelandic salted cod with avocado, brandade, squid and chorizo.
Ollie Dabbous’ first restaurant made headlines for its fantastic tasting menu with dishes like beef tartare with cigar oil, whiskey and rye, and for the impossibility of getting a table without at least a three month wait.