Tom’s Kitchen and Constable exhibition at the V&A
It’s not often I get time to hang with my gal pals over a luxury luncheon, let alone take time out to head to a gallery, but last week a bunch of us managed to nail down all our diaries and head to Tom’s Kitchen and Constable exhibition being held at the V&A.
In a genius stroke of marketing wizadry the Tom’s Kitchen team have come up with a bespoke two or three course lunch tagged on to a tour of the Constable: The Making of a Master Exhibition. Whilst I don’t need much persuading to head anywhere yum for lunch, it does take a little more of a shove to get me to attend something slightly more high-brow, so I was delighted that these two events were joined at the hip.
A bit like the old Anchor Man call ‘News team assemble’ – once the call had gone out for the gals to assemble, a large gaggle showed up to snag our table at Tom’s in Chelsea. After a quick perusal of the menu, I settled on a starter and main (never been much of a pud girl unless it has oodles of chocolate in it). I opted for the endive salad with walnuts and blue cheese feeling extremely virtuous…
But then had second thoughts once I’d spotted the potted shrimp served up in cute little Kilner jars...
I’ve had a bit of a thing for Kilner jars all summer – brilliant for storage, but also brilliant for serving up single portion salads or pasta meals for a picnic – top idea from the lovely Sam Howley of Sam’sCooking
Reeling in my food choice faux pas disappointment sharpish with the aid of small sip or two of vino, we tucked in heartily…
A few of us hadn’t caught up in a while, so the vino flowed and the quiet chit chat soon rose to a slightly noisey level.
We were silenced by the arrival of our delicious main courses – mine was the baked whiting with a poached egg on the side – yum – or food porn as one of my buddies christened it…
The other option had been Blythburgh pork belly – which looked equally delicious.
We tried to keep the noise down by the time coffee arrived so as not to annoy our fellow diners…
Then it was off to the V&A for the Constable exhibit, where I proved completely useless on the photography front as there were too many officious looking security types glaring at the camera slung nonchalantly over my shoulder as we pottered through the exhibit. This glass chandelier by Chihuly is the best I could do.
Verdict:
I’d never been to Tom’s Kitchen before as it had opened whilst we were living in New York and hadn’t popped up on my radar. The food was delicious, the service effortlessly slick yet easy-going, and the atmos fun with a smart casual vibe. I would definitely head back there again.
The Constable: The Making of a Master exhibit was not really my cup of tea – reminded me of the kind of paintings my granny used to love back in the day, but a saunter through the V&A is always a treat, especially their shop when it’s getting this close to Christmas. The exhibition runs through until January 11th 2015.
You can book the set menu for the Constable lunch (which includes the entry ticket to the exhibit) by calling 020 7349 0202 and quoting ‘Constable’ – the deal is available Monday to Friday.