Playing with people's palates

Our dinner at Tom Aikens began with four tastes presented on a variety of spoons. Just two years after the eponymous chef opened his own restaurant, was this his ironic reference to The Curious Incident of the Spoon in the Night-time, when he challenged a customer at the door for allegedly pocketing a piece of the costly cutlery and she took her story to the papers? I like to think so, but I suspect the driven Mr Aikens is just keen to play with people's palates.

He teased the innate sweetness from beetroot to partner the strength of red mullet, drew attention to the beauty of white cod with pale green cucumber jelly on a brown Japanese ceramic spoon, seemingly spun lemon into a wafer and did something clever with crab which I remember most for its inclusion of dill.

What followed was a distillation of gaspacho that made you feel you were tasting tomatoes for the first time. An irresistible array of breads made in-house was offered, and this was before we started on what we had ordered.

I am suspicious of those who talk about food as art, although you can argue that both are vital and that the removal of either results in starvation. Tom Aikens, however, comes closest, in my view, to cooking like a painter and possessing a feeling for ingredients that an artist has for his materials.

The Jackson Pollock splashes and slashes on the plate have given way to a more Douanier Rousseau-like naturalism. Sprouted seeds provide a tangle of undergrowth and jellies suggest limpid pools.

The main ingredients that title the dishes are the basis for themes and variations. Rabbit brings a rabbit-andpea boudin with chilled pea soup, leek jelly, pea sprouts and saltiness thanks to ventreche bacon. Asparagus is transfigured into mousse and partnered with poached quail's eggs, wild asparagus and chervil.

Some might observe that the servings of prime protein in the main courses are small, but they are balanced by what else surrounds them, for example the pork lasagne and baby squid served with roast piglet and the braised leg of lamb, tomato cannelloni and goat'scheeseand-tomato gaspacho that accompany lamb loin.

A pre-dessert confection of lime rendered as froth, ice and jelly sharpens the appetite for what follows - the listed desserts, of which orange jelly with orange parfait and pain d'épices, blood orange segments and mousse, almond panna cotta and orange tuile was my favourite for looks, flavours, textures and temperatures, a toast rack of various tuiles and a heap of Proustian madeleines.

The biggest impression in the dining room is made by the fine linen, fragile glassware and silver teapots from Christofle. The helpful sommelier, Gearoid Devaney, speaking like James Nesbitt, is the icing on the cake.