Tom Kerridge’s dazzling rise to fame in recent years has been keenly watched by admirers of his work here at WeTheFoodSnobs.
So it was with great pleasure that we accepted an invitation from the man himself to indulge in his very own week-long pop-up in the majestic Harrods Food Halls accompanied by our good friends Clerkenwell Boy and London On The Inside plus a few other lucky food fanatics.
Gloucester-born Kerridge, who shares the same place of birth as this very blog, has done a lot since leaving the West Country to pursue a cooking career in London in his early twenties.
The chef, now 42, runs two Michelin star gastropub The Hand and Flowers, as well as its slightly more relaxed sister pub The Coach, both in Marlow, Buckinghamshire.
He makes regular TV appearances, has enjoyed his very own BBC series and recently released his third cookery book.
To add to his roster of achievements, Tom is now Harrods’ Chef of the Season and will be dominating the food department at the world’s most famous store from now until the New Year.
In addition to designing a Christmas menu and creating a raft of dishes-to-go for customers at Harrods, Tom is running his own pop-up, named Tom’s Table at Harrods, at the Kensington store all this week.
We were welcomed personally by the chef to a special after-hours sitting on Tuesday (once every customer had left Harrods) at a swanky saloon-style bar in the corner of one of the Food Halls.
The menu, we were told, offered a snapshot of the food on offer in all three of Tom’s current ventures, from the fine dining of The Hand and Flowers and the wholesome pub grub offered at The Coach to the try-at-home dishes featured in Tom’s latest book.
What we found did not disappoint.
We started with the Crispy Pig’s Head with Sweet Date Sauce, Pancetta and Chickweed.
Photography by Clerkenwell Boy
This somewhat gruesome sounding dish looks nothing like a severed pig’s head but rather a deep fried block of the tastiest pulled pork known to man.
As a main, we took on the Charcoal-Cooked Treacle-Cured Fillet of Beef with Hot Dog Onions and Thyme, accompanied by dangerously good Triple-Cooked Chips. A more perfectly-cooked and flavoursome chunk of meat, you will not find.
Photography by Clerkenwell Boy
For dessert, the chocolate lover in our heads went with the Chocolate & Ale Mousse with Salted Caramel and Frosted Pecans, served with a delightful bottle of Old Engine Oil Black Ale. For the chocolate lovers out there, it really is as good as it sounds.
To top it all off, on our way out we were handed a copy of the new book, Tom’s Table: My Favourite Recipes.
A must-have for fans of fine British cooking.
If you want to sample Tom’s Table or his menu at Harrods this winter, you better book quick as reservations are bound to come flying in for this foodie feast!
Enjoy!
We The Food Snobs x
