Mãos
41 Redchurch Street, E2 7DJ
WLC Rank : 35
Cuisine: International
Glass from : £ 8 (125 ml)
BEST FOR
Art rich environmentA thoughtful wine list ranging from biodynamic artisans to first growths
Considered spirits and sakes
The new Mãos membership including monthly provision boxes and exclusive workshops and talks
Chef Edoardo Pellicano’s collaboration with James Brown of the Blue Mountain School was born to refine the concept of the dinner party and boasts an adventurous cellar.
REVIEWS
Review 2020
Four nights a week, guests are buzzed through a modest door off cobbled Redchurch Street to be greeted with a red prawn and caviar tart and a chilled, handmade clay cup containing a Northumberland gin martini scented with German vermouth and a dot of olive oil.
Mãos (Portuguese for “hands”) was conceived as a cocoon-like, one table dining room within the Blue Mountain School, an interdisciplinary environment dedicated to craft and cultural practices. The layout has subsequently made greater use of the six-storey building, including the private chef’s table in a lofty double-height room, the main, terracotta coloured dining room with views onto the beautifully-tiled kitchen led by Edoardo Pellicano, and, considered the venue’s “favourite seat in the house”, the solo dining spot at the chef’s pass. Reached at the top by a paddle staircase is the wisteria-scented terrace.
Taking over from Alex Casey is Charlie Sims, former restaurant manager of Noma in Copenhagen. His CV also includes Brunswick House and Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen (RIP) in London. Charlie helps oversee the wine selection, chosen from a leather-bound list, with particular focus given to farmers who first and foremost work with respect for the totality of the environment and make wines “full of life that paint an authentic picture of time and place,” he says.
The list runs to 120 bins, focusing predominantly on Europe, and alongside the bottle list, there is now a beverage pairing consisting of five-to-six serves to accompany Pellicano’s menu. Christian Tschida’s Cabernet Franc rosé provides a “deeply refreshing jolt of energy” alongside dishes of sweet beetroot with crisp goat’s milk and blackcurrant, followed by beef fat aged lobster tail with a deep, umami-rich sauce made from the heads, whilst highly-perfumed Cuvée Alexandria from Tom Lubbe of Domaine Matassa “riffs off sea buckthorn juice running through a rich turbot head stock and aged turbot main.”
Similar attention goes to a small selection of sakes where Sims’ preference leads towards those which are unpasteurised and unfiltered, being “more expressive than conventional styles.” There is also a considered selection of spirits including Neta and Hermógenes Vasquez’s deeply mineral Tepextate Mezcal which is Sims’ preferred way to “sign off” after the intricate menu.
Instagram: @maos.bms
By Douglas Blyde.