Menuwatch: Adesse
Matthew Kenney has brought his American, vegan philosophy to the UK. Rosalind Mullen speaks to chef de cuisine Ted Yuk as Adesse opens in Selfridges, London.
Matthew Kenney, one of the US's best-known plant-based chefs, has expanded his sizeable portfolio of vegan restaurants with the launch of his first restaurant in the UK.
Adesse, meaning ‘to be present', opened in December at Selfridges with 52 seats plus 10 at the bar as part of the London department store's Project Earth sustainability initiative. It showcases Kenney's globally influenced vegan cuisine using high-quality seasonal ingredients, bright flavours and Californian execution.
The London kitchen is led by chef de cuisine Ted (Taehun) Yuk and sous chef Viktorija Lunskyte, under the direction of the Matthew Kenney Test Kitchen – eight chefs based at the LA headquarters – and MKC global culinary director Justin Hillbert.
Yuk is South Korean and has gained his knowledge of fine dining vegan cuisine through an impressive international career. As well as Michelin-starred kitchens in Canada and Australia, he has cooked at Vanilla Black, Farmacy and Chez Bruce in the UK and Balwoo Gongyang in South Korea.
His aim is to create dishes that delight both vegan and non-vegan diners, but just so happen to be plant-based. "The dawn of vegan cuisine was all about trying to hide the fact there was no meat, dairy or egg in the dish," says Yuk. "The point is to create delicious dishes that happen to be vegan, not to create dishes that taste like a meat-based dish."
He adds: "I also have a secret weapon in the fight against bland vegan food and it is the process of fermentation. Fermentation is used in lots of our broths and sauces, our cheeses and in our kimchi. It creates bold, flavoursome notes without the need to add excess salt, sugar or fat – it's a healthy flavour."
Certainly, nutrition and health are important to MKC – and Yuk, who at university studied the concept that nutritionally balanced food can prevent ill health. "Modern diets are laden with excess sugar, fat and salt. These are all ingredients that I finely balance at Adesse to create healthy dishes that also taste great." Although the Adesse menu will retain signature dishes, it will evolve as Yuk and the team fine-tune the seasonally-changing menu to suit British produce. "The UK and US have different seasons so I will explain our vegetables to the MKC team," says Yuk. "It will always follow the MKC concept, but there will be price and seasonal differences."
One MKC signature dish on the menu is the jackfruit ‘crab cake' starter. The patties are made with shredded jackfruit, celery, red pepper and old bay seasoning, panéed with vegan egg (made from chickpea flour and water) with gluten-free breadcrumbs, then served with a homemade old bay ramoulade sauce. "It's juicy and tasty and people love it," says Yuk.
Another favourite is the raw courgette and tomato lasagne, which is served with pistachio pesto and macadamia ricotta at room temperature. Seasonal tomatoes layered with thin slices of raw courgette brushed with olive oil, served with macadamia ricotta and pistachio pesto, and sun-dried tomato marinara with homemade herb oil.
"It looks like art – it doesn't look like the lasagne you expect. People think it's hot but it's served at room temperature and when you taste it the combination is ‘wow'," says Yuk.
One dish he believes will be popular in drizzly Britain is spicy udon, togarashi, seared tempeh, shitake mushroom, roasted cashew, hoisin. "It is super-popular – people like hot soup in the winter season," he says.
Yuk's favourite ingredient is tofu, which he uses in the potato and celeriac rosti. "Transforming soybeans into delicious tofu is a scientific process and requires skill," he says. "At Adesse I turn tofu into crème fraîche using a technical smoking method, thus making smoked tofu crème fraîche. It's such a unique flavour and texture – I love it."
Among the best-known MKC desserts is Hibiscus cheesecake with berries and pistachio. The first layer is a vanilla pistachio shortbread followed by cashew cheesecake topped with hibiscus jelly. "It is a refreshing cake and looks lovely," says Yuk. "I was going to be an artist when I was young and I believe the plate is like white paper on which you can draw."
From the menu
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Baked raclette, toasted sourdough bread, house pickle, sichimi oil £16.50
Start
Kale salad £9
Celeriac rosti, apple, fennel, crème fraîche £11
Jackfruit "crab cake", smoked red pepper remoulade £11
Main
Spicy udon, togarashi, seared tempeh, shitake mushroom, roasted cashew, hoisin £22
Raw courgette and tomato lasagne, pesto, pistachio, ricotta £14
Desserts
Hibiscus cheesecake, berries, pistachio £10.50
Second floor, Selfridges, Oxford Street, London W1A 1AB
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