Sven-Hanson Britt to open Oxeye in London's Nine Elms this October
Sven-Hanson Britt's Oxeye restaurant will open this October in London's Nine Elms on Embassy Gardens, alongside an informal bar and shop, private event space, art gallery and terrace.
The tasting menu at the fine dining restaurant will open with snacks such as salted walnut oil cracker and marinated walnut; and Cornish Yarg churros with fresh nettles and sea beet. Starters will include Irish coast sea urchin, potato dumpling and smoked butter; and raw razor clams, apple marigold, Egremont Russet and Tokyo turnip.
Mains will include hen of the woods glazed in jus gras with wild onion, braised smoked eel and Kampot pepper-scented sauce chivry; Derbyshire longhorn flat rib, black mustard, preserved seeds and sauce Rouennaise ; and braised wild Cornish turbot, sea kale and ‘sauce Tillington'. Desserts will include Arhuaco Businchari cocoa, Scottish sea salt, birch syrup, caraway and sesame praline.
Meals will conclude with handmade chocolates by Cartografie, the brand led by Britt's partner Kae Shibata. The menu will be priced at £99 per head, or £139 with supplemented items in between courses. There will also be British or ‘world class' wine pairing options for £99 or £250, respectively.
The interiors at Oxeye will be decorated with Japanese ceramics produced in Ibaraki made by Shibata's uncle and wool and skins from their own animals, as well as charcoal made from bones and plant matter from the farm. Oxeye will use leather from distributors Billy Tannery and glass, steel and porcelain from British brands like Royal Crown Derby.
Bar Rex at Oxeye will also offer sharing plates using UK shellfish and day-boat fish, charcuterie, seasonal vegetable dishes, British cheeses and chocolate. Dishes will range from £2 to £20 and tables will be available for walk-ins only. The wine list will include more than 300 British wines with names like Nyetimber and Hambledon, as well as smaller wineries like London-based Blackbook and Harrow & Hope in Buckinghamshire.
The menu will also include wines from around the world, which will change based on the best available. The wine offering at Bar Rex will be curated by Katrina Smith, with a large selection available to purchase and take away.
The exhibition space upstairs will showcase street artists from London and the surrounding area, kicking off with a joint exhibition from Murvellous, Opake and Paul Lock. Adjacent to this will be Oxeye's private dining space, open to hire for corporate events and parties as well as a series of wine dinners.
The restaurant will open three days a week to start with – Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings – with Bar Rex open four days a week for drinks and snacks.
Britt said: "Oxeye has been the best part of 10 years in the making; from formulating our ideas in the fields of Park Farm in Derbyshire, to finding the perfect site in Embassy Gardens. The concept remains the same as it did all those years ago: a true celebration of the incredible bounty of produce found on the British Isles, from Hampshire wasabi and Cheshire saffron to British truffles and English sugar and birch sap for sweetening.
"The restaurant has its own smallholding in Derbyshire where we grow some fruit, vegetables and hedgerow crops to supplement produce from a number of tiny growers and producers across the country. These artisans, farmers and true heroes of British food are what inspire us and push us every day to create more and more delicious food."
