Chef Luke Selby and sommelier Honey Spencer on the special intimacy of Evelyn’s Table in Soho, London
Words Billie Brand
Photography Elliot Sheppard
At Evelyn’s Table, unexpected French and Japanese flavours are created using seasonal British produce – a combination that pays homage to Luke’s career. He’s worked under Raymond Blanc at le Manoir Aux Quat’Saison in Oxfordshire; trained at Nihonryori Ryugin in Tokyo; helmed the kitchen at Hide in London. Meanwhile, Honey’s path has seen her travel to far-flung places such as Sydney, Copenhagen, and Mexico, where she worked as a sommelier at Noma. Now alongside one another at Evelyn’s Table, the duo sit down upstairs at The Mulwray, a wine bar curated by Honey that guests often head to for a pre-dinner tipple, to discuss collaborating and the intimate experience of Evelyn’s Table. Plus, Luke shares his recipe for mushroom dumplings.
Luke: “My earliest food memories are of ingredients rather than dishes. I grew up in a little village called Steyning down in West Sussex, near Brighton. My mum would grow things in her allotment all the time and my three brothers and I would go out with her foraging for things like blackberries, mussels, crabs. I got a real sense of seasonality and I learnt respect for the produce.
“I would always help my mum out in the kitchen – I think I was more interested in cooking than she was. I’m the eldest of my brothers and I would cook a lot. My mum and dad were both working in the NHS and they’d get home late, so I took on the responsibility.
“I do remember my mum making rice and dried fish – my mum is from the Philippines and there was definitely a cultural influence from there. We’d always sit down and eat together when we could. My dad is English and just loved food, and it gave him great pleasure eating. I think that’s where I really found my passion for cooking, because I could see how much joy it brought him. I’d love to cook, try new things and be creative. That just progressed into me wanting to be a chef. I can’t remember wanting to do anything else seriously.”
Honey: “I’m from Berkshire, Sunningdale, which is next to Ascot. My mum’s the most amazing home cook and my dad adores my mum’s cooking, so I never really got to experience restaurants because my parents were like, ‘Why would we go out, when we could have something amazing at home?’
“My mum’s cooking is Provençal. She mainly cooks Mediterranean food. I had a really healthy upbringing: we had lots of beans, ratatouille, veggies, olive oil, and stuff like that. It was amazing but I barely cook ratatouille now because I just had it too much of it!
“I didn’t really know about the diversity of food until I moved to London and started working at restaurants. It was like someone opened an entirely different universe to me. I was really excited, and I threw myself into the scene – I just tried to eat and cook as much as I could with different ingredients. I was obsessed.
“As for my interest in wine – there was a really amazing wine selection on the menu at a bar I was working at. I remember thinking, ‘How come these wines all taste so different from each other?’ I was completely fascinated by the idea of the sommelier. There weren’t really any female sommeliers around. In fact, the team I was working in was completely male-dominated. The idea that I could do something like this was so exotic to me. Then, just like Luke with his cooking, I never considered anything else after that.”
Luke: “I’ve worked in many restaurants but I got to the stage in my career where I was ready to do my own thing. I wanted to focus on something small and intimate – something that was very personal to me and my brothers – and that brought me here to Evelyn’s Table.
“The food here is a reflection of me. It’s a mix of my experience with French and Japanese cuisine, my childhood and upbringing, and the Asian influence from my mum. It’s ingredient-led, and we work with small suppliers. We focus on British produce – but we do it in a unique and creative way.
“My brothers and I work really well together. We have great synergy and chemistry between us, and you see that in the service. We work efficiently and effectively.
Honey: “It’s amazing watching them together. It really is. It’s special for us to be able to work with these brothers, because there’s already this idiosyncrasy within them. There’s five of us – three chefs, two front of house – that serve from the same space. A lot of other chefs would maybe ask the front of house to serve from behind, but we’re all in this tiny space together. It’s interesting to watch, because it could be a disaster, but it’s not. It’s like a waltz.
“For me, Evelyn’s Table was the jewel in the crown of the business. I was offered the role last year, just as Luke and his brothers were getting started and it just sounded so wildly exciting what they were up to.
“I was really excited to develop the wine offering both at Evelyn’s Table and at The Mulwray wine bar. We all have the best relationship here and our palettes are really in sync whenever we do food and wine pairings. It’s a deeply collaborative effort. We’ll taste the wine and food pairings together and then talk about what works and what doesn’t.
Luke: “What I love about this project is that we give the best experience to our guests: it’s just 11 courses, two times a night. It’s different to every other restaurant because it’s a performance, you’re putting on a show. The guests see everything. It’s amazing to work in this way.”
Honey: “It’s super elevated – and the attention we can give to the guests so is nice. The aesthetics of the dishes is hugely important too because you eat with your eyes first. At Evelyn’s, the atmosphere makes you feel elegant, and it makes you feel at ease, and comfortable. We want our guests to be feeling good before they’ve had even a sip of a drink, or a bite to eat.”
Luke: “When it comes to home cooking, I like to cook super simple. If I was having friends around, I’d just get a box of oysters to start, then throw a good quality piece of meat on the BBQ. But then, on the other hand, I have done dinner parties where I’ve really gone all in. I just enjoy all of it. I enjoy hosting and sharing what I love with my friends.”
Honey: “I’m a dinner party or nothing person. I’m a big host. Every flat I live in is always based around the kitchen and the eating space. That’s how I grew up and I think that’s the reason that we work in restaurants, because they’re an extension of that.”
Luke’s recipe for mushroom dumplings
Serves four
For the mushroom dashi
1kg button mushrooms, sliced
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
500ml water
20g kombu
15g katsuobushi flakes
For the gyoza
1 packet gyoza skins
250g mushrooms, leftover from the dashi
250g button mushrooms, diced
10g butter
1 clove garlic, pureed
Pinch of salt
For the pickled shimeji mushrooms
50g shimeji mushrooms
50ml white wine vinegar
20g water
Pinch of salt
Pinch of sugar
To serve
1 bunch of spring onions, thinly sliced
20g sesame oil
20ml water
To make the dashi, place the mushrooms, salt, soy, water and kombu in a large, flat-bottom pan with a tight-fitting lid and bring to a boil. Simmer on the lowest heat for 20 minutes and pass through a sieve. Next, add the katsuobushi flakes and leave to infuse for 10 minutes, then pass through a fine sieve.
For the gyoza, blend the mushrooms (leftover from making the dashi) into a smooth puree. Cook the diced button mushroom in the butter with the garlic and salt, then mix both together and chill. Weigh into 15g portions and wrap into the gyoza skins.
Next, bring all the pickled shimeji ingredients to a boil. Take off the heat to cool and infuse.
To assemble, heat the sesame oil in a large pan with a lid. Fry the gyozas on one side until golden, then add the water and quickly place the lid on top and let steam for four minutes. Remove the lid and continue to cook for a further two minutes until the water has evaporated and the gyozas are cooked. Bring the mushroom dashi to a boil, then serve in a ramen bowl with the gyozas. To finish, garnish with the pickled shimeji mushrooms and sliced spring onion.
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