Evelyn's Table is one of the littlest restaurants in London. When it reopens on 27 October, it will be even smaller. The venue, in the converted beer cellar of The Blue Posts pub in Chinatown, ordinarily seats 11. With social distancing in place, there will be room for only nine. The chefs Luke Selby and his brothers Nat and Theo were set to debut here in April. The restaurant's extended closure has kept them treading water until now. Luke, 29, was head chef at Hide Above on Piccadilly when it won a Michelin star in 2018. Before that he worked under Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons and Clare Smyth at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. Nat, 27, and Theo, 25, have cooked alongside him for years, first at Le Manoir and more recently as sous-chefs at Hide Above.
Evelyn’s Table是倫敦最小的餐廳之一。10月27日重新營業時，它甚至變得更小。它由唐人街酒吧Blue post的啤酒窖改造而成，通常有11個座位。由於實行社交隔離措施，將僅容納9人就餐。大廚盧克•塞爾比(Luke Selby)和他的兄弟納特(Nat)和西奧(Theo)原本將於今年4月在這裡首次亮相。這家餐廳的長期關門讓他們一直舉步維艱，直至現在。盧克今年29歲，曾是皮卡迪利大街Hide Above餐廳的主廚，這家餐廳曾在2018年獲得米其林星級餐廳稱號。在此之前，他曾在Le Manoir aux Quat』Saisons餐廳的雷蒙德•布朗(Raymond Blanc)以及Gordon Ramsay餐廳的克萊爾•史密斯(Clare Smyth)手下工作。27歲的納特和25歲的西奧和他共事多年，最初是在Le Manoir，最近是Hide Above餐廳的助理廚師。
Evelyn's Table is their chance to cook the way they love most – classically – and to do so in front of an audience, as guests are seated at a counter overlooking the kitchen. Much of the pleasure of coming here will be watching the chefs perform. But don't expect any razzle-dazzle for its own sake. What you get isn't so much a song and dance as a quiet show of confidence. 「We know what we are thinking without speaking,」 Luke told me when I visited for a preview tasting in September. The challenges of pulling together a five-course meal in a galley kitchen the size of a closet hardly registered. What struck me more was the ease with which they glided around one another. It was an endearing pas de trois.
在Evelyn’s Table，他們可以在觀眾面前用自己最喜歡的一流方式烹飪，客人們在餐檯前落座，可以俯瞰廚房。來這裡就餐的很多樂趣在於觀看廚師的操作。但別指望會看到令人眼花繚亂的花活。你得到的與其說是一曲歌舞還不如說是一場安靜的自信的展示。9月我參加試嘗活動時，盧克告訴我：「不用說話，我們就知道我們在想什麼。」在一個壁櫥大小的廚房裡烹製一頓五道菜的美食，其中的難度幾乎沒有流露出來。更打動我的是他們彼此之間的行動自如。那就像是一場迷人的三人舞。
The menu wasn't showy either. Dishes were rooted in classic French and Japanese techniques. A starter of Jerusalem artichoke and sour-cream sorbet was full of textures and teasingly subtle flavours. The buckwheat noodles with mushroom dashi and smoked soy was just as light, a soothing distillation of umami. The third course was bolder, and very French – brill poached in a braisage sauce with leek terrine. The leeks had been pressed into a chequerboard of white and green and were the most gorgeously leek-tasting leeks I'd ever had. Next was a sublime lamb belle époque, followed by a pre-dessert scoop of toasted rice ice cream (like a yummy bowl of cereal). Last came tarte tatin in a miso-caramel sauce, for which the Pink Lady had been cut into a long strip, fashioned into a rose bud and swaddled in pastry. The muffin-shaped dessert was beautifully chewy on the outside and moist in the middle.
菜單也不花哨。菜餚源於法國和日本的經典技術。開胃菜是耶路撒冷洋薊和酸奶油冰糕，質地豐富，味道醉人。搭配蘑菇魚湯和煙燻醬油的蕎麥麵，味道清淡鮮美，令人愉悅。第三道菜比較大膽，濃濃的法式風格：用醬料煮製的鰈魚搭配韭菜。韭菜做成白綠色棋盤形狀，是我吃過的最美味的韭菜。接下來是美味的羊肉，而後是甜品前的一勺烤米冰淇淋(像一碗美味的麥片)。最後一道菜是味噌焦糖蘋果派，蘋果派切成長條，做成玫瑰花蕾的樣子，外面有麵皮包裹。這個鬆餅形狀的甜點外焦裡嫩。
Given the set-up at Evelyn's Table, the removal of three seats seems unlikely to diminish the customer experience. But the same cannot be said of other small venues. One of my favourites, Outlaw's Fish Kitchen, housed in a tiny fisherman's cottage in Port Isaac, Cornwall, had to remove four of its eight tables to meet social distancing rules. The food may be impeccable, but for a restaurant that thrives off hustle and bustle and the energy of dining in close quarters that is inevitably a buzzkill. The spirit of cramped venues around the world, whether the pintxos bars of Bilbao or the izakaya joints of Tokyo, has similarly been dampened.
鑑於Evelyn’s Table的布置，挪走三個座位似乎不會影響顧客的體驗。但其他小餐廳就不是這樣了。我最喜歡的餐廳之一Outlaw 's Fish Kitchen，位於康沃爾艾薩克港一個漁民小屋內。遵照社交距離規定，這家餐廳不得不將8張桌子中的4張撤下。這裡的餐品或許無可挑剔，但對於一家以熙熙攘攘和近距離用餐為特色的餐廳來說，這必然讓人掃興。無論是畢爾巴鄂的pintxos酒吧，還是東京的居酒屋，世界各地人潮湧動的餐廳精神同樣被抑制。
Some pint-sized venues are still, however, generating excitement. The dining room at El Papagayo in Cordoba, Argentina, measures 2.5m wide and 32m long. It normally seats 32. That is now down to 12. Chef-patron Javier Rodriguez has altered the menu to ensure the 11 or more courses can be completed in less than two hours (the maximum time allowed in restaurants in Argentina). By his admission, though, these changes (which include adding 「snack format」 dishes and serving courses simultaneously) have made the experience 「more dynamic and fun」.
然而，一些小餐廳仍讓人興奮不已。位於阿根廷科爾多瓦的El Papagayo餐廳寬2.5米，長32米。通常設有32個座位。現在減少到12個。大廚兼老闆哈維爾•羅德裡格斯(Javier Rodriguez)修改了菜單，以確保在不到兩小時(阿根廷餐廳允許的最長時間)內完成11道或更多菜餚。不過，他承認，這些變化(包括增加「小吃型」菜餚和同時上菜)讓用餐體驗變得「更有活力和有趣」。
Tsuta in Tokyo, the world's first Michelin-starred ramen restaurant, has reduced its capacity from 23 seats to around 16. But chef Yuki Onishi continues to innovate for his increasingly homegrown customer base. Recent new dishes have included clam-chowder dipping ramen with fricassée wagyu sweetbread and roasted pork, and freshwater-trout cold salt ramen.
東京的Tsuta蔦是全球首家米其林星級拉麵餐廳。它把座位從23個減少到16個左右。但大廚Yuki Onishi繼續為越來越多的本土客戶創新。最近推出的新菜包括蛤蜊濃湯拉麵配和牛牛腰和烤豬肉以及淡水鱒魚鹽冷麵。
In Sydney, chef Josh Niland has shrunk his seafood restaurant Saint Peter from 34 to 15 seats and drastically reconfigured the space. 「We knew it wouldn't work to simply remove tables,」 he says. 「The vibe of just seven tables would have been strange and we didn't want a constant reminder of Covid.」 Now customers eat at a long bar opposite the chefs. The prices have gone up. But so has the experience, as customers get to watch, say, dry-aged yellowfin tuna being cut to order in front of them. 「I love being able to talk to our customers and let them into our world,」 Niland adds. 「The room is definitely not as loud as it used to be, which many would argue is a good thing, but it has a lovely energy.」 Sometimes smaller is better.
在雪梨，大廚約什•尼蘭德(Josh Niland)把他的海鮮餐廳Saint Peter從34個座位減少到15個座位，並進行了徹底改造。「我們知道，只移除餐桌是不行的。」他表示，「只有七張桌子，感覺很奇怪，我們不想讓人不斷想起新冠肺炎。如今，顧客在廚師對面的一張長吧檯就餐。菜價上漲了。但體驗也改善了，客人可以看著風乾黃鰭金槍魚在他們面前被切成片。我喜歡和客人交談，讓他們進入我們的世界。」尼蘭德補充說，「餐廳肯定沒有以前那麼熱鬧（很多人會說這是件好事），但它有一種迷人的活力。」有時候越小越好。
本文11月13日發布於FT中文網，英文原題為Small is beautiful – the world’s tiniest, tastiest dining rooms
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