Perhaps a solution would have been to reverse the Eleven Madison Park polarity at Davies and Brook: A regular menu in the main hall, and a secret vegan repast in a private room. So it turns out that Humm can compromise on his “mission”. A seven-course meal runs to $US285 and can include beef, chicken, lobster and scallops, but, alas, no duck. This last is an especially deep diss for a chef with his record of culinary creativity.īut perhaps most damning still is the revelation that, even as he has been preaching the vegan gospel, Humm also has been serving carcass-based fare in a private room at Eleven Madison Park. Others sniff that Humm’s vegetables are all pretending to be meat or fish and note that none of it is especially innovative. Krader commends “the precision, nuance, and, especially the labour-intensiveness of the new menu”. As a committed carnivore, I’m probably not in his targeted demographic, but the reviews have been mixed. The new Humm definition of luxury embraces beets, eggplant and a Chinese lettuce called celtuce. “Kobe beef flown in from Japan? That’s not luxury. Is that truly luxury?” he said to my Bloomberg colleague Kate Krader. “All the caviar that you find now, it’s farm-raised, they sell it at the airport. This required Humm to affect distaste for the ingredients that had been restaurant staples until then. Loyal patrons of Eleven Madison Park might have responded “Oh no!” when Humm decided to scrap the duck, along with all other animal-based products, from the New York restaurant’s menu this year.
One restaurant reviewer was moved to exclaim, “Oh my.” This was one of his original masterpieces at Eleven Madison Park, and its arrival on the other side of the Atlantic was greeted with hearty hosannas by London’s gastronomes. But the pride of place goes to Humm’s celebrated duck, dry-aged and glazed with lavender and honey, and served with a confit of pear. These include roast venison, grilled monkfish and poussin stuffed with black truffles. Rather than indulge Humm, as hoteliers are often forced to do with superstar chefs, Claridge’s chose to side with its clientele, which has embraced David and Brook’s carnivorous offerings. (It had been among the top five for six years running.) Finding a replacement of his lustre will be all but impossible. Claridge’s is gambling by forsaking the star power Humm brought to its kitchen in 2019, only two years after Eleven Madison Park had been ranked the world’s best restaurant. In a statement, Humm declared, “The future for me is plant-based … Standing behind this mission, and what we believe in, is most important and is unfortunately not something we can compromise on.”īut if anything, the bravery is on the other side. Some might see Humm’s decision as an act of gastronomic valour: A risk-taking chef demonstrates the courage of his convictions. He is said to be seeking another London outlet for the kind of plant-based fine dining for which vegan or vegan-curious patrons pay $US335 ($465) a pop at Eleven Madison Park. I say proposal, but it appears to have been more of an ultimatum, since the chef has announced he will leave Claridge’s at the end of the year. The hotel, a grand old pile in London’s posh Mayfair neighbourhood, has turned down the chef’s proposal to convert its Davies and Brook restaurant, run by Humm for the past two years, into a vegan-only eatery along the lines of his New York flagship, Eleven Madison Park.Ĭhef Daniel Humm’s acclaimed lavender-glazed duck will remain available at Claridge’s.
Please join me in three huzzahs for the owners of Claridge’s hotel in London, who have just saved chef Daniel Humm’s lavender-glazed duck from his newfound vegan fixation. Society owes a debt of gratitude to those who protect a work of genius, even if only from the genius who created it.