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Chef Adam Handling fuses elevated gastronomy, contemporary art and sustainable produce in his ‘Shared Roots’ dining experience
By Rebecca Hopkins | 7 October 2019
Handling partners with champagne house Ruinart for a mouth-watering special menu dedicated to Frieze London
* Turbot, broccoli stems and vine leaves
He is best known for his love of local produce that defines his London flagship Frog, but chef and restaurateur Adam Handling has taken the sustainable dining movement to new heights with his new, limited-edition menu developed in collaboration with the world’s oldest established champagne house, Ruinart.
Handling's five-course Shared Roots menu is inspired by Ruinart’s annual Carte Blanche commission by Brazilian artist Vik Muniz. Available at Adam Handling Chelsea – situated within in the five-star Belmond Cadogan Hotel – until 13 October, the menu is an ode to the relationship between humans and nature, winegrowers and vines, and is comprised of beautifully presented contemporary British dishes showcasing the very finest of seasonal ingredients and prepared with Handling’s signature creative flair that enhances the inherent properties of each ingredient.
Echoing Muniz’s ‘Shared Roots’ artwork series, which was on display at the Ruinart Art Bar throughout Frieze London (3 – 6 October), Handling’s superior menu integrates organic elements from the Champagne region into his dishes, with each course expertly paired to Ruinart’s exceptional Blanc de Blancs and Rosé champagnes.
To start, we are treated to warm, house-baked sourdough with chicken butter and Handling’s infamous cheese doughnuts, which are perfectly offset by the delightful, cooling fizz of the Blanc de Blancs. >>
Related: Chef Jack Blumenthal shares why he’s taking his guests into the kitchen
* A trio of grape desserts
Next: a mouth-watering ensemble of clay-baked celeriac, rich egg yolk and green apple, followed by an impeccably cooked fillet of turbot served with julienned broccoli stems, caviar, and vine-leaf. The chef’s quest for food sustainability ensures that traditionally wasted elements, such as broccoli stems, are not only preserved but elevated to reveal their full flavour potential.
A course of duck breast with wild herbs and Ruinart vinegar follows, revealing how even the champagne left in the bottom of the bottle has a role to play in Handling's zero waste mission. Fermented into vinegar before being layered with foraged meadow herbs, the Ruinart champagne vinegar creates an ingenious foil to the sweet-fleshed duck and artichokes, flavours superbly matched to the deeper tones of the Ruinart Rosé.
A melt-in-the-mouth, grape-themed dessert trio pays homage to the chef and Ruinart’s shared passion for art, sophistication and Champagne. Enjoyed within the restaurant's plush dining room which oozes contemporary elegance – think marble-countered, exposed kitchen counterbalanced by warm, opulent furnishings – Chef Handling’s menu leaves no doubt that the worlds of luxury fine dining and sustainability are well and truly colliding, and to very exciting ends indeed.
* Chef Adam Handling