Igni

Igni is in the premises of what used to be called Humo. It opened in April 2026, and has counter seating with an open kitchen including a prominent flame grill. Theo Clench formerly worked at Cycene, Akoko, Bonhams and The Clove Club. The dining room seats 34 people at one time, and in future there is likely to be an additional ten-seat counter downstairs. There were two tasting menus, a six-course one at £135 and a nine-course menu at £185 per person. 

The wine list as published on the website (it is apparently soon to be updated) had 389 labels and ranged in price from £50 to £1,800, with a median price of £170 and an average markup to retail price of 3.5 times, which is high but hardly a surprise in Mayfair. Sample references were Saperavi Bedoba Kakheti from Georgia 2022 at £55 for a bottle that you can find in the high street for £20, Russolo Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso Friuli Venezia Giulia 2020 at £70 compared to its retail price of £26, and Maitre de Chai Kierkegaard from Clarksburg California 2021 at £85 for a wine that will set you back £30 in the high street. For those with the means there was Bruno Colin Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Maltroie at £320 compared to its retail price of £98, and Ridge Vineyard Monte Bello 2009 at £900 for a wine whose current market value is £253. Corkage is £75 a bottle.

The meal began with a sequence of canapes. Black tea meringue with smoked monkfish cream and yuzu tuile was pretty and had good balance. Hamachi was served on a stick with burnt and pickled nashi pear, a kinako (roasted soybean) glaze on the side, topped with puffed rice, pink peppercorns and Sichuan peppercorns, and this worked very nicely. Best of all was Devon crab with genmaicha tea and fried battera kombu served in a little charcoal croustade, which had particularly nice seasoning (15/20 canapes)

The first formal course was River Dart (Devon) oyster cooked in embers, shucked and charred with binchotan, cucumber sauce, pickled cucumber, soft herbs and N25 Kaluga hybrid caviar. The sourness of the pickling juices nicely balanced the oyster, along with the natural salinity of the caviar (15/20).

This was followed by tuna prepared in several ways. The first bite was a parfait made from the bloodline, infused with Timur pepper and 25-year-old Pedro Ximenez gel, sandwiched between a red pepper crisp. There was also an akami (lean tuna) tartlet, the akami aged for eight days, with lapsang ponzu jelly on the top with shiso flowers as garnish. Chutoro was aged for two weeks, brushed in ponzu, served with Japanese wasabi, red shiso crisp and finished with aged foie gras fat. This was high quality tuna that was nicely showcased, its flavour coming through well. The other elements added contrasting textures and balancing acidity (15/20). 

Next was a bread course. Fermented Yukon Gold potato bread, cooked in the style of a bao bun, was charred over beech embers, with spiced miso salt on the top. On the side was vadouvan butter covered with burnt leek powder (so the butter appeared black). Finally, there was a tomato and raspberry consommé finished with blackcurrant wood oil.
This was lovely (a strong 15/20).

The next course was pot-caught cuttlefish marinated with shio koji (a fermented Japanese seasoning). The cuttlefish was charred on the fire, served with barbecued smoked eel, pickled celtuce, bee pollen, roasted buckwheat, tozasu vinegar dressing, and finished with toasted katsuobushi (bonito flakes). The eel in particular had lovely flavour, and the bonito flakes gave a contrasting texture (15/20).

Scallop was cooked over maple wood and glazed in maple syrup, served with fermented San Marzano tomato, confit kombu, pickled myoga ginger, finished with a galangal bisque. The mild ginger flavour of the myoga worked nicely with the tender scallop (15/20). Native lobster was served with Metis plum and passion berry puree, pistachio puree and charcoal butter sabayon. To the side was lobster claw tempura in a coral batter, and a dipping sauce of lobster oil, fig leaf oil and smoked soy. The lobster was superbly cooked, the lobster meat very tender (16/20).

Fillet of turbot came from a large 7 kg fish that had been aged for five days, then glazed in hatcho miso butter, along with teriyaki turbot fins, and a pretty side dish of dashi-braised romaine lettuce and smoked bone caramel sauce, with a sake and lettuce bavarois. The fish was lightly cooked and the sauce worked nicely with the deeply flavoured turbot, the lettuce providing balance to the caramel (15/20).

Creedy Carver duck was served in two elements. The breast was barbecued, cooked pink and served with fermented plum and brown butter puree, sour cherry gel finished with cherry blossom vinegar, fermented Pondicherry peppercorns and a classic duck jus. The jus in particular had very good flavour, but the best element was a smoked duck leg meatball yakitori served on the side in a basket. This was glazed with black garlic, candied shiitake mushroom, spring onion and yuzu kosho emulsion, and had terrific flavour. Finally, there was a pickled daikon roll with coriander, compressed cucumber, shio kombu, sesame seeds and shredded lettuce. This provided some welcome balance to the richness of the meat (15/20). 

A pre-dessert of blackcurrant sorbet, crystallised blackcurrant leaf, blackcurrant leaf oil and kumquat cheong was pleasant enough (14/20). This was followed by cedar wood-smoked tofu, wheat leaf tuile, roasted koji powder, and warm chocolate sauce of single-origin Madong chocolate from Papua New Guinea. The chocolate was silky in texture (15/20). There were petit fours also, starting with fig leaf and fermented honey parfait and burnt plum sake meringue. Next to it was apple and meadowsweet tartlet, and finally there was a nicely made canele with roasted milk Chantilly, feuilletine and reduced milk gel.

Service was very good throughout the meal. The bill came to £228 per person. If you shared a modest bottle of wine and had the shorter menu then a typical bill might be £195 per person. Igni is a definite step up from the former Humo, simply due to the talents of its talented head chef Theo Clench.