7 Hereford Road, London W2 5AH www.pomonas.co.uk
Nestled in Notting Hill, ‘sourcing the right ingredients, caring for the environment and excellent equal opportunities are at the heart of everything we do’ is Pomona’s essence.
With sustainability at its very core – Hansom takes you on a journey – the menu sectioned into; from the earth, from the sea, from the land, and from the grill.
The story starts in the earth with Smoked potato foam, yolk, watercress and summer truffle which gave the warm familiarity of egg and chips but with the most elevated texture and taste with every spoonful.
Also to start, sprouting broccoli, soy, chili, cashew – giant in size for a starter and giant in flavour.
Jumping into the sea, dressed Dorset crab meat, brown crab mousse, watermelon and confit yolk (which my partner described as summer on a plate) then roast halibut, Jerusalem artichoke, pickled grape, almond, chervil with fennel broth.
Both of these fish dishes provided flavour profiles I had never previously experienced – crab and watermelon, as well as nuts and halibut, are matches made in ocean heaven.
At this point, I didn’t think Hansom could have done any better as I personally believe seafood always steals the show, but she takes us back to the land.
From farm to fork, Hay roasted Norfolk black leg chicken, grilled hispi cabbage, treacle cured bacon, anchovy and finished with Lord of the Hundreds (its a cheese) – it was incredible.
Alongside these extraordinary tasting, beautifully displayed (on stoneware) dishes, we marveled in the little touches such as homemade sourdough, marmite butter and a couple of tamarind cocktails.
To finish, the classic British cheese board which included a delicious Tunworth, and Champagne poached strawberries with white chocolate crémeux, meringue, lime sorbet & ofcourse mint, both with their respective wine pairings.
The name Pomona comes from the goddess of fruit trees, garden, and orchards which rings true to the feeling of Pomona’s, reducing waste and utilising every usable part of produce, providing fresh, wholesome, nutritious but above all tasty wholefoods and a future goal to remove all one time use plastics in the kitchen.
The food is fantastic, there’s no doubt about that, but the ethos – it adds to the flavour completely.