Jay S.
Google
I was unsure of what to expect as we arrived at Restaurant Journey: a pop‑up in a secret space in Cheltenham.
You get emailed instructions on the day and begin the journey on the night by finding the door and knocking the secret knock. There is a menu on the table that explains little of what is ahead from and ingredients perspective, but lets you know a little more of the type of evening you have signed up for.
It’s an experience that you’re sharing with a small group of diners and you feel special to be here. The space ebbs and flows during the night, thanks to the stellar food and wines, the screen and the music. It would be re-miss of me not to mention the music, it is a playlist of hits created by Jeff and Kenni that they played on their travels. In some places a giant screen projecting images might steal the show, but here it was never a risk - the evening belonged to gastronomy.
In hindsight, this was the perfect place to spend a night before embarking on a week’s holiday in Germany with family. The whole thing is about journeys.
Like the journey of the chef, Jeff Lewis, who began life in finance, where he met his wife Kenni. Jeff volunteered in a Michelin‑star kitchen, insisting, “I only want to be paid when I am worth paying.” These days, he is definitely worth paying. He once worked in The Fat Duck, before leaving there to travel with his wife Kenni through Southeast Asia and further, absorbing flavours that now define some of the flavours and experiences they are sharing through their menu.
Kenni is the Sommelier, curating wines drawn from her own learning journey with food and wine. We did the “Explorer” wine flight which included the: Leveret IQ Brut Traditional Method from NZ, the Epicuria Chardonnay, Domaine de la Zouina from Morocco, Domaine Lyrarakis Assyrtiko from Greece, a Calusari, Pinot Noir from Romania, a Bedoba Saperavi, Georgia and a Quady Elysium Black Muscat from California.
All the wines were new to us and worked well in tandem with the courses, the menu and wines combining to make something of a shared atlas as the evening progressed.
Every course arrived with a story. The whole team do well to explain the stories and the many components of each dish. I’m a bit slow and simple, so often found myself thinking: “I’m not sure about how all this is going to come together,” but each composition pulled together into a uniquely delicious coherence. I will give no description spoilers here, so when you go each dish can unfold before you live, as intended.
This is fun dining, theatrical, playful, communal. The ingredients, technique and service all give breathe to the shared story of Jeff and Kenni, and the shared experience of the meal as a story to tell, and the place in time it creates in your own culinary journey.
From a chef this good, I would have expected distance, arrogance, attitude and aloofness. Jeff came by all the tables several times during the night and felt approachable, affable and even answered my curious questions which I only felt comfortable asking because he didn’t give off an air that he would make me feel dumb for asking. He answered them graciously and helped me understand things, like he appreciates that we are all at different parts of our…say it with me now: “journey.”
If you get a chance to go here, definitely do, if you’re a local, you have no excuse and if you need to travel, it is worth the journey.
